Life is a pathway of happiness, struggles, and sadness which combines under the umbrella of tragedies. These tragedies can be happy or can be enough to ruin our lives. But who decides the impact of these tragedies? Us. We play the most important role in deciding the impact of happenings in our lives.
These outcomes are what makes us happy or sad and not tragedies. This is what this book enfolds into, the impact of tragedies on the lives of four college students and their inter-dependence.
The aim to get a perfect life has overshadowed the importance of experiencing tragedies in our lives. And this is where the lives we live becomes so little and shallow. This book highlights all those moments of life which might be futile but are actually what make our lives different from the rest of us.
Before reading further, I would like to ask you one question, what will be your reaction when your sweet lemonade starts tasting sour? Will you cherish it like something new, or will you throw it away?
The Plot
This book is based on the lives of four friends Jude, Willem, Malcolm, and JB who are interlinked to each other through our main character Jude. Each of these characters has been woven with pain, agony, tragedies, and calmness by Hanya Yanagihara.
Unexpected turns and tails are what make this book more realistic and raw. Besides, all the traits of being sad, this book also talks about friendship, love, nature, philosophy, and intuitiveness in the most beautiful way.
The boldness to talk about atrocities, suicides, and deaths is so compelling that I did not want to leave this book. What is the best part, is that every tragedy came with a realistic solution to it.
For example, telling a person with a panic attack to relax is not realistic but counting 3,2, 1 with them, or doing a similar exercise is.
The four friends are supportive of each other and know when to take a step back and let the other person breathe. These characteristics of the secondary characters like Andy and Harold will make you forget about happiness and cherish sadness with a new perspective.
Personal Views
"A Little Life" has been one of the best books I have read so far. The number of atrocities and tragedies this book covered somehow felt comforting to me. Being scared by the number of pages of this book, I somehow felt that there were times when the plot went extremely slow and times when it accelerated to the next level.
Besides being too hyped up for crying throughout, I didn't shed a tear maybe because of the predictability I had in my mind.
This book can be a bit confusing if you leave it on hold. So, one extra tip would be to read it from the start to the end. And yes, please go through the trigger warnings before you step into the world of these characters.
According to me, everyone should once read this book, as it comes with an infinite amount of teachings which are important in life. And for the question I asked you, read the book to know your answer.
For now, I will leave you with the curiosity to read this book.
Share your views in the comment section, or write to me at @poorvik35@gmail.com
