Reviews

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

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mariadoe's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

loafy's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

3.0

abroadwell's review against another edition

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4.0

It's hard to pull together all the parts of this book in my memory, since it is so long and has so many parts.

But the last section, with Charlie [granddaughter of Charles Griffith, the scientist] escaping from a tyrannical America sticks in my mind very clearly.

Some over-arching themes that made an impression on me --
* The way that gay men are variably accepted, tolerated, or rejected according to the political winds of the time. So that a highly respected gay scientist can see toleration definitely coming to an end and the return of a miserable closeted existence for his elder years.
* Health emergencies as a justification for the imposition of state control. A very clear reference to COVID, but a provocative reminder of the way in which all kinds of health, terrorist, and climate emergencies can result in the loss of liberty of speech, movement, and association.

irisel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

_anya_ivanova's review against another edition

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3.0

It almost physically hurts me to give it 3 stars only, but the truth is: nothing is A Little life but A Little life (and here I blame my own expectations); these are 3 books in one, that has been just confusing.

I wouldn’t give up the book because of Yanagihara’s deep, sharp and incredible writing style, yet the first two stories' plots and characters did not convince me to empathise. I did really love the third story though (and I'd give a 5 star to the 3rd story alone), it did not maybe take me away from the very first pages but somehow I got attached to the character and her charming “delayed sociability” and all this weird post-apocalyptic environment just seemed so natural; is there any new strain of Covid coming?