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katenicolesstuff · 2 years

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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Hanya Yanagihara is an American author and editor best known for her novels "The People in the Trees" and "A Little Life." After the publication of her second novel, "A Little Life," she was nominated for several awards. She was one of the National Book Award finalists in 2015, and the novel was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize that year.

SUMMARY

The novel portrays the lives of four friends who met in college and moved to New York. Malcolm Irvine, an architect working at a renowned firm; Jean-Baptiste "JB" Marion, a versatile painter hoping to make a name for himself in the art world; Willem Ragnarsson, a handsome man and aspiring actor; and Jude St. Francis, a lawyer and mathematician with a mysterious past whose provenance and ethnic origins are largely unknown, even by his trio of friends. The book follows their relationships as they change as a result of success, wealth, addiction, and pride. Their friendship deepens as they realize their greatest challenge is attempting to help Jude. Jude is a central member of the friendship group, and the story revolves around him. We follow them as they cope with life and all of its struggles over several decades. Despite his denials, Jude injures himself severely in what appears to be a suicide attempt, providing the first glimpse into his tormented life.

Harold (Jude's adoptive father) eventually discovers what has happened and realizes Jude has been hurting himself. It becomes clear that Jude was sexually traumatized in his early years, which made it difficult for him to start engaging in romantic relationships. Harold and Andy (Jude's longtime doctor and friend) keep Jude's secret about what happened. As he approaches his forties, his friends and loved ones start to think about his isolation, with Willem especially mystified by Jude's sexuality. As his loneliness continues to worsen, he enters into an abusive relationship with fashion executive Caleb, and the trauma of what he goes through with Caleb causes Jude to attempt taking his own life.

Willem, who has been preoccupied with his career and numerous travels, realizes that his beloved friend needs more support after Jude overcomes his attempted suicide. Willem moves in with Jude and eventually confesses his feelings for him. Jude shares some of these feelings, but handling the relationship is difficult for him. He despises having sex and resents Willem questioning him about his past. Willem eventually learns about Jude's self-harming, which causes many difficulties between the two of them as Jude escalates his destructive behavior. Jude eventually tells Willem the backstory of his abuse and trauma. He also admitted that he hates sex. Following this, Jude and Willem remain as loving partners but no longer have a sexual relationship.

Jude and Willem have spent years together in happiness, but as Jude gets older, his injuries cause him increasing pain. He later has both of his legs amputated. In spite of his condition, he has many happy memories thanks to his friends, family, and career. However, Willem, Malcolm, and Malcolm's wife, Sophie, are all devastatingly killed in a car accident when Jude is in his early fifties. Jude's mental health rapidly starts to deteriorate after the accident. Andy and Harold try to do their best to help and support Jude, but in the novel's final part, Harold reveals that Jude finally took his life two years after Willem's death.

A Little Life Analysis

A Little Life is one of the most challenging, depressing, and disturbing books I've ever read, and it's the only one that truly and honestly left me intensely shaken, displaced, and torn apart. It's exhausting and draining, but it's unforgettable.

It took me more than a week after finishing this book to gather my thoughts and organize them so that I could write my impressions. I'm actually reading this book for the second time, and I don’t know how eloquently and articulately I'll present my impressions because I'm still under its influence, which makes me feel like a ravaging wave every time I think of this book.

This is a book where a human being is presented masterfully, poignantly, and in detail, with incredible skill and tangible realism, for whom it is impossible not to sympathize, not to feel something, not to want to jump into the pages and just be there for him, to hug him and tell him that everything will be alright. His traumas are so vividly pictured, descriptive, violent, shocking, crippling, and devastating that I felt them on my own skin; the pain and suffering drenched me, and I was unable to do anything.

I was both amazed and horrified by Yanagihara, and it is impressive in and of itself that she wrote this book in 18 months while working. She evokes an incredible, intricate, and complex picture of a character that you connect with and feel close to; the connection is utterly indisputable, and I have not felt it in a long time. I have become so identified with a fictional character, despite the fact that I have not even remotely gone through anything he has. There is no denying Yanagihara's talent. The writing style was wonderful for me. It was raw and lively, full of vivid comparisons and captivating dialogue, and many times it seemed like a punch in the gut that left me gasping for breath.

I especially liked the convincing psychological immersion experience, the tangled labyrinths of the human mind, and the portrayal of trauma, pain, and grief—how to live with them, how destructive they can be for the individual, but also how the people around that individual cope with them and witness their destructive and disreputable effects.

Moreover, Yanagihara's novel also suggests that neither the power of the state nor the liberties of the industry matter the most to the idea of a successful life for the fortunate and privileged. Rather, the most important issue is how the wealthy maintain their status by taking care of, protecting, and providing benefits for each other. Jude thinks, "Life was scary; it was unknowable." Even money wouldn't totally immunize him, he says.26 It isn't until he leaves the protection of his friends that he understands how rare and valuable his taste of immunity is, and how short-lived it will be. His friends, on the other hand, lament his inability to prosper from what they wanted to give him as they see the miserable happenings in his life. The grief with which the fortunate witness the unfortunate falling through the net is the pathos of A Little Life.

