Grace
Picked this up on an absolute whim and I was floored!!! I was not expecting to enjoy it so much and to be swept into the story with such ease. Written tenderly and structured with an expert flow between multiple timelines. It always feels incredible when I read a story with which I cannot relate at all, that is so different to my life, that somehow makes me feel as though I have lived a life inside of it. That's how this felt. 4.5 stars
4.5
Cryptic, murky, dark, and riddled with guilt and uncertainty.
We follow the unreliable narration of Etsuko which drifts between her memories of life in Nagasaki with her first husband and an enigmatic neighbouring mother and daughter, as well as the present day in England during a visit from her youngest daughter while she reflects upon the recent suicide of her eldest daughter.
Ishiguro writes equivocally, and you learn quickly not to take everything at its face value. This is hinted at many times by Etsuko spectating on the fogginess of her own memory. His use of allegory to obscure the readers' understanding of his characters words and actions is done masterfully.
It must be read with skepticism, curiosity, patience, and an open mind. And then probably reread, to look for everything you missed the first time. So captivating and intelligent.
Where was the excitement? This just felt a bit boring, impersonal, and distant. For a character-driven plot, it was very lacking in character development and just nothing really happened? I kept waiting for Ava to make one good decision for herself (spoiler alert, she doesn't), and the only person I liked was Edith, who is only present for about a third of the time. It feels like this was set up for failure by being compared to Sally Rooney.
How can I even review this book? I feel as though there is nothing I could write to do such a masterpiece the justice it deserves. In a word: unforgettable.
I just want to give Jude and Willem and Harold a big hug. Their pain felt so real to me.
A little life is absolutely devastating and relentlessly painful, but so vivid and raw and beautiful. I won't lie, in the first few pages I really thought I was going to be bored and I wondered how on earth I was going to get through over 700 pages - probably the biggest book I've ever read - but I was quickly engulfed by it. I loved and cared for the characters (of which I think Harold was my favourite) so deeply and that's what made this book so agonising to read. I cried at least once a chapter. But even through the worst and most horrible scenes, there were many beautiful ones, however small. Little pockets of light that captured the beauty of loving and being loved.
That being said, I can absolutely say that for many people the traumatising parts of the book (which make up a significant portion) will render it not worth the read. This book comes with HEAVY trigger warnings for a reason - it goes into very graphic detail of self harm, suicide, rape, addiction, physical and sexual abuse. I did at times find myself wondering whether such graphic detail was really necessary to tell the story, and whether there even is any right way to depict such horrific themes. But I think that if there is, then Yanagihara has executed it well. I feel as though she explored and portrayed trauma in a way that makes you understand some of the many complicated ways in which people react to trauma and how it continues to affect them throughout their lives, but without romanticising it in the slightest. I was heartbroken by the end of the book, but I was at peace as well.
Lastly, I adore Yanagihara's style of writing. I feel as though it flows in the exact same way that my thoughts do, which allowed me to glide so effortlessly through the writing and to really feel that I was inside the characters heads. Her ability to create such an intricate world, and characters with such depth and nuance, is astounding. Incredibly well written.
2.5 stars
I reeeeeally wanted to enjoy this but in the end I had to stop lying to myself and admit that I just didn't. While the book does offer some valuable, intelligent insights, which have stuck with me and reframed some of the ways I think about love, I feel like everything it had to offer was condensed into the first two chapters and the rest just irritated me.
There were many sweeping, absolute statements which lacked concrete examples and follow through explanation. It felt like big, fancy, academic words were just thrown in there to contribute to the scientific illusion, without citing a single study. With the heavy religious undertones too, it kind of just felt like I was being preached at throughout much of the second half. Not my vibe.
In short, Hooks does have some real practical, powerful, and interesting things to say here, but they just could have been articulated in a way that was based on research more so than religion and opinion.
As usual, Sally Rooney gifts us an intricate, intellectual, compelling, and tender insight into the complexity of human relationships, and the blurred lines between them. Taking the ordinary and evincing something profound. New this time was the stream of consciousness writing style, which I found immersive. And so clever the way the writing styles dramatically switched throughout with shifting perspectives, giving the characters depth and tactility.
Everyone say thank you Sally
the topics touched on in three women are so important and so core to what it means to be a woman in this world. but while reading it I felt as though I'm not yet old or experienced enough to truly and properly appreciate it. it will definitely be a book that I revisit later into my 20s and 30s.
Generally I love character driven books, however, I struggled to feel anything for these particular characters. Their lives and problems just felt very trivial and unimportant, I just couldn't really bring myself to care for them.
It felt as though the author was trying to victimise Olive and make the reader feel sorry for her, yet she was rude, ignorant, and just completely selfish. And again, I am all for unlikeable female protagonists - but only when it is for a purpose and when it is done well (see Fleabag, Sorrow and Bliss, Nightbitch, Normal People, Euphoria). This didn't feel done well and seemingly had no purpose other than to make a very specific group of people feel better about themselves (when it would probably do everyone better for them to just, you know, go to therapy?). There was no growth or self awareness or character development. The only person I empathised with in this was Christopher, which, funnily enough, was one of the most villainised characters.
I'm also not sure why it felt like every second character in the book needed to have an affair. There seemed to be a lot of conflict and drama and pettiness to seemingly no purpose. There were also a lot of subplots that kind of just happened and went nowhere?
That being said, I didn't love or hate this book. It was fine, I just didn't really care for the story or the characters. The writing was done well enough that I got through the whole thing, but I just feel like the concept had a lot of potential and could have been executed better.
So so beautiful. Such a fast-paced, vivid, and encapsulating read. As someone who doesn't read a lot of fantasy or know very much at all about Greek mythology, I was a little worried that I wouldn't love this as much as I've heard everyone else does. But this is just what I needed coming out of a huge reading slump, I couldn't put it down and I felt so immersed in the story. I was so attached to Achilles and Patroclus and I sobbed at the end. A new favourite for sure
Haunting, glaringly original and enthralling.
How does one tell a story constructed of a lifetime so bleak and uneventful that it really should be very boring, in a way that is gripping, stimulating, and profound? In a world teeming with questions and devoid of answers, how does Harpman sustain the reader's hope and curiosity vicariously through her narrator?
It's magic.
I wish I understood French so that I could experience it all over again in a new way with all the nuance of the original. This might just be my best read of the year.