A little life by Hanya Yanagihara

While you choose most of the books you read, some books picks it's readers. It demands your space and time. And the payback is just priceless. This book is one such.

For a reader like me , it's a delight when I see writings where the characters are sketched with intricacy and helps me understand the very fabric of their existence.

The book revolves around four friends namely Malcolm, JB, Willem and Jude. It's their journey from teens to adulthood and beyond that's captured with such devotion that they become a part of you seamlessly. Their backgrounds are strikingly different. While you feel sympathy for one, you could get jealous of another. The dynamics of their friendship is explored with such unimpaired vivacity that leaves you in awe.

The narrative shifts from third person to first person which I felt good because the former makes you a ghost in their lives while the later has a cathartic effect.

The books takes you through myriad of emotions like pain,loneliness,loss. While you travel to depths of all of them, it's the warmth from selfless relationships that will keep you afloat. 

The character who is used the most is Jude. The person with a horrible past and crippled for life in ways only he knows. Though the portrayal of former years of his life calls for sympathy , the later part of his life questions the society at large.

Towards later part of the book, Jude gives a tight slap on the face of conventionalism. Adulthood has its charm of independence but it also comes with a truckload of expectations which the society makes you feel you 'owe' them.

And Willem sounds a bit 'too good to be true' character. Having said that it's important for everyone to have a friend like him who gives you, your space and wouldn't forcefully open that door if it displeases you. But also keeping their door always open to welcome you with open arms and without any qualms. Such people could be real but considering the story's circumstances and the kind of person he is defined as I felt he did have a very high persistence level.

The book claims that a man who hasn't felt an important enough person for anyone would go to extents to be that for someone who needs him. Or it could be that if you associate with certain people long enough ,they become an indelible part of you in ways you never thought would.

Initially I felt the book offered a refreshing brake from reality but as it progressed it started making me depressed. I couldnt let it go because of the undeniable charm the writing carries. It really helps you feel the breath and hear the pulse of the character. I don't know to put it in any better way, it has been one hell of a reading experience, a whopping 720 pages.I only wish it was longer. Not because I can take the excruciating ordeal anymore but because her writing made me feel like enclosed in a warm cocoon.

Again, I can't help but marvel at how somebody can look at life and relationships with such closeness that makes you speechless. It prompted me to dig information about the author, about her upbringing, to understand how she could have come up with such a magnificent piece of writing.

Let me repeat that. WHAT. A. MAGNIFICENT PIECE OF WRITING.

This isn't just a work of fiction for me. It's about life. A little life.