I FINISHED A LITTLE LIFE

FEB 4, 2023 - MAY 5, 2023

I spent my birthday bawling. 

I made immense progress with this book while riding the subway to and from Brooklyn. The subway is the best way to get reading in. That said, this was not the right book choice because I got teary-eyed, and it's fucking heavy. My wrists!

Do I understand why people love this book? Somewhat. The writing is average. I learned about the different law expertise, developed a greater appreciation for New York, and vicariously experienced a life vastly different from mine. I grew to like many characters, and found their relationships beautiful. Quite envious. One can only hope to have a friendship that endures so long that's brimming with love, even when it's strained. And one can only hope to make many friends and have family that loves you so unconditionally. Malcolm is my favorite from the group of friends. He's spineless in his life and career but a great friend. He's forgettable for the most part, but I still like him.

That being said, this book was way too long. It could have been several hundred pages less. It was more or less than same issues and conversations. Also, I'm reiterating my Goodreads review: "Hanya Yanagihara thought of every tragedy that can happen to one person and wrote it about Jude." I still stand by this. I am sure some people have experienced a lot of tragedy, but I hope it's not dogpiled on to the point of overkill like the way Yanagihara did with Jude. It's like she had all these tragedies on a dartboard and wrote about whichever one the dart landed on. 

While writing the most twisted backstory, she crafted the perfect façade for Jude. He's smart (a prolific lawyer and majored in math,) a fantastic cook, incredibly kind (most of the time,) loves cleaning, and is considered good-looking by many. Sure, it's a great dichotomy, but not all that realistic. He's too perfect as a person. His only negative traits are his history and emotional issues (he gets angry, is self-destructive, and is unwilling to accept help.) People can sympathize with what he goes through, but readers can't truly or entirely relate to him because he doesn't seem real. He is a dichotomy of extremes. 

I am elated that he becomes vulnerable and tells someone about his past. He is still just as infuriating at the end as he is in the beginning. His animosity and wariness of some characters were disturbing to read about. They love you so much; they would be absolutely devasted if they knew just what Jude thought of them. Jude can also be incredibly mean and isn't the best friend sometimes. His friends are ranked, so to speak. Some are more expendable than others. Friend of the year, amirite?

There isn't a plot; it's character-driven. Jude's story is tragic and devastating, but the character that deserves even more sympathy and is even more tragric is Harold. Poor Harold (and JB, but mostly Harold.) 

I was initially going to argue the LGBTQ label for the book because it felt more like two friends that decided to end up together purely out habit/coexisting. Historians would say they were dear friends kind of deal. I grew incredibly conflicted while I was coming up with what to say. I was trying to label Jude Ace and all that. Ultimately, I think it's great that there were no labels. No gender labels, no sexual preference labels. They are simply just two human beings that love each other. Post-gender, sexuality, race, etc.