A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Publisher: Doubleday
Genres: Adult/Fiction/Literary Fiction/Contemporary
720 pages
Purchase Here: Amazon Barnes & Noble
Add book to TBR: Goodreads
Literary Awards: Man Booker Prize Nominee (2015), Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2016), National Book Award Finalist for Fiction (2015), Kirkus Prize for Fiction (2015), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2015), Waterstones Book of the Year Nominee (2015)
Description:
When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.
My Review:
This book will stick with me forever!
Wow! I have never read a book anything quite like this! So many times I had to put this book down because I just couldn’t deal with all the emotions I was feeling. This book will make you contemplate your own life and make you wonder if you are living your own life to the best of your ability. It will make you love harder, live life fuller, and realize just how short our time here really is.
I was a bit bored for the first half of this book because it was all about fleshing out the characters. I am extremely happy that I stuck it out because I believe this is going to be my favorite book of the whole year. This book made me cry more times than I can count. There was many times I was trying to read but the tears just kept falling and the words were so blurred I couldn’t even see them. Multiple times I had to put this book down because the emotions I was feeling were just so overwhelming.
*Slight Spoiler and Warning *
This book does contain abuse (physical and sexual), and self abuse and mutilation
*End Spoilers*
Despite the above elements, this book is a story of beautiful friendship, deep love, caring deeply for a person, passion, Life.
. This story was so well written you feel like you aren’t reading about the character, but that you ARE that character. You will feel like you are going through what that character is going through, feeling what that character is feeling. This is not a quick read, nor is it meant to be read quickly. This is one that is meant to be read slowly, taking your time, letting it all soak in. I guarantee that when you read this book you will take something away from it. It will change you, for better or worse. Your mindset will change. When you finish reading this book, you will not be the same person you were before you read it.
I could go on, and on, and on, about this book. Just know, this book is one that should not be missed.