A review by heyitssally
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Beautifully written novel that is hard to stop reading once you start it, and I enjoyed the relationships the characters had with one another. But some of this seemed really unrealistic that it took me out of the story. 
The number of times Jude is abused, how Jude is great at everything although he had a troubled childhood; he was great at baking, cooking, math, piano, languages, law. When and how could he have practiced all of this? I understand he helped out when living at the Monastery, but where did he find a piano? Jude later has the money, resources and support to go to therapy, yet he doesn’t and struggles. Which is still realistic, but some people have criticized this saying the author doesnt “believe in therapy”, which wouldn’t surprise me since Jude doesn’t improve. And it seemed very unrealistic that all four friends became rich and successful (other than Malcom who was already rich). Williem’s death came suddenly, along with Malcom’s, although Jude doesn’t mention Malcom as much.
I enjoy a sad book every now and then, but this is just too much.
There is hope in this book, and Harold is an example of this, showing how he was a loving father. Jude also learned to trust more people. But the ending, after all Jude went through, was unexpected, but perhaps realistic.
There should also be more trigger warnings, as there are heavy topics of abuse. 
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