A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life

by Hanya Yanagihara

Spoiler alert: A thousand napkins sadly won't be enough.
This story is deep and full of sadness, but also
love and friendship. So you need to be prepared to be
emotionally touched.
 

Hello everyone

Today I'm going to do the review of A Little Life, written by the American novelist Hanya Yanagihara. I've came across this book because my cousin suggested me to read it, and I really loved it. Despite the book is quite long and full of heavy material, it became a best-seller all over the world. The title refers to the poem "The Waste Land" of T.S. Eliot.
The book talks about the relationship between four classmates from a college in Massachusetts that move to New York to start a new life. They are, though, broke and adrift, holding on only because of their friendship and ambition. Willem is kind and attractive, he's an aspiring actor, while JB is a painter trying to make it in the art world. Malcom is a frustrated architect working at a prominent firm. The centre of their gravity is the enigmatic but brilliant Jude, with a sad and dark past that doesn't want to tell about.

As the years passed by, though, their friendships seem to get deeper, but darker as well, because of addiction, success and pride. The greatest challenge is Jude, incredibly talented but also a broken man, with the mind and body scarred by an untold childhood. He's haunted by his trauma that seems to overcome him and define his life forever. 

The book is divided into 7 parts following a chronological order, interrupted by flashbacks. At the beginning of the novel we see as an omniscient narrator is telling the story, while the focus is slowly moving towards Jude, his interactions with the others, his flashbacks and his own experiences. The story is told by an unspecified future version of Harold, the mentor and professor of Jude in university.




The novel deals with different themes, most of them difficult ones. The main themes are: male relationships and homosexuality; trauma, recovery and support; chronic pain, disability and self-harm.

Due to the heavy themes, the book can be really touching, especially if you dealt with these topics, so it's recommended to talk to someone after it, if you feel worse. Otherwise, the story is really interesting, especially their friendships and relationships with other people, as Harold for Jude.

This month's recommended books

Hey!! This month's recommended books are:

«Brazen by Pénélope Bagieu» 
  
Originally called Les Culottées and divided in two tomes, Brazen, translated in many languages, explores the theme of feminism and women who made history across the globe. A common characteristic that connects all of them is their indomitable spirit, the courage to change their lives for the best, by raising their voices, changing history, bringing peace to their nations... Brazen is a comic book shoring female role models some of them world-famous, and others little known. From the journalist Nellie Bly to the actress Margaret Hamilton (namesake of the astronaut), from Josephine Baker to the first female gynecologist Agnodice. This book is sure to inspire the next generation of rebel ladies.

✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

«The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood»

Set in a despotic and autocratic place, called the Republic of Gilead. Here, Offred, the main character, is a Handmaid who lives in the house of the Commander just as an "object" to procreate, since the Wives cannot give birth to the children of their husbands, the Commanders. She can leave the house once a day to walk to get food and lie on her back and pray to get pregnant, once this will happen, she will just be "thrown out" like an old pair of shoes, to go to the next Commander. It's a never ending circle where Offred (the name comes because she's a property of Fred, her actual Commander) remembers her past with her husband, Luke, and their daughter, who she hasn't seen since this horrifying republic started. In some parts of the book, that was first published in 1985, we can clearly see that some of the things that happen, didn't really change for women, there is not a progress for equality, where women are blame to be sterile when they can't get children, because "it can't be the men's fault", or that they need to have a children before 35, because if not, it would be wrong or weird. Even though it was written many years ago, it still actual, especially in some countries of the world. Atwood published a sequel last year called "The Testaments". 

✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

 

«Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed»

This book is an autobiography of a 22 years old woman, Cheryl, that when her mother died and her marriage failed, thought she lost everything she had. Four years after all these events she decides, since she has nothing else to lose, to go on a hike of more than a thousand miles of the PCT from Mojave Desert through California, Oregon to Washington State, without any experience and alone. This book tells her journey through pain, loss of shoes, nails and cold and hotness, but also some friendships along the way and good memories. It's an inspiring book that makes you understand that if you want to do something, even if it's the most impulsive thing you've ever done, it can make you stronger, heal you.

After

After

by Anna Todd

Spoiler alert: Get ready for the end 

because it will totally shock you.

Heyyyy

Today I'm here for doing the review of "After" by Anna Todd.
I've finally had the chance to read it.

She became pretty popular thanks to this book that she published on Wattpad as a fanfiction for Harry Styles from the One Direction.

If you're to the typical Wattpad cliché then this story is totally the right one for you, because it's full of drama, sadness, smut parts and romance too.

After is the first book of the serie, which is composed from other three books and another one called Before.
It follows the story of a college girl, Theresa "Tessa" Young, at her first year at the WCU (Washington Central University).
She always was the perfect daughter, student, girlfriend, or so she thought.

Tessa has a sweet boyfriend, Noah, with whom stayed together for two years now.
At the beginning of the book she meets Hardin Scott, a friend of Steph, her new roommate.
He's a English guy, angry with the world, full of tattoos and piercings.

At first they don't like each other, because they're quite the opposite, like the good and the evil, but one night every changes.
They kiss at a party, but after that she decides to "broke up" with him because she still has a boyfriend.
He then tries to "stay friends" with her, but their friendship can't work if they both feel something for each other.

When they both admit that they have feelings for the other one, they start sharing an apartment together since her mother threatened to cut her funds so she won't have a dorm anymore.

After they officially are together they spend the night together and Hardin takes her virginity.

Everything seems to be perfect, they love each other but then Tessa finds out a terrible truth about Hardin. the horrible secret that lead them to stay together.

What will happen between them? Will they be able to resolve things? Or what he did to her was too terrible to be fixed?