A Little Life (Picador Collection)

Every year I look at the Booker Prize shortlist and buy a couple of books from it, and frequently I read the winning book as well. A Little Life was on the shortlist in 2015 and has been sitting on my shelf for two years, until my break in August when I decided to actually read it, and it was well worth the wait. This is one of those books that will surely go down as a modern classic, it is so brilliant. The plot follows four friends who meet at college through life's up and downs and personal tragedies; JB an artists, Malcolm an architect, Willem an actor and Jude a lawyer. Jude is the glue to this group, and is the main focus of the narrative. There are a few chapters narrated in the first person by Willem and Harold, who is Jude's law professor, mentor and the nearest thing to a father her has. The writing of this book is sublime in its language and Hanya Yanagihara is able to write plot lines, that in some parts are harrowing, in a beautiful and lyrical way. I actually found her prose hypnotic, I was drawn into this book and couldn't tear my eyes away from the page. There are lots of difficult issues discussed in this book, rape, abuse, suicide, drug abuse, and many more but still I was entranced by this book. Hanaya Yanagihara shows a great understanding, intelligence and empathy towards these subjects. Her characterisation is again wonderful, with all her characters so true to life that at times I felt like I was reading a biography/autobiography rather than a piece of fiction. In a way A Little Life is a dark Fairytale with good, evil and romance at its centre. Jude is the main character in A Little Life, and all the other character's stories are all linked to his. In all my years of reading I don't think I have ever come across a character as damaged psychologically and physically as Jude. When we first meet him in the book we know he has physical problems and throughout the book his past is gradually revealed to the reader. Jude has experienced the best and worst of humanity through his life, and seen love in many guises from destructive love to the love of friendship that is all encompassing. Even though his story is hard to read in places, I found him a compelling character who I was really down to and wanted him to find happiness. Willem is the person whom he is closest to, a friendship that is unconditional and intense in places; it is Willem that is there for Jude at some of his lowest moments. Malcolm is different in that he comes from a wealthy family, very different from Jude who has no family and Willem whose parents are dead. His relationship with JB can be tense around the subject of race; Malcolm has a white mother and black father where as JB's parents are both black. JB is the typical troubled artist, very talented but also open to addiction. Through his story there is the time old discussion of what is art, figurative painting versus the modern art of the instillation, photography and performance art. I was really drawn into this as it something I studied with my degree and always find it a fascinating subject. To say A Little Life is a masterpiece, a Magnus opus, feels like an understatement. I have read the winner of the Booker Prize from 2015, A Brief History of Seven Killings, and have to say I think A Little Life is so much better. There are very few novels, except from the classics, that I keep to read again but this book will be added to that shelf to join other books that I found through the Booker Prize; Possession by A.S Byatt, Amsterdam by Ian MacEwan and The Goldfinch and The Secret History by Donna Tartt being on that shelf. This is a mesmerising, intelligent, all encompassing read and one that will stay with me forever. This is a monumental novel in my opinion and one I will always recommend as well as those mentioned above. A Little Life is fiction at its absolute best; the perfect novel.

Beautifully written, compulsive reading (I read this book very quickly, at one point I had a straight 10 hour session). It's a really tough read at points, so I can't imagine what it must have taken out of Ms Yanagihara to write. I think this book will stay with me, but I'm not sure I'll ever want to read it again; it was so gutwrenchingly heartbreaking at points that I had to put it down, try not to cry, remember "it's not real, it's not happening to me and my friends" (even though it felt like, feels like, it was exactly that). Whilst I was reading this, I happened to see a review online that said: "It's not overstating it to say that this book has changed my pre-conceived ideas of what friendship is" - or something like that. I couldn't have put it better.

