Did not finish: A Little Life: A Novel by Hanya Yanagihara 📚
Beautifully written. After 400+ pgs of almost non-stop trauma, this book was actively making me unhappy so I set it aside. Definitely search around for content warnings before reading.
Kimberly Hirsh
Three books in a trench coat. Escribitionist. Mom. School librarian. Citizen of Romancelandia. I manage multiple chronic illnesses. I love books and games. 🌈♿
One of the covers for that book (there are at least two I think) was a person with an expression that made me pause. I thought, “Is that anguish…relief….?” It was one of the first times I actually looked up the plot because I wasn’t sure I could handle it if it was anguish. And it was. And I didn’t read it. The world stress of the last couple years has me checking a lot of plots lately looking for happier endings.
@hollie It is! 700 pages of anguish! I made it 400 pages in for 2 reasons: 1. Beautiful, compelling writing 2. Mystery embedded in the anguish. A lot of the mystery was resolved right before I stopped and it left me feeling so yuck and sad that I actually after weird to my family. Books tend to be healing and joyful for me so I knew after that reaction it was time to stop.
@hollie And I just read the plot summary on Wikipedia and oh my goodness am I glad I quit when I did. Yikes.
@hollie This quote from the Vox review really captures it: “A Little Life may be the most beautiful, profoundly moving novel I’ve ever read. But I would never recommend it to anyone.”
Oh my gosh that Vox quote! 😂 Wow, 700 pages. What must that have been like to write? I fully support stories getting told but I gotta say I also really appreciate the ease with which I can find reasonably spoiler-free synopses on the internet when I need to! Especially these last couple years when I really crave hope and happiness in my reading.