A review by cintiamarisas
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I’m not gonna lie y’all. I think I have no heart whatsoever because I’m pretty sure I’m the only person on earth who didn’t cry reading this. That being said, I did love the book. I love a good sad story. But I also felt underwhelmed and disappointed even because I was really looking forward to get heartbroken and just cry my eyes out and that didn’t happen and that’s really the only reason I’m not giving it 5 starts. Jude is without any doubt the most complex character I’ve encountered in my 18 years of life. I love how in detail we get to know his childhood, his career, his struggles, his feelings and his thoughts. This book made me fall in love with character driven stories. I’ve never thought I’d enjoy reading more than 700 pages about the lives of these characters. Truly a masterpiece. Beautifully written. Hanya Yanagihara has such a way with words, I love it. Specially loved the constant change of povs. I absolutely adored Harold and Andy’s characters, those men deserve the world. Some of my favourite dialogues were between Andy and Jude. Such intense moments, it was amazing. And the dialogues between Jude and Harold were the moments I was closest to cry. Happy cry. I didn’t know I loved the found family troop so much. And then Willem… Willem and Jude’s love was simply beautiful. Since the beginning. Their unconditional love for each other made my heart melt every time. I feel like the times where most people would cry I was just in shock. Any scene concerning the themes of abuse, violence and grief made me utterly sad. Maybe I just don’t express sadness in the same way most people do but enough of self analysis. Overall this is a great book but unfortunately it didn’t meet my ridiculously high expectations.
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