What readers think of A Little Life, plus links to write your own review.

A Little Life was an enveloping experience as a reader, affecting and emotionally raw from the first few pages. Yanagihara’s lush writing and deeply felt characters drew me in, and the raw emotion that courses through every sentence of the novel made me fully invested in Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcolm’s lives.

Of all the characters, it was most painful to read about Jude’s life, but it was also the most evocative. I had visceral responses to Yanagihara’s descriptions of his suffering over trauma and self-worth, and I remained especially affected by the book for days afterwards. It was painful and horrible watching Jude struggle to embrace a life that made sense to him in the face of everything he had been through, but it was also wildly, profoundly inspiring.

What’s more, the depiction of friendship and solidarity it offered made it an intense human experience for me too. The compassion, caring and devotion of Jude and his friends was so passionate and vivid that I felt I was going through their lives with them. It was a literary work that saluted the value of friendship, of not turning away from anyone, and this touched me.

But let me be clear, ‘A Little Life’ is no light read. Of course, much of what it depicts is the darkness of the human condition: the very worst one can imagine from trauma and abuse to addiction and self-destruction, even internal hemorrhaging. At times, I had to put the book down because a character’s pain made me too upset to continue. But along with the undesirable came plenty of the desirable: moments of exquisite beauty, even amid the bleakness, that provided breaks in the dark.

Although it was tough to read – tough in a way that left me feeling changed and reshaped in my thinking about the world – I walked away from A Little Life profoundly grateful to Yanagihara for her storytelling, and heartbroken.

It’s been two months since i finished A Little Life. I think. I don’t know, maybe three. It’s truly the best book I've ever read. I just can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve been trying to find something- anything -that will make me feel the way this book made me feel, and I just can’t find anything. This book filled me up inside just to leave a big hole in my chest when it ended. I wonder if Hanya Yanagihara will write something like this. Only god knows how much money I would pay for a book like this one. So heartbreaking. I won’t ever forget about Jude. He’s always in the back of my mind.

This truly exceptional book by Hanya Yanagihara is a literary masterpiece. It is, quite possibly, a work of genius. It is also the saddest, most upsetting book I have read—perhaps ever.

This is not a book I would casually recommend to anyone. It is dense. It is intense. It is more about misery than joy, and it sucks the reader down into that misery like quicksand. It is desolate. There is (extremely) disturbing violence. More than anything, it is absolutely, totally heartbreaking. (See below for my reasons why you should read a book that is so melancholy and deeply sorrowful.)

This is the story of four college friends and roommates—Willem, Malcolm, JB and Jude—who presumably, although it is only implied, went to Harvard. The book begins soon after they have graduated and ends decades later. Brilliant and creative, each is flawed in some important way. Eventually, the story focuses more on Jude, the most damaged and broken—physically and psychologically—of the four men, who was abandoned as an infant and was severely abused, both physically and sexually, throughout his childhood. He shields and protects the dark and tragic secrets of his past from his three very close friends. We readers gradually learn the gritty, obscene and absolutely appalling details of Jude's past, but only in bits and pieces, until eventually all is revealed. And it is truly horrific. This is not for the weak-hearted. The one thread of hope that runs throughout the book is the salvation we find in the love of enduring and abiding friendship.

So…why read a book like this, a book that is nothing but depressing and will make you feel absolutely wretched? One simple reason beyond the fact that it is truly incredible literature: It will make you a better person. It will give you empathy and understanding for those who are suffering unimaginable curses of their past. If you love someone who is depressed, suicidal, or engages in self-harm, this may give you more understanding so you can perhaps help or comfort—even if it's only in a small way.

This is definitely not a book that I can say I enjoyed reading. Quite the opposite, in fact. But I am in awe of it. And that counts for a lot. (Near the end of the book is this line: "What he knew, he knew from books, and books lied, they made things prettier." NOT this one!)

Told with remarkable perception of the human psyche, this elegiac work of art will haunt me for a long time to come.

This book served to challenge my ideas about friendship, love, romance and self-regard. The central characters are drawn in such a realistic fashion the reader is drawn into a world that is new, but often familiar, an existence that is both painful and beautiful. Although there is plenty of ugliness in the story, the overall result is one of a sad but serene resolution and acceptance of things as they are. I will always remember this book.

I listened to this book rather than read it, however, the writing style still was a page turner. Yanagihara created characters and relationships that were real, and circumstances that made me want more. It was so sad, but so good.

I don't want to go into detail about how much I truly loved this book (Davina knows, I told her I might be delayed with a review I am scheduled to due because I was reading "A Little Life" and could not put it down). The only reason why I am writing this is to urge all Book Browse readers to try this book. It is well worth the time. The other reviewers said it better than I can. Truly one of the great reading experiences. Do yourself a favor - try it!

Brace yourself is right. There are no words available to do this lovely, sprawling book justice. It touched me and taught me and had me marveling at the beauty of love - seeing it in a completely different light. Jude St. Francis is a marvel - he at turns had me sobbing, fearful, in pain and infuriated. "Life" is not an easy book to read, but it's SOOOO worth it. I can't think of another book I've EVER read that had the same effect on me (except maybe "The Goldfinch"). Yanagihara is a fabulous, fabulous writer, and "A Little Life" is the book of the year for me. That she is able to juggle the scope of such a story, and yet make it feel so personal, so involved, so real and close.

"He would have kept living his little life; he would have never known the difference..."

And the cover...it's so wonderful, so much what I think Jude would look like...

P.S. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC! Many thanks!!

Such an incredibly hard book to read, and yet a beautiful book too, on the true meaning of friendship. Written so tenderly, poignantly and with raw honesty. The characters run the gamut from those among us who are the most cruel, the most hateful and those who are able to offer a love that is profound, unconditional and where many of us probably fall, wanting to be netter than we are.

The characters are human, flawed, some almost too good to be true, and yet it is the moments we don't see, that we hear about that defines this book, in the thoughts of the characters, the empty spaces. How does one forgive one's own past, a place and upbringing that was not ones choice? Why do we hang on to a place, a state of mind, that causes us nothing but pain?

The writing is exemplary, the abuse scenes can be graphic, but offset by friendships that are amazing, love that is wonderful. I have read so many articles where critics and readers both decry, "Where are the published books that will later be considered a classic?" I think this one will, one of the best, most sincere, if painful books, I have read in a long time.