Then, it was because I’d finished it and was consumed by how devastating it was. At first, this was because I was in the middle of the story and was immersed in what was going on, anticipating where it would go. A Little Life has been on my mind every single day for over two weeks now. It’s April 2020, the pandemic is happening, and I read it over the course of about 12 days in quarantine during which I had nothing but time to sit in my room and read it for hours straight and think about it for days on end. In hindsight, I chose to read this book at a bad time. I thought that if there’s a book that’s so powerful it makes those who read it cry and carry the characters’ names around with them, then that means it must be worth reading. This is what convinced me to read it: that it is widely regarded as an impactful story that makes those who read it feel very strongly. I saw Antoni from Queer Eye wear t-shirts with the characters’ names on them on the show. I decided to read it because I’d heard it was a sad book-because I’d heard it mentioned in videos as “that one book that makes you cry a lot,” that’s “formative and important,” and that “you can instantly tell is going to be emotional.” A girl I’m subscribed to made a half hour-long video about it. I knew A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara was a sad book when I decided to read it. I've never written a book review or posted on Reddit in my life but I need to put this into the world so here it is:

A little life book