Book Review: A Little Life by, Hanya Yanagihara

welcome to my YouTube channel my name is Elana and on this channel we review books hold on this got a little crooked but it is what it is we're going to roll with it also I apologize for any crazy noise that you may hear in the background my neighbor is getting Construction done on his house I have to record Now or Never um I don't have time to do it later so we are just going to roll with it the world does not revolve around me in my book reviews so other people have lives going on so we get the noise we get the noise it's not that deep this is a video that I've been in a review I've been wanting to do for quite some time I keep winking CU something's on my contact UM and this is going to be a very long review a little Life by yanara Infamous is it not and the reason why I want to make sure that this book has a spot on my YouTube even though I read this book in September of 2021 is because because there's a lot of discussion around this book I feel like there are things I haven't seen people discuss about this book that I want to discuss and I discussed it in my YouTube in my Instagram but I haven't it needs that post has been buried and so the reason why I wanted to uh sorry the reason why this is going to be a long review is because I wrote this review in two parts so I have a halfway review um on my Instagram and summarizing all of my thoughts at the halfway point this is not a long this is not a short book it's just under 800 pages and so then I did a final review with uh my final thoughts and I'm actually going to go through both of those so you can kind of see as I was reading the book what came to my mind organically at that time and I actually haven't read this review since so it's actually one of my favorite reviews I've ever written and so I hope you guys enjoy it all right actually it's a 800 plus page book so yeah okay my life he will think my life but he won't be able to think Beyond this and he will keep repeating the words to himself part chant part curse part reassurance I don't really think a little life needs much of an introduction it has a bit of a an aura about it um it is typically discussed because for many it is considered to be too graphic and too traumatic to read it is the book that makes people cry even for non- criers and yet for some it is a Holy Grail novel when I discussed or announced at first back in 2021 that I would be that I would be reading a little life I received so many messages asking me if it's worth it how I'm handling the content and has it made me cry yet disclaimer this book did not make me cry at all but that doesn't mean that it wasn't an emotional experience um books rarely make me cry there have been some that made me kind of tear up a little bit but surprisingly this was not one of them so for the record yes I think this book is worth it and I will say I have a high tolerance for graphic content there was actually nothing in this book that shocked me content wise um not saying that it's not difficult I just didn't have a viscal reaction to this novel because to me the graphic elements of this novel were very realistic um and I'm going to probably get I know I'm going to get into that a little bit later what irritates me however about when people talk about this book is that they tend to focus solely on the graphic content this book and I think that does this book a disservice because there people get so hyperfocus on the trauma and the abuse that our main character Jude deals with or goes through room that they review they talk about that at the expense of everything else this is a narrative about a life and all that a life encompasses so let's get into the meat and the potatoes of what I thought about or what was going through my head during the first half of this book when I initially read it so a little life centers on the friendships between Foreman JB Malcolm will and Jude their friendships begin sorry their friendship begins in undergrad and the book covers their friendships through their middle-aged years the novel orbits specifically around Jude and can I say that Jude I adore Jude that is the character that you never forget when you read the after you read the book and he has and it but it centers around Jude in his vague background his background as the novel progresses begins to unfold what he's experienced he had a very traumatic and abusive childhood yanak Kara does not throw all of this at the reader at once she peels it back slowly so no yes so no the reader is not for us to Grapple with this content in one sitting she'll give you a slice of it and then push forward give you another slies and then push forward give you something else and then push forward and some of it's difficult but it's not just dumped all all at once and as it keeps going it gets worse and worse so she does build up to some stuff it's peeled away slowly and I in a way that I thought was rather eleg elegantly constructed because it does give the reader some Breathing Room Jude does not reveal what has happened to him even though his friends are aware that Jude had less had a less than ideal childhood his friends however do suffer from guilt because they don't push the issue further um because how do you push an issue forward when they know that when you they know that this person who's very important to them has been through hores but he's not open about it you have to and I think it's because you know you can't force somebody to talk about those things they have to want to talk about it themselves but although he was a man who kept his promises there was a part of him that always wondered why he never raised the issue with Jude so the concept of Happiness appears quite frequently in this novel what is happiness how is it obtained are we entitled to happiness Jude particularly strives for happiness in an effort to make up for and mask what has happened to him as well as to ensure that his