The issue I have with this particular book, if you will let me, is the fact that while reading it, it very much felt like reading a first draft rather than the final, printed and published copy. The repetitiveness of certain things, the redundant explanations of each and every single act and dialogue were pointless and so much in abundance that I had to wonder about the skills of the editorial team behind this book. I mean, I read The People in the Trees not too long ago, and now after reading A Little Life, I felt that the former was just so much richer in its delivery, that I simply could not help but feel disappointed.
Now when I say disappointed, I want you to understand that I very much fell in love with the characters themselves, which is the driving force of this book, and I also loved the story a lot. I mean… A LOT. So what was the problem? Simply the fact that I felt this book could use a couple more revisions before hitting the press. Properly edited, A Little Life would have delivered the exact same message, the emotional whirlpool – feelings of nostalgia, grief, sorrow, and happiness, all within 300 pages or so… less than half of the original 700 something.
That’s a lot of pages there!
Other than that, yes, it was indeed an amazing book. I loved the relationships shared by each of the characters. Despite the horrors of some of the events, what this book was focused on, in my opinion, was the goodness of human nature. Love between parents and children, love between siblings, love between partners and spouses, and love between friends… these are what A Little Life is about. Kudos to Hanya Yanagihara. She had me at The People in the Trees… like, really, REALLY had me, and this book, while did not enthrall me as much, it was still a very good book.
A Little Life
By Hanya Yanagihara
Hardcover. 720 pages. Doubleday. March 10, 2015.
Literary Fiction