I read this book in a week, it has 720 pages and appeared right when I was busy. Actually, it has exploded since 2015, but I only found out about it by chance now. A little life is a book that if you search on Goodreads, you will see 5 star reviews and 1 star reviews; There are reviews that praise everything, there are reviews that curse it all.

“I have become lost to the world In which I otherwise wasted so much time It means nothing to me Whether the world believes me dead I can hardly say anything to refute it For truly, I am no longer a part of the world.”

Hanya Yanagihara’s goal is to write about a character who has too much childhood trauma, and the outcome of that character is never to overcome those dark years. She believes that in real life there are people who are traumatized and never recover or overcome it, so why does literature always have to have a light at the end of the tunnel? Thinking why, she blocked the tunnel.

So people threw stones at each other: one side cursed, like my friend said: “I know reality is sometimes like that, but actually literature and art should still give people a little hope.” , comforts the soul.” Supporters even made a video listing the work’s advantages and so on. The problem is that no one can deny the fact that it is truly sad and tragic. Many reviews call this work “torture porn” - or as people familiarly say, “dog blood”.

What is the problem of this book?

Actually, at first (when I hadn’t read it yet) listening to reviews on YouTube and watching interviews with the author - I was more inclined towards the author: the truth is that there are always deadlock situations in life, right?

This world has bad sides as well as beautiful sides; There are bright and lucky lives, and there are also lives with no way out. Once you have chosen a narrow direction, using the author-no-jutsu to lift the character out of a deadlock in an illogical way is not a good thing to do. Because it affects the perfection/completeness of a work of art, because it is neither truthful nor sincere. If at the end Ms. Dau steps out into the bright, cool summer light to create a bright ending, transmit positive energy, and help the reader feel at peace, then the meaning of the work will be completely lost. and perhaps readers today, or even in the past, will forget the existence of Lights Out as soon as they take their eyes off the last word. The value of a work, somewhat sadly, sometimes lies in the fact that it accurately reflects a certain aspect of life, no matter how difficult that aspect is to see directly.

So I feel, Hanya Yanagihara also has her reasons, right? But not.

After reading it myself, I understand why people are frustrated: it seems that this author has not achieved his original goal. Or to be more precise: the goal is still achieved, but the path to the destination seems a bit wrong.

How wrong?

The mistake is that the author seems to have imagined a dish that everyone knows, but the way of processing it creates a slightly different taste. Not enough to satisfy (me), because there are some places she likes to add salt and sugar, but in the house there is a lack of vinegar and no chili/pepper available to use…

Yanagihara is an editor. An editor usually knows how to structure a story, knows how to create highlights, knows how to manipulate readers’ emotions… she knows how to do it, she also knows what she wants to write, I won’t say this is A work with perfect Nabokov style, but I highly appreciate this person’s writing skills. The point is: there is a difference between the author and the editor/reader in that the author is intimately attached to the character’s emotions. It seems that Yanagihara has encountered a problem here: her sympathy for the character conflicts with her determination to reflect a truth that has made her not very successful (not a failure). Her pen follows her emotions: some are too angsty, some are too lenient. And according to the interview, she recognized these areas, but decided not to fix them.

Jude (the main character) went through a truly disastrous childhood, of all kinds: abuse, brainwashing, sexual abuse, sexual assault, physical abuse, neglect. …like all the worst things that could happen to a human being happened to this kid. To reach a deadlock, the path must be narrow, I accept it.

But since Jude was young, a child (a child), there have been very few people (not enough to count on one hand) to lift him up. I know there really are a lot of dark sides in the world, but is there really a child who goes through life forever without meeting a kind adult? With all those trucks giving Jude a ride on the highway for so many months, is there not a single driver who is kind and not a pedophile?

And here the discrepancy begins: Jude is 16 years old, rescued from that life. Records are sealed. Start over. And suddenly from here he met all good people. Everyone understands. Everyone loves you and protects you. Not invading your privacy. Four roommates become four best friends (this doesn’t seem to happen often and it inevitably happens): a Malcolm rich kid who knows how to keep his mind; JB is selfish but also knows how to keep his mind (?); and a gentle and beautiful Willem like a Saint. Their friendship makes me feel so good that it’s unreal. Actually, during this period, there was still a scumbag, but there were still many people by Jude’s side.

Before that she made me frown because Jude’s life was so scum (everyone)? Now I wonder why Jude always meets good people? Why has everything gone so smoothly from here? Like, no matter what stage the story goes a little too far. Makes me feel sorry, sorry that if there was a little moderation, a little balance, this story would be truly perfect.

The author wanted to reflect the reality that not all victims of violence will have a HE ending like in the movie - but she was also too soft-hearted, not cruel enough to truly reflect reality. To turn Jude into an addict, impulsive, lacking the ability to connect with people… like so many other abused children with tragic endings; especially when Jude has been through all that. Jude’s life, as tragic as it is, still has a slightly misplaced romantic element.

Jude’s outcome, although it is a fact in life, does not make me feel like it is a sad reality, but seems forced. This is a book with memorable characters and beautifully tragic passages like this one:

“He was no good for them, anyway; he was only an extravagant collection of problems, nothing more. Unless he stopped himself, he would consume them with his needs. He would take and take and take from them until he had chewed away their every bit of flesh; they could answer every difficulty he posed to them and he would still find new ways to destroy them. For a while, they would mourn him, because they were good people, the best, and he was sorry for that — but eventually they would see that their lives were better without him in it. They would see how much time he had stolen from them; they would understand what a thief he had been, how he had suckled away all their energy and attention, how he had exsanguinated them. He hoped they would forgive him; he hoped they would see that this was his apology to them. He was releasing them — he loved them most of all, and this was what you did for people you loved: you gave them their freedom.”

“You won’t understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are — not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving — and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad — or good — it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.”

The lack of satisfaction in A little life, I think, is not because there is no light at the end of the tunnel, but because the author has let his emotions get carried away and is being heavy-handed, which is not in the right place. Jude should be allowed to have a family and loved ones; but stubbornly stuck to the original intention, he had to create a sudden, unconvincing turn to achieve the original goal.

A little life is still a work that I feel is excellent enough.

It’s a book I will re-read many times, and I also hope it will be adapted into a movie like The Goldfinch.

Even though I love it (or because I love it), I still regret it because it could have been more perfect.