Cur current and future life are nothing like his childhood there were times when the pressure to achieve happiness felt almost oppressive as if happiness were something that everyone should and could attain and that any sort of compromise in its Pursuit was somehow your fault but what was happiness but an extravagance in impossible state to maintain partly because it was so difficult to articulate so as I say in my halfway review I say that my favorite shaking my favorite theme up to the halfway point of the novel was this idea of Morality In Law Jude becomes an attorney and he uses his profession as a way to control his life he hasn't received Justice in his own life for what's happened to him but when he is in the courtroom he is a he has command of the courtroom he is a force to be reckoned with he has ability to apply the he has the ability to apply the law and Achieve Justice for others even for th those who may not deserve it so this doesn't only challenge him intellectually but it's his way of projecting his own like lack of Justice especially when what has happened to him is highly immoral completely unethical it's blatantly illegal and it's disgusting what has happened to him so again this also gives rise to the question just how many grievances go unpunished leaving the victim to deal with the damage and you see how people will deal with that damage in other areas of their life if you know they're not getting the justice that they really deserve what happens when we forsake morality and law for social governance what is the point at which a country and its people should start valuing social control over its sense of morality is there such a point it is morals that keep that help us make the laws but morals do not help us apply them so this is where I kind of wrapped up my halfway thoughts when I wrote this you can't talk about a little life without talking about the gorgeous portrayals of friendship that are in this book yes there's a lot of challenging content in this book but yanara again does balance it out by illustrating conditional sorry unconditional love Jude is surrounded by people in his adult life who care and love him deeply they will do anything for him and he feels like he can never repay this kind of kindness for what he or that he even deserves it but the people in his life feel like he deserves it and that is the definition of UN conditional love it's when people love you and they don't want anything in return they love you because they love you and that is it and those are the most valuable relationships that a person can have no matter what you do there's always Grace and because we all need a little bit of Grace in our lives right and so yanak gahara does this because it's a stark contrast by what he grew up with he grew up with one a false sense of Love mass as abuse and so it's this Stark dichotomy between true love and false love light and dark and she does this in such a great way and again it balances out um some of the harsher content that the reader has to absorb the only trick of friendship I think is to find people who are better than you are not smarter not cooler but Kinder and more generous and more forgiving that was where that's what I thought at the halfway point of the novel so now I'm going to revisit for the first time what my final thoughts were but I by the time I finished the novel actually I'm looking at this now I can uh by the time I finished the novel I noticed another theme and that was this theme or this idea of privacy specifically in one's mind and how can one's mind serve as a sanctuary an Untouchable place where the rest of one's body when the rest of one's body has been subject to every El everyone else's whims of course this is referring to Jude and everything that he had to deal with as a child and even in his adult life in some cases Jude stubborn stubbornly and obsessively refuses to disclose what happened to him as a child even to his closest friends they have a vague inkling of some of this stuff but they really don't understand the depth of it of the depravity there's no other word for it that Jude endured and this but this is Jude's way of protecting himself when he by not saying it um because what happens when a person reveals everything it's no longer their own and people get forced to speak but people shouldn't have to speak if they don't want to that is a choice um and that's a form of Freedom as well to choose when to speak and when not to speak when you're not being coerced into it and at what point does being transparent in real actually become detrimental he had made he was made aware of how much time he actually spent controlling his memories how much concentration it took how fragile his command over them had been all along his mind was his he told himself he could control this he wouldn't be controlled so by the halfway point of a little life I be I was heavily reminded of Lolita by nuof and I'm glad that when I did read a little life I had read Lolita at an earlier point in the year because I think that those two novels are in conversation with each other I I'm curious and I am convinced that Yana Gara might have drawn an inkling of inspiration from Lolita she even uses the word net once or twice in the novel because Jude like Lolita has been subject to the same type of abuse Jude's abuse is actually I'm not going to say worse abuse is abuse especially when it deals with child with Lolita sorry with children abuse is abuse and there's no excuse for it and ones is not one person's even fictional abuse is not greater than somebody else's but there's there are different elements to it and both of the so the the the ones committing the abuse in both of these novels are playing on the innocence and vulnerability of children that's what that's what abusers do while simultaneously blaming Lolita and Jude thus allowing them to groom these children so look at at these two similarities in these quotes