A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life is nothing like I’ve ever read before. From just the first 25 pages It felt like I already knew so much about the characters. It’s a mammoth of a book but is definitely worth the read.
A Little Life is about JD, Jude, Willem and Malcolm, who are four classmates that move to New York. The book tells you about how they live in New York and how their relationship get deeper and more complicated the more they get to know each other. I don’t want to say anything else but I will say that the overall book is very harrowing but very intriguing.
All the characters have their own lives in the book but the main character is Jude. You learn all about his troubles in his past and what he is currently going through in the present. Everyone who reads this book is bound to feel for Jude because I know I did. It’s not just the events that happen to Jude but it’s the writing too, it sucks you in and you have not choice to feel all his emotions. The roller coaster of emotions he goes through, you will end up going through also, and you will be totally drained by the end of the book.
This book is full of all depressing subjects and I can see why some people are saying that it is too dull and gloomy and unrealistic, but it is an addictive read, I was hooked. Once I started reading all I thought about were all the characters and what they would be doing and up to next. I never wanted to put the book down and I tried to find all the free time I could to read all 720 pages.
Some people might be put off by the size of the book and the small font. I know when I first opened the book I was a little daunted about the amount of pages and the tiny font, but once you start reading you forget about all that and just notice the beautiful writing and the brilliant stories.
Hanya Yanagihara’s writing is a pleasure to read and makes you want never finish the book. While reading you go through every emotion ten times over and you go from feeling all warm and fuzzy inside to feeling sad and lonely. While you read you learn so much about the character but the writing isn’t full of boring descriptions. I hate reading books that are full of useless descriptions that are there just to bulk out the book, but this book has no filler. All the writing is needed to make you feel for all the characters and every reader will be in tears at some point in the book.
Overall I would recommend this book to everyone who wants to read a story full of character development with hard hitting subjects. No one should be put off by the size of the book because it is worth it. Yes this book is a very harrowing and and some parts a depressing but it is also an addictive and thought provoking read.

I rate this book 4/5 stars