TheKaitlynBlog

Hanya Yanagihara

★★★★★

A Little Life will be a read you endure unlike any other. It’s beyond disturbing & solemn. There aren’t really any words to describe how this book feels, and what it will do to you. I would not recommend it to everyone. This novel is not for the faint-of-heart. However, I was entirely sucked into its world, its characters, and its story. Above all, I was immensely sucked into Jude St. Francis and all that he is. A Little Life is a truly beautiful read and will inspire such a strong spectrum of emotions. You will cry, a lot, as this fictional world will feel incredibly real.

There are real triggers you need to be aware of before you read this novel. A few including repeated rape, physical abuse, and indescribable trauma. Please use your best judgement.

But it also covers beautiful things like healing, acceptance, and genuinely healthy relationships. So, even though there are pros that outweigh these heavy cons, reader’s discretion is advised.

I’d recommend this to anyone who wants a read that will leave them a different person by the end. But I could also tell you to never pick it up because of how alive, aware and broken it will make you feel. It’s an intimate journey and will leave you raw and ripped open. This book however, means everything to me.

A Little Life ignited my love for reading. I wanted to get back into reading for pleasure and it was the first book I picked up. I had no idea what I was in for, but it turned out to be everything I needed. I’d been going through the worst breakup I’d ever experienced, and I knew I needed something to distract me. This novel helped me grieve in ways I was ignoring from my split with my ex. It happened to be, unexpectedly, one of the heaviest and saddest books I had ever read. It gave me an opening to cry and be rightfully sad.

It opened me up in ways I will never forget or take for granted. It swallowed me whole through its complex writing and strolling, and that was a gift in the middle of an earth-shattering chapter of my life. A Little Life will make you feel alive. It will break you in ways that will never get fixed, but for me, that was incredibly healing. You will probably cry like you have never cried before, but for me, that was liberating.

Now this is one of those books that will always be special to me that I’ll always be indebted to. I’ll always feel incredibly grateful for this read. It’s beautifully devastating. It’s everything.

It happened to be a book that I picked up in a store. It was a book I was simply drawn to. Looking back, I don’t think that it was a coincidence.

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