So, I loved this book. I'll say that up front. I loved reading it as much as I hated reading it. But it has a lot of problems. Firstly, the bits that I loved the most rotated around the potential for kindness and love that all human beings possess. The parts with Harold and Julia, and how they love Jude unconditionally. The flashbacks to Willem's earlier years with his brother. How sweet Jude's friends are towards him (generally speaking) and their ways of supporting him as a disabled character. I loved following the characters' stories along such a lengthy period of time. And I didn't mind the length of the book AT ALL; in fact I wished it were a bit longer. However. HOWEVER. I have one huge issue with this book. I am not saying that everything that happened in Jude's past is 'unlikely'. Of course there are people who suffer terrible abuses like those that he has been through. But I thought it was unnecessary. I couldn't help feel that Jude could have been through 'less' (I say 'less' but I realise any single one of incidents he suffered is appalling and you can't compare them) - and still been legitimately traumatised. This is a fiction book after all. I felt that it sent out the message that you had to have been through the levels of horror that Jude has endured in order to feel the way he does, which is simply not true. You can be depressed, suicidal or self harm, without having been through anything like the sort of things that Jude suffered. I just felt as if the author tried to come up with the worst series of things she could imagine, and it was just entirely unnecessary. He could just be depressed. That's fully legitimate. Also a lot of the tension of the book then becomes about wanting to 'find out' what happened to Jude, purely out of our own horrible curiosity. Also, despite Jude supposedly being this kick-ass lawyer, there seems to be very little justice for Jude's abusers. Again I think this sends out a very negative message to survivors of real-life abuse... That even this millionaire successful male lawyer just ends up suffering to the very end and never really 'gets over it'. Not that you'd expect anybody to really get over abuse like that... But there is no vindication for Jude. I actually think this book would have been a lot better if it didn't specify Jude's history at all. We don't need to know the gruesome details, and 90% of the other characters don't know about it either. Jude doesn't WANT them to know, so why should we know either? However despite that, I did enjoy the characters, and it moved me to tears in many places - most of the scenes with Harold had me sobbing! There are a lot of beautiful scenes, and some great prose. I've read criticism about her writing style, and my girlfriend (an editor) was driven insane by the way it was written. But I didn't mind that, and in places I loved it. I would recommend it... but probably not to anybody who has struggled themselves with abuse or mental health issues. It's not an easy read, and should come with a trigger warning on the front cover.

I picked this book after seeing a comment about it in one of the end of year reviews of 2015 books. It was only when I was about 3/4 of the way through that i actually read any reviews of it though and I have to agree with some of the comments that have been made previously. Yes, it is a very long book and there are a number of sections that add nothing to the story and could easily have been removed without impacting the plot. Yes, the time line is a bit of an issue, as someone else has already commented it is unlikely that Brother Luke would have been able to so easily take his computer with him. However, this is a minor issue and the story can easily wash over you without having to pay too much heed to the timeline. More difficult for me to believe was that all of the central characters enjoy such levels of success (each of them rising to the top of their chosen professions, is this really that realistic in a small group of friends?) and that so many of the characters have such strong feelings toward / relationships with Jude. Throughout the novel I found him to be an engaging character who was occasionally sweet but more often i found to be frustrating, selfish and at times unlikeable. That said, I really loved this book. I liked the style of the writing and whilst the change in narrative voice could be a little confusing at times it was interesting to see the story from different perspectives. Despite the fact that this is a long book i struggled to put it down and when i wasn't actually reading it I found myself thinking about it repeatedly. The way in which Jude's past becomes apparent is gripping and the fact that much of the abuse is alluded to rather than described makes the horror of it more powerful. There are a number of fairly horrific scenes in the book but these are balanced with the strength of relationships, in particularly Howard/Jude and Willem/Jude. Overall a great read and one that is still provoking a lot of thought a week after i finished it.

I would like to offer a thoughtful, intellectual response to A Little Life. But I can't. Not yet. This book moved me. Yes, I did occasionally wonder whether everyone needed to be quite so successful, quite so brilliant, quite so rich. But this book moved me. It is a visceral read. Perhaps my profession means I spend more than an average amount of time discussing past hurts and outrages and I therefore related (despite having basically a nice, safe, ordinary upbringing and life). I physically flinched every time the author described Jude's self-harm - is that a sign of great writing or poor authorial taste? And I didn't see it coming - if you've read it you know what I mean - even though it was the obvious way to move the story on. In my mid twenties I loved the novels of Thomas Hardy. I have barely looked at them since. I can't remember the last time I read Jude the Obscure, but this Jude makes Hardy's Jude look like a bundle of laughs by comparison. And yet I loved him. That's not language a careful reviewer should use, but it's how I engaged with this book. I loved the central character - in so many, many ways. The themes of this book take us on a roller-coaster ride around abuse and misfortune, disability and self-harm, rape and domestic violence. But they also offer shining examples of love at its most pure, generous, faithful, consistent. Yanagihara's portrayals of relationships in their many-splendoured variety is at times dazzling, desperate, and beautiful. This is a long book, and yet I seldom begrudged the author a page. Maybe it could have been a little tighter, but it needed time and space to allow the emotions to wax and wane. This book doesn't shine a light on a little bit of life, but rather a whole life - a large life every bit as much as A Little Life. Would I recommend this book? Only if you are feeling emotionally robust! But if you are, then enter in to a remarkable story told with energy and flair. This could end up winning the Man Booker Prize for 2015. I would be thrilled.

