“A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara is a haunting exploration of the emotional space and unfathomable distances that exist within the human soul. Set against the backdrop of bustling New York City, the novel vividly portrays the physical confines of cramped apartments and sprawling cityscapes, reflecting the challenges of urban life where personal space is often a luxury. Yet, it is the inner spaces of the characters’ hearts and minds that truly captivate.
“You won’t understand what I mean now, but someday you will: 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—and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.”- Hanya Yanagihara
The book is the life story of four men- Jude, Malcom, Willem and JB, they all meet at university and go on to have improbably stratospheric careers, then the story unfolds through various juxtapositions of their individual talestories and their intertwined stories. Willem works as a waiter in the beginning but goes on to build a successful career as an actor, Malcom Irvine, the son of a wealthy upper east sideUpper East Side family who works as an associate with a European starchitect, Jean-Baptiste (JB) the child of Haitian migrants who works as a receptionist downtown art magazine, then there is Jude who is a lawyer and a mathematician. The whole story unfolds through Jude, whose story and origins are not delved into until very late into the book. The story is around 700 pages long, and it is more than their successful careers or their successful relationships, it has more to it than Yanagihara shows you in the first odd fifty pages of the book.
The most obvious indication that “A Little Life” will defy our expectations is the gradual shift in focus within the text towards Jude’s enigmatic and traumatic past. As we keep reading, the group of characters takes a backseat, allowing Jude to step into the spotlight. With Jude as the central figure, “A Little Life” emerges as a surprisingly unconventional novel. It uses the familiar elements of realistic storytelling, often associated with middle-class life, to deliver a thought-provoking exploration of topics like sexual abuse, enduring pain, and the challenges of healing. What’s even more surprising is that, after subverting our expectations once, Yanagihara does it again by denying us the comforting resolutions we typically find in stories that take such dark twists.
“…things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life
The story masterfully delves into the profound emotional distances that trauma can create. The protagonist, Jude, carries a lifetime of unspeakable pain and abuse, resulting in an immeasurable chasm between himself and those who care for him. This emotional space crunch is both heartrending and thought-provoking, challenging readers to contemplate the limits of empathy and human connection.
As the narrative spans decades, it grapples with the passage of time and the shifting landscapes of relationships, exemplifying how temporal distance can shape one’s perception of the past. The characters’ enduring bonds, despite the ever-widening emotional gaps, highlight the resiliency of the human spirit.
In “A Little Life,” Yanagihara crafts a poignant and unsettling portrait of the spaces that define us—the physical, emotional, and psychological realms that shape our existence. This profound exploration of space and distance within the human experience makes it a deeply moving and unforgettable literary masterpiece. Bleak, unforgiving, refusing to leave my head after I read it, it took me 4 four months to finish this emotionally haunting book, some call it torture-porn, and some call it a nuanced masterpiece. You can choose your own version to define your own unique experience of the rollercoaster this book puts you on. Though I love the book I am not sure I would recommend it to everyone I know, like I would do with other books.
The text in itself has created a divisive narrative surrounding the book, there are people who would not even wish the book on their worst enemies, but there are people who would love for their loved ones to read this book and understand the nuances of human existence and the distances it creates. And I stand in between both of these.
“None of them really wanted to listen to someone else’s story anyway; they only wanted to tell their own.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life
-Nishita Sharma