A Little Life
Four college friends navigate adulthood in New York City while one among them carries devastating secrets from his past.
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14 of our editors' lists feature this novel.
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What you might want to know about A Little Life
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Four college friends move to New York and build careers and a chosen family around one another. At the center is Jude, whose past quietly shapes every relationship in his life.
A Little Life is over 800 pages and contains some of the most intense depictions of trauma, abuse, and self-harm in contemporary fiction. The prose is accessible, but the content is famously punishing. Many readers describe it as the hardest book they have ever read.
A Little Life contains detailed depictions of childhood sexual abuse, self-harm, suicide, addiction, and chronic illness. Readers sensitive to any of these should approach with extreme care. The book is widely discussed for its content warnings.
A Little Life was written by Hanya Yanagihara, published in 2015 by Anchor Books.
A Little Life is 800 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, A Little Life takes most readers 12 to 17 hours to finish.
A Little Life is a standalone novel by Hanya Yanagihara, not part of a series.
A Little Life is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
