A Little Life

A Novel

By: Hanya Yanagihara

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

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.

©2022 Penguin Random House Audio (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

This book will break you

The events that happened to Jude, I was thankful that they were not real, like waking up from a nightmare & finding yourself repeating “it’s not real” over & over to make yourself feel a little better, that’s how I was able to finish this book. But in this book you learn about true love, friendship & learn about what it is like living in pain especially the pain from the past that hunts you. I don’t have the right words to describe how I feel about this book but I do know that everyone needs to read it.
At end of the day, it’s always the internal fights that we deal with that no one knows about. Therefore, we need to pay attention to what we do& say because we never know what someone might be feeling & going through.
To love with all of our heart & to be kind always.

Amazing Plot and Story Telling

Amazing story. Cried many times. Absolutely recommend. Oliver Wyman is a great narrator, expresses emotion beautifully.

My own little life…

This book thawed a piece of my heart that I truly believed was dead. It brought memories of my brothers to life. Brothers I lost many years ago. I don’t have the ability to convey what this means to me. I can’t recommend reading this beautiful story without a warning. Enter at your own risk.

Grueling

This is probably the saddest story I’ve ever listened to. Very well written however I do not recommend unless you enjoy unimaginable pain.

A very sad story

Maybe I’m just not a huge fan of unfortunate events? I enjoyed learning about the character and parts of their life, but overall I couldn’t help but let this book affect my mood. It was a book that switched point of views between characters and included many flashbacks. Stories were told at all parts of the book in different times of the characters lives. A story about self inflicted injuries, abuse both physical and mental and just gut wrenching. I can’t say I was a huge fan and would not put this up top with my favorite books, but it was an okay read and I had to finish. Lastly, there was no happy ending and it was very realistic to what happens to people when they live difficult lives like this.

one of the ABSOLUTE BEST books i’ve ever read

as difficult as it is to confront the subjects in this book, i can’t stop listening. i’m “reading” it for the third time with a small group of friends to whom I’ve gifted the book because i simply NEED people to talk to about it.
unfortunately, there are people who’ve actually experienced tragic events such as these and are forever changed. i had to keep reminding myself - sadly there are people who are living thru trauma such as these right now.
the author describes such things as addiction, abuse, and deep friendships in a remarkably real way.

Incredible Prose

This book is incredible on many levels—the writing is incredible, the characters are incredible, and the tales of trauma are incredible. The reader is the best I’ve ever heard, by the way.

There are things about this book that are exhausting—the length of it because so much of the pages are filled with sadness. Also, the plausibility of one child experiencing that much damaging treatment from so many people…like an entire monastery of evil monks? However, the author is such a great writer and there were times of utter joy that brought me to tears. Sadly, the love of Jude’s friends was never enough and the book has an overall feeling of hopelessness that I can’t quite buy into. It is NOT for the feint of heart. But even with these criticisms, the book is so beautifully written and raises so many good themes that’s it worth reading. I feel torn about how to rate it!

Pretty Good, but slow speaker

I LOVED the story. It had me crying multiple times. Oliver has a fine voice but talks way too slowly for my taste so I had it on speed x 1.7 most of the time. At the end it was x 2.
I recommend this story to everyone who has THOROUGHLY research it’s themes and trigger warnings. I am naturally very insensitive and don’t really get triggered by anything. - but this story is genuinely disturbing especially if someone is to read it just from recommendation. - So respectfully research and find out if the story is for you before digging in. It is a very beautifully heartbreaking story.

Dark

This book was very long and dark. The events were most times devastating. I can not imagine the how Jude felt after experiencing such a horrific life. Fortunately this book was very well written.

Superb

Fantastic writing, gripping yet heartbreaking story plus absolutely brilliant narration. All the stars and more. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