from these two different texts this one is from a little life what a great smile you have Jude what a lovely person you are it was as if the greenhouse was somehow Bewitched somewhere that transformed him into someone funny and bright someone people wanted to be around someone better and different than he actually was and here's a quote from Lolita now I wish to introduce the following idea between the age limits of 9 and 14 there occur maidens who to certain Bewitched Travelers twice to many times older than they reveal their true nature which is not human but nymph that is demoniac and those and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as Nets so while we're reading Lolita I ironically thought that it would be more uncomfortable to read Lolita from Lolita's perspective and ironically it becomes a slightly more palatable slightly by a hair more more palatable narrative to read from the abusers perspective because we don't have to be in Lolita's head um and then comes a little life so that I didn't so I again I read Lolita before a little life and then Lolita life answered that sorry a little life a Lita life well a little life answered that question because in a sense it can be it can be analyzed as a text that answers this question what would have been like to read Lolita from her perspective it's more uncomfortable I think than being in the abuser's head it which is yeah in the Lita we get a few glimpses of how she is coping with what is going on but we don't know what's in her head and even though a little life is narrated in the third person we the reader experience what Jude is going through firsthand and it is harro so on to the next theme I sit in my halfway thoughts of a little life that I discuss that Yara poly just portrays friendships especially male friendships this is a central element of the novel because judee's friendships and relationships for the most part or in start contrast to his relationships and his well I would hate to call them relationships but what he's the people in his life the male people in his life in his childhood Jude's post childhood friendships are nuanced and there is a lot of gray to them the relationships in the novel are not just platonic or romantic Yana gahara shows the how varied love is so while I was reading this novel I also kept thinking about the ancient Greeks and how now they have five words to describe different types of Love which led me to ask the question what happens to relationships when we try to make them more than make them when we only try to make them excuse me platonic or romantic when our platonic love seems deeper and more complex why do we always assume that the only option is romantic what about how the ancient Greeks described love again there's like agape love and all these other different types of love and I think that in our modern society we get almost too narrow-minded when it comes to how we talk about um how love manifests in our lives in various ways but his friendship with Jude made him feel that there was something real and immutable about who he was that despite his life of guises there was something Elemental about him something that Jude saw even when he could not as if judee's very witness of him made him real I'm a huge fan of existential existential novels and for me a little life is a dream for those of us who uh love a good existential crisis in our narratives Jude is constantly asking himself who am I am I the person who I see or am I the person that other people see his environment doesn't often reflect this internal struggle within this internal ition and pressure from within and from the outside looking in he looks like he has it all together but he's actually struggling all the time and so how does one reconcile and coexist with the various versions of oneself that are flowing floating around out there based on who you're interacting with and who's defining you there is a stunning passage in which William Jude's best friend describes Jude as he sees him and I thought it was was beautiful you're St Jude Francis you're my oldest stus friend you're a New Yorker you're a swimmer you're a baker you're a cook you're a reader you have a beautiful voice though you never sing anymore you're patient you're generous you're the best listener I know you're the smartest person I know in every way you're the bravest person I know in every way I want to touch a bit on the theme of fictional realism again because um people have that this book is traumatic for the sake of being traumatic they call it trauma p word so I don't have to bleep myself out in within the editing process I wholeheartedly disagree that is traumatic for the sake of being traumatic that it's voyerism I don't agree with that at all Jew's childhood is far more common than people realize or people want to admit nothing about his past shocked me actually I have heard heard real life stories of this type of abuse countless times and in fact I have heard real stories that are even more insane than Jude's fictionalized story um so why is it when I was writing this review I posed these question POS these questions why is it that when we come across this type of content especially when it's in fiction we write it off as voyerism or sensationalism why is it that when fiction is uncomfortably realistic why do we categorize it as trauma p word when it blatantly shoves real life in our faces what does it mean about how we view fiction does that mean that we are gatekeeping what can and cannot be fictionalized and here is a quote from again a little life that strongly reminded me of one of my favorite quotes in fonite 451 so this is a little life what he knew he knew from books and books lied they made things prettier Fahrenheit 451 do you know why books such as this are so important because they have quality and what does the word quality mean to me it means texture this book has pores it has features this book can go under the