a book

A Little Life

Name: A Little Life
Rating: 5 (12 reviews)
Author: Hanya Yanagihara
ISBN: 9780804172707

Hanya Yanagihara · 2015 · 816 pages

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.

recommended by 12 people

sourced from public statements

Roxane Gay
“I don’t mind emotional excess and in addition to being so very readable, with really interesting, complex, at times infuriating characters, “A Little Life” is full of emotional excess. I so admire how Yanagihara allows the melodrama into this story, and does so unabashedly. This book is unforgettable and heart wrenching and all I could ever want in a reading experience.”↗
Soman Chainani
“The greatest work of fiction I’ve ever read, with the simplest theme: All of us come with baggage and wounds and pain; all of us.”↗
Andy Cohen
“I LOVE this book! A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara. Highly recommend for your final summer read!…”↗
Jane McGonigal
“@rhondakap @kellymcgonigal If you haven't read this only read it if you want to be emotionally brutalized. Virtuoso portrayal of compassion but Jesus you could not make worse things happen to your characters. Almost sadistic. Amazing book but traumatic read”↗
Nate Berkus
“July #NatesReads is here + this month I’ve chosen the 3 books I will NEVER give away. They are: “A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey, “After Visiting Friends” by @MichaelHainey, & “A Little Life” by @YanagiharaHanya. Head to to shop them now.”↗
Gabrielle Union
“I’m still mourning the end of this book and my time with these beautifully written characters. This book pulls you in and holds you close and you will find yourself lost in its pages and searching the streets for these characters you’ve been rooting for.”↗
Wilson Cruz
“This is how I know I’ve read a GREAT BOOK... Weeks later, I’m just daydreaming, as I do, and I think I miss somebody, who is it? Oh, I miss Jude.... Then I realize Jude was a character in a book. An amazing book called #ALittleLife by #HanyaYanagihara and I miss him.”↗
Lee Pace
“Happy Thanksgiving. Just read a couple excellent books. #BetweenTheWorldAndMe #ALittleLife Felt compelled to share.”↗
Sarah Jessica Parker
Jack Edwards
Zoë Foster Blake
John Fish