Guest Review - A Little Life
Introducing my next guest reviewer: Kaitlin O'Connor!
She is a long-time friend, former neighbor, and one of the few people I know who is undaunted by an 800 page book. I am so honored that Kait has taken the time to write up her thoughts for us. I know you will enjoy what she has to say!
She is a long-time friend, former neighbor, and one of the few people I know who is undaunted by an 800 page book. I am so honored that Kait has taken the time to write up her thoughts for us. I know you will enjoy what she has to say!
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
release date 3/10/2015
816 pages
4 out of 5 stars
Earlier this year, I, like millions of other people across America, was bingeing on Netflix’s Queer Eye, and subsequently stalking all of the members of the Fab 5. A portion of my stalking research led me to this article, ranking Antoni Porowski’s graphic t-shirts (it’s from The Cut, which is a subsidiary of New York Magazine, so it’s legit).
Anyway, number 4 on the list talks about Antoni’s t-shirts that pay homage to Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 novel A Little Life. After reading about Antoni’s passion for the novel, and assuming that no member of the Fab 5 would ever lead me astray, I picked up a copy and stuck it at the top of my TBR pile.
The novel begins by following the lives of four college best friends (Jude, JB, Willem, and Malcolm) living in New York City after they’ve all completed graduate programs. The first section of the novel follows all four characters pretty evenly, but eventually the novel becomes almost explicitly about Jude, his relationships with the other characters, and his horrific childhood that he refuses to talk about. I love a good character with a mysterious past, and after learning that the novel was a finalist for both the Man Booker Award and the National Book Award, I was intrigued and ready to get started.
Well holy crap.
Jude’s story is so saddening that at points it was difficult to continue reading, and several times I considered putting it down and moving on. I never did though, because I had to know the end of Jude’s story, and I just couldn’t give up on him. I won’t go any further, because the twists should really be a surprise for readers, just as they are to all of Jude’s friends and family as they learn more about him and his past.
A Little Life is the kind of book that haunts you. I finished three months ago, in bed at 2am while sobbing into the last 20 pages, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. I’ve had to remind myself of everything else I have sitting on my shelves, waiting to be read, in order to keep from picking it up again. Just this morning I had to stop myself from packing it for my trip to Germany next week, because no one likes the girl crying on an international flight.
I’m not the only person who feels this way, either. The novel has developed a cult-like following all over the world. It has an entire Instagram dedicated to fan art and photos. There’s a hashtag (#ALLbookswag) so that fans can post photos of shirts, bags, mugs and other items relating to the novel. You can download the A Little Life .jpeg from the dropbox link in the Instagram page’s bio to have your own book swag printed up just like Antoni’s...and that’s just the tip of the A Little Life iceberg that’s sunken my Titanic ship of a heart.
If you’ve already read A Little Life or are planning on starting it soon, feel free to come cry with me on Instagram over at @kaitocon.
If you'd like to read this book, please consider using my link to purchase it from Amazon and help support Blonde Bibliotaph.
by Hanya Yanagihara
release date 3/10/2015
816 pages
4 out of 5 stars
Earlier this year, I, like millions of other people across America, was bingeing on Netflix’s Queer Eye, and subsequently stalking all of the members of the Fab 5. A portion of my stalking research led me to this article, ranking Antoni Porowski’s graphic t-shirts (it’s from The Cut, which is a subsidiary of New York Magazine, so it’s legit).
Anyway, number 4 on the list talks about Antoni’s t-shirts that pay homage to Hanya Yanagihara’s 2015 novel A Little Life. After reading about Antoni’s passion for the novel, and assuming that no member of the Fab 5 would ever lead me astray, I picked up a copy and stuck it at the top of my TBR pile.
The novel begins by following the lives of four college best friends (Jude, JB, Willem, and Malcolm) living in New York City after they’ve all completed graduate programs. The first section of the novel follows all four characters pretty evenly, but eventually the novel becomes almost explicitly about Jude, his relationships with the other characters, and his horrific childhood that he refuses to talk about. I love a good character with a mysterious past, and after learning that the novel was a finalist for both the Man Booker Award and the National Book Award, I was intrigued and ready to get started.
Well holy crap.
Jude’s story is so saddening that at points it was difficult to continue reading, and several times I considered putting it down and moving on. I never did though, because I had to know the end of Jude’s story, and I just couldn’t give up on him. I won’t go any further, because the twists should really be a surprise for readers, just as they are to all of Jude’s friends and family as they learn more about him and his past.
A Little Life is the kind of book that haunts you. I finished three months ago, in bed at 2am while sobbing into the last 20 pages, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. I’ve had to remind myself of everything else I have sitting on my shelves, waiting to be read, in order to keep from picking it up again. Just this morning I had to stop myself from packing it for my trip to Germany next week, because no one likes the girl crying on an international flight.
I’m not the only person who feels this way, either. The novel has developed a cult-like following all over the world. It has an entire Instagram dedicated to fan art and photos. There’s a hashtag (#ALLbookswag) so that fans can post photos of shirts, bags, mugs and other items relating to the novel. You can download the A Little Life .jpeg from the dropbox link in the Instagram page’s bio to have your own book swag printed up just like Antoni’s...and that’s just the tip of the A Little Life iceberg that’s sunken my Titanic ship of a heart.
If you’ve already read A Little Life or are planning on starting it soon, feel free to come cry with me on Instagram over at @kaitocon.
If you'd like to read this book, please consider using my link to purchase it from Amazon and help support Blonde Bibliotaph.
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