A Little Life

Eines der besten Bücher die ich jemals gelesen habe. Hanya Yangihara hat mit diesem Buch einen zeitlosen Klassiker geschaffen der für mich nicht nur wegen dem grandiosen Schreibstil und der nicht loslassenden Geschichte hervorsticht sondern ganz besonders durch die Stimmung die bei mir erzeugt wurde und dadurch unvergessen bleibt. Wenn ich mich an das Buch erinnere, kann ich das Gefühl, das ich während des Lesens hatte immer noch so present spühren. Ich konnte es nicht aus der Hand legen und habe es in 8 Tagen gelesen. Von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite ein grandioses Buch.

“A little life” is a very extraordinary book that includes the traumatizing life of Jude St. Francis. Her writing style was, in so many ways, brilliant. It was easy to read, not long-Winded at all, and I wasn’t able to stop reading it. It includes a lot of TWS and I wish I would’ve been aware of them before reading the book; nevertheless, I would never trade the experience I made with the book.

An amazingly well written and important book, but please, please, please read the trigger warnings! I didn´t and therefore was absolutely not ready for what was thrown at me. Nonetheless it is a book that will have you hooked from the first page and can definitely be called one of those "life-changing books". Yanagihara´s characters are deep in a way I have seldom seen and you start to feel for them even before you learn about their lifestories because you feel an ever-looming doom in the way the novel is written. Although I will say, you might refrain from reading this book if you struggle with some of the trigger warnings. I could somewhat relate to Jude through my experiences and definitely would not have read this book if I had searched up the trigger warning beforehand because it didn´t do me well. Still, an important and necessary book!

As some have already said in their reviews: please check the trigger warnings first! This book certainly isn't a feel-good read nor light entertainment. You will cry and scream and be stuck on this book for years to come. It is definitely one of those books people call life-changing or "books I shouldn't have read at *some early age*". Nevertheless, the pain and heartbreak you will endure will be more than worth it. Yanagihara's prose can only be described through one word: Beautiful. Despite the heavy and dark themes in this novel, it is so beautifully written, that you will pick this book up again and again after finishing it, just to read some of the prose again.

It's a masterpiece. Period. But I would not recommend it to anyone who is mentally unstable. This book is devastating, depressing and traumatizing. Take the warnings serious. On the other hand I really enjoyed the rawness. The honesty. This is the real life and things like these happen & ignoring them doesn’t make them go away.