*spoilers ahead*


A Little Life tells the story of the post-college lives of four friends—Jude, Willem, Malcolm, and JB—as they emerge into their adult lives and navigate success in New York. Jude is a gifted litigator, Willem is an actor, Malcolm works in architecture, and JB is a highly ambitious and talented artist.

The novel contains themes such as privilege, race, and sexuality, though its heartbeat rests in its daring exploration of Jude’s traumas and how their irreversible effects continually infiltrate and redefine his relationships. Naturally, as the most reserved of the four, Jude is a complex character, equally as interesting as he is frustrating. With a past initially shrouded with mystery, his desire to be accepted by others contradicts his inability to open up about his past, along with his sometimes reluctant participation in friendships. While determined to relegate his traumas to his past, Jude’s constant impulses to cut himself and his deprecating self esteem disallow him from fully letting go of his childhood angers and griefs.


“In his new life, he promised himself, he would be less demanding of his friends; he would be more generous. Whatever they wanted, he would give them.”


The sympathy I felt for Jude was largely due to the way Yanagihara writes: there is such a beautiful, suspending quality to her prose, almost as if time ceases to exist, and all the events throughout Jude’s life occur and affect him all at once. At any point in the novel, I couldn’t help but fear for him, especially since I couldn’t see a feasible route for his recovery. The deeper I got into the novel, the more it felt like I’d jumped from a cliff and was falling, waiting to hit the ground, because for Jude, what comes up must eventually come back down. Every positive moment portends a negative one.

Reading about Jude’s moments of joy, especially the part where Harold and Julia adopt him, felt like a gradual farewell to his character. His happiness was flimsy, much like my own hopes for him to get better. The story begins and ends on Lispenard Street, paralleling the way Jude’s life begins and ends in immense pain.


“Life is so sad, he would think in those moments. It’s so sad, and yet we all do it. We all cling to it; we all search for something to give us solace.”


The title of the novel references a scene from the motel where Brother Luke instructs Jude to “show a little life” when he begins to dissociate in front of clients. This practice of presenting an artificial exterior allows Jude to expertly tap into different versions of himself depending on who he interacts with. Because all the characters have varying understandings of who he is, the degrees of which they love or hate him reveal dark insights into themselves. Therefore, in addition to its gripping storyline, A Little Life offers a vast array of unflinching character studies. For instance, while Willem deeply cherishes his friendship and eventual relationship with Jude, he possesses a sort of savior complex that makes it difficult to believe that he is completely selfless. In another instance, while Caleb isn’t inherently a bad person, his frustrating experience with his parents’ disabilities prevents him from extending any compassion toward Jude.

No character in this book is without flaw, though Harold and Andy were near perfect. Their unconditional support and patience for Jude was extremely touching to read about. Additionally, despite Willem’s faults, his love for Jude was one of the purest romances I’ve ever read.


“He now viewed a successful relationship as one in which both people had recognized the best of what the other person had to offer and had chosen to value it as well.”


A Little Life is without a doubt one of the best yet most heartbreaking novels I have ever read. This is one of those novels that I will think about day to day, week to week, because it has fundamentally changed the way I view storytelling, love, and life.


“And so I try to be kind to everything I see, and in everything I see, I see him.”