Although I finished this book over a week ago I still feel haunted by it and frequently return to sections of it in my mind. It feels wrong to say I loved it because it was deeply disturbing and it visited some very dark areas of the human psyche, but love it I did. This book tells the story of four young men who meet at college and become friends and how their friendships change and develop over time. We know little about the protagonist, Jude, to begin with and are just given occasional hints of his past. However, as time goes on more and more of what happened during his harrowing childood becomes apparent, shedding a brutal light on why he feels as he does about himself. Eventually, all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and the reader understands why Jude behaves as he does and it is truly heart-breood becomes apparent, shedding a brutal light on why he feels as he does about himself. Eventually, all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and the reader understands why Jude behaves as he does and it is truly heart-breaking. It isn't all black. There are glimmers of light in the shape of some great people who know the true meaning of unconditional love and forgiveness, but sometimes it's too late or it just isn't enough. A Little Life is definitely not for the faint-hearted and parts of it are very graphic and very difficult to read, but it is an amazing book and I'm so glad I read it. It will stay with me for a long, long time. I'm not somebody who cries very often, but I sobbed at times while reading it and I now have a sense of what next? What book can possible follow this one?aking. It isn't all black. There are glimmers of light in the shape of some great people who know the true meaning of unconditional love and forgiveness, but sometimes it's too late or it just isn't enough. A Little Life is definitely not for the faint-hearted and parts of it are very graphic and very difficult to read, but it is an amazing book and I'm so glad I read it. It will stay with me for a long, long time. I'm not somebody who cries much, but I sobbed at times while reading it and I now have a sense of what next? What book can possible follow this one?

I struggled to complete this book, for a number of reasons. I also struggled to give it a star rating, again for a number of reasons. I purchased it because I had read so much about it, and read about the stage production, which had received mixed reviews. I felt that I needed to read it, although I was fully prepared for it to be raw and upsetting, and braced myself to do it. Firstly, I think that it is an extremely well written book. The writer has an excellent command of language, it is extremely well researched with regards to the medical issues, and it explores humanity in great depth. There are clear, thought provoking messages here, but my main criticism is that it goes on, and on, and on. If there was a clear, evident reason for this, then I could accept it, but I couldn't see it. I think the last section of the book was surplus to the story, I didn't see the point to it. One chapter could have finished it. I didn't see the point of a further 40 or so pages. It became very self indulgent. The story telling, throughout, was a little confusing, with regards to who was narrating, in which time span, present or past, which meant that you spent the first few pages of the chapter working out just where we were in the story, and through whose eyes were we seeing it. Which brings me to the story itself. Harrowing, dreadful, inhuman, but never detailed graphically. I never had to close the book or stop reading from horror. It was related in an almost dispassionate style, matter of factly, this is what happened, this is why he is the way he is. It is purely believable because we know these things happen, all too often, by many different types of men, but I found this unrelenting. Every man he met was a cruel, abusing deviant. Were there no kind hearted people anywhere that could help? Are all truck drivers child abusers? The writer did acknowledge that there were some kind hearted abusers, but nonetheless they all used him horribly. It is a terribly cynical view of the world. We are introduced to numerous characters and, essentially, the book is about four of them and their travels through life, from rags to riches, but it's really all about Jude. How they all fit in and around Jude. How they all deal with his issues. How he holds the power over all of them. The more I read, the more unbelievable I began to find things. How did this wreck of a man hold down such a demanding job and be such a success? The man's half dead, and rotting from the inside, but he still manages to get into work and do an eighteen hour shift. Even with no legs, and not eaten for three weeks, he's still stunning everybody in the court room. I am sorry to say that by the end section I didn't really like Jude. I just wanted it all to end. Having given so much time to this book, I couldn't just give up. I had to finish it, but couldn't read more than about twenty to thirty pages before putting it down. It became a chore. Something that had to be finished, but I was getting no enjoyment or anything positive from it. When I finished it, I just felt relief. I am sorry to say that because there were positives in there, just so far back I simply cannot remember them now. It is a book with a message. It explores humanity, good and bad. Everybody in the first fifteen years of Jude's life were evil, everybody after that were paragons of virtue, goodness personified, except for the odd evil character who had his comeuppance. Karma at work, which was pointed out to us. It is what I would describe as a 'worthy' book, but a bit of a slog to get through.

Without doubt tough to read but so engagingly written that I simply had to keep returning to it right to the end because they felt like part of my life…I felt invested. I physically winced at times and cried at others…it felt so real I’m no literary expert but this author is incredibly accomplished at story telling