This is my first book review and it’s very long, my apologies, so please be kind to me on this one ! A Little Life is one of the most depressing and longest books I’ve read. It’s hauntingly gripping and immersive. Each character is so complex and beautifully orchestrated and this is seen in the first two chapters. It explores the human experience and how the characters lives intertwine through the lens of love loss and the importance of friendship.
>!This book is extremely detailed and fleshes out the characters through different mediums through art (as a black artist myself I really appreciated JB being the character he was) and other cultural references.This technique brought life and realism to these characters and I really enjoyed how the author considered so many details.!<
>!Depression and SH is something I have struggled with immensely and I really felt for Jude.!<
>!Did I cry ? Yes. Booktok got me and I bought this book after seeing people were ballin over this book. By page 644 I cried because my heart went out to Willem and with him seeing his brother in those moments broke me.!<
>!My negatives is that you really feel like you are sinking in quicksand with this book, it goes on various tangents and can feel like an uphill struggle getting through chapters. It can feel like it’s trauma after trauma with very little time to breathe (I had to take a few breaks whilst reading). As much as I empathised with Jude I really found myself getting really angry not only with him and his situation but the people in his life seeing this play out. How he conveniently has a doctor (Andy) who’s also a close friend who cleans his wounds and follows his wishes to not be hospitalised (he really needed to be hospitalised.) It really felt unbelievable, In the real world I am sure a doctor has legal obligation to hospitalise you if they suspect you intend to hurt yourself or someone else. Everytime you thought ‘oh this can’t get worse’ the author manages to soccer punch you time and time again to the point it was hard to believe. Maybe because I have gone through some tough shit myself similarly to the characters I was able to stomach a lot of it and therefore not have a great emotional response.!<
>!I felt Malcom’s character wasn’t given enough character building in my opinion and it was sad that after he died that we only really saw the type of person he was. Maybe that was intentional as it related to his friendship with the he gang and maybe that is how they also saw him. Lastly every time Jude apologised I wanted to scream as it was getting relentless.!<
>!My take away: As much as people in your life can do everything in their power to try and help you it really illustrates how cantankerous mental health can be. How it erodes your ability to function or live a fruitful life despite how ‘good’ things may be on the outside. Ultimately it is you and that reflection in the mirror that has to healed for you to be able to live and love. Also made me think about how life is short and how precious life is.!<
>!Side note: As black person with a love for plantain I laughed when Jude wanted to use burning himself frying plantain as an excuse. Why you gotta bring the Plantain into it now 😭. I have very dark humour or maybe I’m just a horrible person but I literally remember writing in my notes ‘not the plantain!!’!<
I would love to know if anyone felt similarly 🖤
by Que3noftheDamned