2015 book 38

Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life
I've been reading this book for several days--it's looong (but moves quickly!)--and just couldn't wait one more day to find out what happened. Instead I stayed up way past my bedtime because I was so engrossed in this world--and worried about these characters. The story more-or-less centers on four college friends--Jude, Willem, JB, and Malcolm--who all end up in New York in their 20s, and it follows them for several decades thereafter, touching on issues like race and class and art and success--though eventually some disturbing secrets are revealed. Mainly, to me, it was the story of the steadfast love and friendship between Jude and Willem (the other two fade out of the story at a certain point, replaced by a professor/father figure of Jude's) and it was incredibly moving. Now, some super bad sh*t is discussed in the book, so be forewarned about that, and I do feel like there is some stuff here that people could criticize (it is like INSANELY tragic, almost over the top). But I don't want to criticize it. I spent like the last two hundred pages reading with tears streaming down my face because I was so involved in the story. This is Yanagihara's second novel--after the also dark-but-excellent People in the Trees--and I really can't wait to see what she does next. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.