A Little Life
By Hanya Yanagihara
736 pages;
Doubleday
Prepare yourself: This spellbinding, feverish novel
sucks you in to the struggle of sensitive, brilliant, young Jude as he tries to
survive his never-discussed childhood. That childhood—slowly,
hauntingly revealed to the reader over hundreds of pages in a feat of writing
that mimics how memory works in those who try to suppress it—turns
out to be one long, savage nightmare of abuse. How Jude tries to create a life
in spite of it, not just succeeding professionally as an attorney, but also attempting
to develop trust and intimacy with a group of friends is one of the most
compassionate, moving stories of our time. Yes, you'll feel for Jude and the
horrors he endured. But you will also be transformed by the efforts of his ad
hoc family of roommates, professors, neighbors and co-workers who never give up
on loving him, even when "proof of your friendship lay in ... turning and
walking away when the door was shut in your face instead of trying to force it
open again." An exquisitely written, complex triumph.
— Leigh Newman