A Little Life

By: Hanya Yanagihara

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 32 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

'I'm not exaggerating when I say this novel challenged everything I thought I knew about love and friendship. It's one of those books that stays with you forever.' – Dua Lipa

The million-copy bestseller, Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, by the author of To Paradise, is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance.

Winner of Fiction of the Year at the British Book Awards
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize
Finalist for the US National Book Award for Fiction

When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity.

Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome – but that will define his life forever.

'Yanagihara takes you so deeply into the lives and minds of these characters that you struggle to leave them behind.' – The Times

©2015 Hanya Yanagihara (P)2015 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd

Critic reviews

"In person Yanagihara is breezily intellectual; all bright red lipstick, sparkly jewellery and cobalt-blue heels. And yet A Little Life has at its heart a darkness so profound you wonder both where it came from and how she mustered the courage to confront it…She is, she says, very much the sort of person who walks past strangely located doors or evocatively seedy windows and immediately wonders what lives exist behind them. For Yanagihara, you feel, they’re more likely to be damaged than not." (Alison Roberts, Evening Standard)

Beautiful

The most beautiful and heartbreaking story I’ve read so far. Well written and narrated. Loved it!

There are times when this shouldn’t be listened to while driving

The narrator did an amazing job of reading this in a way that the characters could be visualised, in their movements, their speaking, their feelings.

A deeply moving story of tragedy, unfairness, guilt, shame, mental health, child abuse, overcoming challenge, friendship, love, achievement in the face of adversity, of hope and hopelessness. I loved all of it. Worth the close to 33 hours. I am now considering listening to it again having finished it just this morning. I suspect I may hear different things second time through.

An important story for everyone to feel

This should be studied in schools, before children grow up to be adults with the power to abuse a child. It should be read by the people tasked with protecting vulnerable children. It should be felt by every judge and parole board before Making any decision about a convicted child abuser.
And it should be read by every abused child when they are young adults so they can understand that it was not their fault, they can know that the shame is not theirs to hold on to. They can believe that the filthy dirty stain belongs to the abusers and never the abused.

Mesmerizing

Beautifully written story about abuse resulting in shame, self flagellation and guilt. A compelling read and so so sad.

brilliant

Brilliant novel, which you can read about elsewhere. Just wanted to praise narrator Oliver Wyman for an astoundingly great job that injects this story with so much life, love and sorrow. Couldn't recommend this audio book enough.

Spoke to my Heart - But, Sung to my Soul

Would you consider the audio edition of A Little Life to be better than the print version?

I felt like i was the 5th silent Best Friend, watching and waiting to hear the story unfold. Just so powerful and moving, I will read/listen to anything that this Author has to offer.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Little Life?

When William realised that he was in love with Jude.

Which character – as performed by Oliver Wyman – was your favorite?

William. Although i would have loved to hear more of Malcolm's story.

A very deep book.

I found the book easy and at times very hard to listen to. The story is very deep with many confronting layers. I cried at times and felt happy at other times. An astoundingly well written book.
Highly recommend reading.

Heartbreakingly excellent.

This is by some distance the best book I've heard in 2017. Performance and story.

If you like a victim

Awe inspiring recount of a horrific child abuse by the Catholic Church, their unaccountability, pedophilia and grooming. The reader really feels for this poor child who grows up to be very successful except in coming to terms with his past, the injuries and confused somewhat misplaced attachments formed in later life.
Went on for a bit too long, perhaps a case of having too many enablers

Truly moving to the core

A superb, superb, superb reading of this book. Oliver Wyman has captured the very essence of Jude’s character - person who’s trauma has trapped the inner child in him forever. Wyman know exactly at what point to insert pathos in his reading of the various characters. He drove me to tears repeatedly and made sure we felt every feeing each of the players feel in this saga.

The source material itself is challenging. Wrought with some very difficult subject matter, Yanagihara has weaved a seemingly effortless compendium of Jude’s life and the people within it. She has a really pulled no punches in highlighting the perpetual nature of trauma, assault, abuse, illness and more. It does sometimes feel repetitive, which contributes heavily to the sprawling length and can be quite tedious. But I believe that is purposeful, to put us in repetitive nature of Jude’s thoughts, feelings, insecurities and vulnerabilities.

Highly highly recommend