Thursday, June 8, 2017

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Wednesday, May 24, 2017--Caceres, Spain

I finished reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.  It was a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award, and after reading all but one of the finalists including the winner, I would say this is the book that SHOULD have won the award.  Reading it is like being on a roller coaster of life as sections veer from happiness to depression, from descriptions of horrible experiences to joyous occasions, from disappointment to success, etc.  There are lots of negative things that happen in this book, but as this review in the New Yorker explains, they come in small doses and the awful truths are very slowly revealed to make it palatable.  Also, it is one of the most realistic novels I have ever read in that it accepts what is happening with explanations of WHY it is happening rather than condemnation for what is happening.  I felt I could truly understand why things people sometimes do are actually done by them.  Anyway, it is really well written and a very good, if difficult, subject.  I gave it 5 stars out of 5.

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