At the end of November, the novel A Little Life by the American writer Hanya Yanagihara was released - the main bestseller of 2016. The book caused a lot of reviews from readers and critics, and very different ones - from incredibly laudatory to extremely harsh (the novel was accused of being manipulative and depressive). Few books provoke such lively discussions, so "BookJack" decided to systematize everything that is said about "A Little Life", collecting all the arguments both "for" and "against".
Yanagihara was born in Los Angeles to Richard Yanagihara, a hematologist and oncologist, and an immigrant from Seoul. In 1995, after graduating from Smith College, Yanagihara moved to New York City, where she worked as a publicist for several years. She also worked as an editor in two magazines: since 2007 - in the travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler, since 2015 - in T: The New York Times Style Magazine
Why We Hate Little Life
This is a twisted novel. Everyone writes about Little Life, just everyone! Apparently, this is the result of a planned public relations campaign and a clever social media promotion organized by the publishers to sell more copies of the book on New Year's Eve. First, a good thing sells itself and doesn't need to be promoted - if publishers have to use such heavy marketing artillery, then something is wrong with Yanagihara. And secondly, even if "A Little Life" is really worthy of attention, this excessive hype kills any desire to read it - it seems that you are being pressured and forced to be like everyone else.
This is a manipulative novel. The author deliberately puts pressure on the reader's emotions, forcing him to endlessly empathize with the main character and his suffering. It seems that Hanya Yanagihara is just a sadist and it is important for her to get tears from the reader at any cost. However, it is impossible to suffer for seven hundred pages, and at some point emotions simply turn off: the reader does not care, the suffering of the characters ceases to touch him - and only awkwardness remains because of his own sentimentality, like from some "White Bim black ear" , For example.
This is a fake novel. This does not happen! First, all the troubles of the world fall on the hero, and then he and his friends, as if by magic, get rich and make dizzying careers - such stories do not happen in life. The characters live in some fake city (which only pretends to be New York), in an indefinite time, they are too close friends, they love each other too much, they eat too much, shop, travel, talk on the phone ... Everything that Yanagihara writes about , in the real world is impossible, so the world she invented looks flat and unconvincing.
This is a depressing novel. "Little Life" tells only about the bad: about trauma, about childhood suffering, about auto-aggression, about pedophilia, about sexual violence, and, worst of all, about the impossibility of happiness after the horrors experienced. The hero and his attitude to the world are completely shaped by the sorrows that have befallen him - after such a banal one does not want to live.
This novel has nasty fans. After reading Yanagihara, people for some reason begin to non-stop talk about their own traumas, problems and experiences, and with completely inappropriate anguish and details - why should everyone see this? Facebook is not a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, after all. Most of the reviews generally look like hysterical howls - it seems that this is some kind of sect that you don’t feel like joining at all. In addition, if you suddenly do not like the novel, the fans immediately accuse you of emotional callousness, lack of taste and artistic deafness - in a word, you want to stay away from these people.
Why we love Little Life
This is a powerful and intense experience. In everyday life, we do not have many reasons to experience strong and vivid feelings - our usual emotional background is somewhat underestimated. In this sense, "Little Life" is an amazing shake-up and an incredible experience that allows you to experience fear, pain, joy, compassion, despair, delight, hope again with all the sharpness. In a word, like a breath of fresh air, a trip to an exotic country or, if you like, a dozen sessions of psychotherapy.
This is a very unusual and complex novel. All reviews of the novel are different, because "A Little Life" has the rare ability to turn to each reader with some special facet intended only for him. Someone sees in this book a story about trauma and violence, someone about love and friendship, someone about modern art or the mores of wealthy American bohemians. For some, this novel is purely emotional, for someone - rather intellectual. With the method of precisely calculated blows, Hanya Yanagihara destabilizes the reader, after which a unique, unlike anything else, personalized chain of thoughts, images and associations is launched in his brain. That is why A Little Life evokes such a strong emotional response - each reader reads something of his own, deeply personal and often hidden in it. This has not happened in the literature for a very long time, and perhaps never.
This is a liberating novel. After reading A Little Life, many people begin to easily and freely talk about their own traumatic experience, get the opportunity to relive, rethink and integrate it. In our society, where every second person has something to say about this (as shown, in particular, by the flash mob #I'm not afraid to say), the need for this kind of books is high.
This is a unifying novel. The discussions that have unfolded around Hanya Yanagihara's novel bring together very different people and create a comfortable environment for diverse and fruitful discussions. "Little Life" increases the level of empathy and mutual compassion in society.
This is a positive and light novel. In the end, after a nightmare childhood in the life of the protagonist, everything goes well. Despite the experience, he finds friends, love and even a family, he is able to make a career and get rich. The story told by Yanagihara gives hope that even after the most terrible injury, a person still has a chance not only for survival, but also for happiness.
This article was sponsored by Vishesh Yadav
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