microscope you'll find life under the glass streaming past an infinite profusion the more pores the more truthful recorded details of Life per square inch you get on a sheet of paper the more literary you are telling detail fresh detail the good writers touch life often and I have seen Reviews of This Book claiming that stuff like this doesn't happen and when I see people say stuff like that it actually makes me mad because I'm just like well just because you didn't experiment EX experience it doesn't mean it doesn't exist and a quick search will tell you that it does exist so yes this life exists even though this is fictionalized so yes and I kind of think and I'm going to call a spade a spade that when people say trauma like this doesn't exist are sheltered there's a Sheltering that's going on there's a naivity there because it exists and it's not hard to find you just have to you don't even you barely have to scratch the surface and stories like this will start coming out of nowhere so no Yana Gara is not exaggerating this type of abuse at all another thing I want to discuss is the cover of this book that I haven't really seen anybody else talk about and it's this particular Edition this book has other covers the UK version has like a like a New York fire escape um um but I do think that this cover is the best cover and this is why the cover of this book is a photograph by Peter huar I think I'm spelling I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right h u j a r it's titled orgasmic man this is an appropriate and ironic selection this Photograph without knowing the title would initially make you think especially if you didn't know yeah especially if you didn't know anything about the uh photographer would Mally make you think that this person is just in pain uh yes but is hasn't that been judee's life he he has been in pain physically mentally emotionally spiritually his whole life from birth but his life has also been a life of pain and pleasure he has experienced the worst and the best of life and life straddles the fine line between pain and pleasure and this cannot be avoided so the title a little life is also a play on words this novel examines life at the micro level and yes Jude is the focus but it brings in those that orbit around Jude in their lives as well Jude also struggles with the feeling that his life is little and insignificant he battles with this idea of Legacy what is this Legacy does he have a legacy and what has this life full of so much pain but also so much success contributed to the world and this is why I think that this cover is the most accurate depiction of this novel it's not it's kind of can be a kind of an uncomfortable cover to look at I always think that big faces on novel covers or book covers is odd but it was in this case perfectly selected I think when you look at uh Peter's photography work his own life and then you look at Jude's life in this fine line between pain and pleasure sometimes at the same time so I could go on about this book I adore this novel it is one of my favorite contemporary novels people say they can't recommend this novel because of the content and I get that but I think that if you are interested in in this novel it's worth to read you just may have to space it out um when you feel like if for you it may be getting heavy just put it down and come back no novel is one siiz fits all if you have read Lolita and you were able to get through Lolita I think you can get through this one maybe again everybody is different so take it with the grain of salt my recommendation but I think that if you have considered this novel I think that it is worth to read there's so much to discuss in this book and when I picked it up I did it it was one of those books I picked up because I wanted to know what people were going on and on about when it came to the content and it ended up as my top read of 2021 it's one of my favorite contemporary novels I can't wait to reread it one day and I will say this if you've read a little life and it left an impact on you I highly recommend the channel soft white underbelly on YouTube where this man sits down with various people who are willing to be interviewed Across America mainly in LA but Across America and he highlights their stories and he just lets them talk and the amount of childhood trauma makes this book in sometime ways feel like a documentary you know like if you've heard of soft white underbelly please let me know yes content warning that channel is heavy it's heavy but it does not sugarcoat life and the reason why it's called s white underbelly is because people look at the United States and yes it's a very wealthy country it's a very powerful country but there is a soft white underbelly of the country and his interviews highlight the micro of life that people deal with with and so this book is a great companion to that channel and with that of course obviously I thought this book was absolutely breathtaking and um I gave it a five out of five I can't wait to reread it I hope this review added a little bit more Nuance to the conversation of this book and all the other content that's out there that just highlights the same stuff over and over and over again and completely neglect the meat and potatoes of this book and I hope that if you haven't read this that it convinces you to read it if you know you were on the fence or whatever it's not just the graphic content it's so much more than that and with that please let's have a discussion down in the com in the comments below also feel free to like subscribe and leave me a comment feel free to follow me on Instagram where I get up to more book of shenanigans and I will see you in the next one bye

Channel: Alana Estelle

Views: 11,139

Keywords: book review, A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara, Yanagihara

Id: MTLaCDEGCHo

Length: 28min 17sec (1697 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024