Book Review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara

‘A Little Life’ by Hanya Yanigahara was published in 2015. It is a well-known and well-received work of literary fiction, however, the consensus of the masses varies significantly.

The story itself follows four friends; JB, Willhem, Malcolm and Jude, as they age in New York City. Each man has his own struggles to over come, with substance abuse, mental ill health, imposter syndrome or all of the above. But, as the story progresses, some perspectives become fewer and further between, and it becomes clear that Jude is the primary focus of the narrative.

Jude Saint Francis has lived a complicated and painful life, and while we don’t learn the extent of the anguish to which he experiences, until much later in the book, we do know that he isn’t forthcoming with stories about his past at all, even with the people he loves most.

All we know by around halfway through the story is that Jude has problems with his back and with his legs, that were caused by an accident he had as a teen, and, despite this, he doesn’t like considering himself disabled.

Unfortunately, I have two rather contrasting opinions of ‘A Little Life’; I think that it was well-written objectively, but Yanigahara made some morbid and sometimes grotesque choices when it came to what she wanted to describe in her story. However, I also subscribe to the opinion that this book is effectively a long-winded and graphic sequence of near-constant suffering, and vehemently understand why readers would describe this book as torture porn; from the way Yanigahara described Jude’s methodical habit of self-harm, and how his skin looked after be began cutting through scar tissue, and his suicide attempts, it was oftentimes nauseating or cringe-worthy.

Similarly, when you recount the things June experienced, and the anti-therapy stance he exudes constantly, you find yourself faced by a lot of triggering and distressing content, which I will recount with brevity in mind, however, the following is going to contain mentions of childhood sexual abuse, emotional abuse, assault, rape, self-harm and suicidal ideation.

Essentially:

A baby was abandoned in an alley and raised in a monestary, without being socialised among children his own age. During his upbringing, he was abused physically, emotionally, and sexually by the Brothers at the monestary.

Not long after, he and one of the Brothers, fled the monestary, and Jude was thrust into sex work, through which he contracted a number of incurable STDs, learns about self-harm via his abuser, is found by the police and witnesses his abuser commit suicide.

He is thrown into the care system, where he was further abused by the people in the home,and runs away, where he is picked up from a truck stop by a doctor, who takes him in, and gives him food, shelter and medication, but refuses to let Jude go.

When Jude attempts to escape, he is apprehended, and is abducted, thrown onto a road, and told to run again, and if he slowed down, he was mowed over by his abuser’s car, again and again and again.

When he survives his ordeal, he has a number of scars, and has endured great amounts of physical trauma. He is put back into care, and is given a support worker, who begs him to confide in her, but he refuses, even as she’s dying of cancer. He doesn’t accpt her help, adn will regret it for the rest of his life.

When Jude goes to university, he makes lifelong friends, persues his ambitions of working as a lawyer and even as his body weakens, his career flourishes. He is loved by his friends, and adopted in his thirties, legally, by his former mentor and teacher, Harold, and his wife Julia.

But Jude’s mental health is precarious and he attempts suicide.

He ends up dating an abusive, cruel man, who resents Jude’s disability, and spouts streams of abelist rhetoric, doesn’t take the break-up well, is confronted, and spoken ill of by Harold in a swanky restaurant, and, spurned, breaks into Jude’s apartment, strips him naked, tosses him out on the street, eventually brings him back in, rapes and defiles him in multiple places in Jude’s home, then throws him down the stairs.

And that isn’t even the end of his suffering. he ends up dating again after a while, and begins a relationship with his best friend, loses his legs as his health deteriorates, struggles with weight loss and malnutrition. He loses friends, and loved ones in a tragic accident, his depression worsens, he further refuses to entertain therapy, and eventually ends his life.

This book is, therefore, about 700 pages of torture porn at Jude’s expense. While aspects of it, particularly anything from Harold’s point of view, are beautiful, poetic, reverent and sincere, that doesn’t in my opinion, mean the reading experience was enjoyable.

I wouldn’t recommend this book. It is a story I won’t be able to forget for some time, and with the tenth anniversary coming up, with brand new, beautiful editions being published, I would like to ensure, that if you do intend to read ‘A Little Life’, you are mindful of your triggers, and always proceed with your own mental wellbeing in mind.