A Little Life

By Hanya Yanagihara

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A stunning "portrait of the enduring grace of friendship" (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST - MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST - WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE

A Little Life follows four college classmates--broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition--as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara's stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804172706
• ISBN13: 9780804172707
• Release Date: January 2016
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 832 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.1" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Heartbreaking

Basically, life through the eyes of trauma.

Promising Start, Disappointing and Unrelatable

I loved the first 500 pages of A Little Life. I hated the last 300. What begins as a deeply compelling story of four college friends navigating life in New York gradually shifts into an unrelatable and frustrating narrative. The early character development is excellent, and Jude’s backstory is emotionally devastating. However, as the novel progresses, the focus narrows almost entirely to Jude, whose suffering becomes overwhelming and repetitive. His friends fade into the background, and the story turns into a cycle of indulgence and despair, making it difficult to stay engaged. The characters’ extreme wealth and unwavering devotion to Jude feel unrealistic, and his growing cruelty and self-absorption erase much of the early sympathy I had for him. While I understand why this book evokes strong reactions, I wouldn’t recommend it—there are many other novels that explore trauma, friendship, and resilience in a more balanced and rewarding way.

Be ready to cry

Yeah I understand it’s LONG. Completely worth it in my honest opinion. Were there parts that were horrific? Yeah of course. This book is meant to make you feel every emotion under the sun.

I wanted to love it but didn’t

It’s just ok in my opinion. Every single review I’ve read claims it “breaks you” “you’ll never recover”, I love a good sad cry your eyes out book but it did not deliver. Was it sad, yes, but it was predictable. It was a book that could have been shortened to achieve the same trauma dumps the main character had along with where you knew the book was going. It felt like the author kept thinking, I’ll add on some more trauma, and again, let’s add more. I shed a tear once at one of the happy scenes but I just expected more. It’s a story of trauma but also of friendship and love. The endless trauma didn’t justify the rave reviews. I honestly cried more at Me Before You than I did with this book which I was not expecting.

best and worst book ever

it’s the best book i’ve ever read, hanyas writing is incredible, it’s much better writing than those books people suggest on tiktok that sounds like it’s written for 13 year old haha. people have very different opinions on this book but personally i think it’s an important story to tell, it does a fantastic job at getting you to feel while telling jude’s story

terribly sad

very devastating very beautiful

Read it.

This book punched me in the gut.

devastating but brilliant

the characters in this book were so real to me that I dreamed about them. My childhood was similar to the main character's in terms of abuse so it was extremely relatable and poignant for me. It is beautiful and sad, very long, but worth reading. Her second book, People in the Trees, is not the same caliber. HOwever, her third,To Paradise, so far, is excellent.

Good but sad

Really well written, easy read. However this is so miserable, life is tragic, why would I want to read misery, I want to be uplifted. It's sad to makeup this sad sad life .there are too many out there already.