‘A Little Life’ explores trauma, mental illness and the worst of humanity on a level I have never before seen in fiction. The positives of the book, of which there are many, do outweigh the negatives. Over the course of the book, those around Jude discover that his trauma is everlasting and something he has never really escaped from. The most aloof and mysterious of the four, Jude himself has endured great trauma to forge the life he now has as a successful lawyer. Throughout their respective careers, trials and tribulations, they each face individual troubles, but come to realise that what binds them together is one of the four, Jude. It is a book of monumental contrasts: heart-breaking and tragic, yet loving and familiar.įor those who do not know, A Little Life follows a group of four men – JB, Jude, Willem and Malcolm - who become friends at university and form a bond that endures for the rest of their lives. Read more.I have just finished reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, and I feel a great sense of accomplishment in being able to write this sentence. 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. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride.
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cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. When four graduates 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. (2016) A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance.
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