The critics say her writing style is long-winded and a bit pretentious. A lot of the writing felt repetitive and descriptive for the sake of description. Although uncomfortable and challenging to read, especially in a book with such a theme, Yanagihara covers very sensitive and taboo topics like self-harm, mental health, sexual, emotional, physical, and psychological abuse, pedophilia, and homosexuality. I feel that these topics are painfully realistic and effectively portrayed, but they are also a part of reality, and we should not turn away because something seems ugly, uncomfortable, or repulsive. Instead, we should face reality and see things as they are, which, I think, is why the book had to be 820 pages long and why so many awful things had to happen to Jude. Each chapter, each paragraph, each description of a horrible event, dares the reader to put the book down and say, "That's enough." I've had enough. I've had enough of Jude... In other words, the book dares the reader to do the exact thing that Jude fears his friends will do if he tells them the exact things that you're slowly learning about him. To those who say this isn't realistic: congratulations on your comfortable life. This happens all the time. Horrible people can spot someone who will be easily victimized from a mile away. (Compound trauma is the most common type of trauma.) This is also why I believe you must first learn about the good in Jude, as you would about any friend, and then gradually reveal the layers of his past to you. They'd be the same if you were the fifth member of the friend group. That's one of the main reasons this book hit close to home. It made me feel understood in a way I had never felt before.

The plot is carried by the characters, and they are the plot, which was quite special to me. Despite the plot's suffering and tragedy, cruelty, monstrosity, agony, and darkness, there are bright spots: true and sincere and priceless friendship, intimacy, support, love and empathy, understanding and kindness, and a selflessly extended hand. But is that enough? Can you help someone who doesn't want to be helped, someone who is so broken and crippled that they believe they don't deserve kindness?

People who claim Jude suffered "too much" trauma are implying that their love for Jude, and their love for people who have experienced trauma, has boundaries, and there is a "line" to how much they are willing to empathize. This is why I gave this book a 5/5 because it covers so many things about trauma. Many people can't finish this book, are unwilling to finish it, or say it's not a good or realistic novel for the same reasons that people who have experienced trauma don't feel at ease expressing themselves to others. Many people lack the ability to sit with someone, learn about their experiences, accept them without judgment, and stay with them until the end.

I have read some other books that have very depressing subject matter, and I appreciate the discourse here about why these types of readings are valid. In life, people are abused, they have bad luck, and they sometimes never really have happy moments. If we want art to reflect reality, then those moments are important. I believe this book proves that.

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katenicolesstuff · 2 years

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Colourway

Given all the silence. I could see the sky was taking its place as I stare out the window . If we're giving it all a title. I'll concede I might have made the best decision in my life. It’s 17th of December, three years since I moved out in East Coast. Now I’m returning to my darkest place. I can almost feel the earth closing in, the air going stale and damp, the dark pressing down on top of me, and I have to open my mouth to breath.

Three years ago, a girl named Rome was once the love of my life, she was smart, stubborn, moody, funny, mean when she lost her temper, sweet, protective of the people she loved. She always had my back, even if we fought sometimes. I would have sat beside with Rome when I’m feeling heavy. She would moved her hand behind my head and support it. Her fingers moved gently in my hair. The pain begins to flood. And for a bit, I’m forced to feel it. This bittersweet torture is how one heals. So I allow it. Now, I’m sitting in here in this ship feeling dull and out of place and wondering how I was ever going to start freeing all of this deep and terrible melancholy I’ve held in my core for so long.

I forget that most of the time it's the small things that count. I remember running down the hall on my way to meet Rome after our graduation. I remember her smile and her laugh when I was my best self and she looked at me like I could do no wrong and was whole. It was our first night together at Baragatan Festival where a convergence and coming together of the people of Palawan to celebrate its history and rich culture, I remember how she looked at me the same way even when I wasn’t. I remember we were sitting near by the sea. I could feel the fresh air rushing to my lungs. It was the first time she break her walls for me, her hand in mine and how that felt, as if something and someone belonged to me. I love the way her eyes spark when we're talking or when she's telling me something she wants me to know, the way she mouths the words herself when she's reading and concentrating, the way she looks at me as if there's only me, as if she can past the flesh and bone and nonsense right into me that is there, the one I don't even see myself. Nostalgia keeps on carving a scar on my heart. I miss the old times.

This person made me feel like I’m joy riding at dawn under the blanket of stars. It’s like taking a break on a rock in the middle of a hike and just watching the entire mountain meeting the sea. It felt like eternal peace. She was my solace. She was there when I have no one left. While I’m out and search for someone else. I know life well enough to know you can’t count on things staying around or standing still, no matter how much you want them to. You can’t stop people from making up their mind. You can’t stop them from going away. You can’t stop yourself from going away either. The thing is, those days were all perfect days. She made me fall in love with life, that could be the greatest thing my heart was ever fit to do.

Leaving someone is difficult. This person was never mine to keep but I hade the best memories to keep. If a moment is meant to stay around, you carry it with you in your bone. Maybe even the smallest places mean. When we’re in the act of wandering, we need to be present, not watching it through a lens. Rome taught me that you have to live your life like you’ll never be sorry. It’s easier just to do the right thing from the start so there’s nothing to apologize for.

There is good in this world, if you look hard enough for it. Get out there and see your state. Go to museums and parks and historic sites. Get yourselves some culture so that when you do leave you can take it. I know there's more in there, probably years of atrocities you’ve been smiling away and keeping down. Maybe in another life everything worked out alright, and things that made this harder passed us by. The happy times went away for a while, but I will always be here, in the offerings and people I left behind.

I can hear the ship’s coming in. I can feel the worries fading away. I’m relaxed and happy—happier than I’ve been in a while. I am in the moment. I am in the darkest place where I find the brightest light. I am here. I’m coloured in again.

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