Jump to ratings and reviews. Want to read. Rate this book. A Little Life. Hanya Yanagihara. Goodreads Choice Award. When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity.
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Loading interface About the author. Hanya Yanagihara 18 books Hanya Yanagihara lives in New York City. Write a Review. Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book! Community Reviews. Search review text. Displaying 1 - 30 of , reviews.
Glenn Sumi. There are lots of 5 star raves on this site. I liked it, I really liked it! Over the decades, their friendship endures, through spats, early career struggles, J. The novel is also refreshing in its depiction of race, gender and sexual orientation.
The depiction of the effects of abuse My one major takeaway from this book is a fuller understanding of the after-effects of systemic childhood abuse. Jude, an orphan raised at a monastery, the first site of his sadistic stations of the cross, feels absolutely worthless. He bangs himself against walls.
In one particularly harrowing scene, he sets himself on fire. For the people who adore him not just J. A good one-third to one-half of the book recounts all of that. And in the character of Brother Luke especially , she understands how abusers manipulate.
