A Little Life

A Novel

De: Hanya Yanagihara

Narrado por: Matt Bomer

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE

A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.

Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.

©2025 Hanya Yanagihara (P)2025 Random House Audio

This book is terrible! Read it!

This story is beautiful! I hesitate telling anyone to read it because the things that happen to Jude are horrendous and the way it informa his life is tragic. It is a traumatic read, one that will haunt you and have you screaming "Come on!!! How much more can this guy take?!"
Be warned!

A fictional treatise on the psychology of abuse

If you can accept the unrelenting focus on the main character’s life experience, then it is possible to allow your own psychology to intertwine to the degree that you can tolerate with the resulting behavior of the main character and those others surrounding him.

Beautifully Tragic

Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life is a beautifully tragic novel, exquisitely written but emotionally heavy. While I appreciated its depth and the rawness of its portrayal of suffering, I personally found it hard to connect fully with the story—not because I haven’t faced struggles, but because it felt deeply male. The friendships, relationships, and experiences all centered around a male perspective, which sometimes left me feeling like an observer rather than immersed in the story. That’s not a flaw in the writing; it’s just a reflection of how I connect to narratives. The book is undeniably powerful, but at times, I found my mind drifting. Perhaps it’s because my own experiences are so deeply tied to female struggles that I had difficulty anchoring myself in this one. That said, it’s a book that will stay with me—a haunting, beautifully written exploration of pain, survival, and the endurance of love.

Gripping story

Such a gripping story. I will be thinking about all of these characters for a while.

Heartbreaking, real, raw

You fall in love with each character and you feel their pain as well as their happiness. So heartbreaking but at the same time, so beautiful.

i’m unwell

this was one of the most beautifully written books i’ve ever expensive it was also the most heartbreaking. proceed with caution.

thought provoking yet heart heaking

this will be a book I will forever remember. it's raw, gripping, and tragic. so beautifully written and I felt each emotion from every person. the narration was superb.

Amazing and heart wrenching!

This book…..such a sad surprising ending to such a wonderful story. Loved it so much!!

Matt Boomer is AMAZING!

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Get ready to cry! I loved all the characters Jude, Willem, JB and Malcom! Omg probably one of the best books I’ve ever read! Matt Boomer did amazing!

Just amazing

To me this book is a piece of art. Like an art piece with a devastating hidden meaning. It was beautifully told.