There is a reason why his personal anthem is Mahler’s ‘Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen/ Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben’, I have become lost to the world with which I used to waste much time. A trauma where he is completely alone, feels completely alone. From the first abuse at age nine, Jude lives in that moment of trauma for the rest of his life. Chillingly sincere, but also full of love, albeit without any sentimentality, Hanya Yanagihara describes an entire life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, death. It’s a destructive descent into areas of pure pain, pure loneliness, pure helplessness, pure friendship. ‘Reading A little life is much more than just reading a book. How can you help someone who doesn’t want to be helped, while realizing you’re not a real friend if you don’t try to help? Can friendship provide compensation for the incurred damage? Is it possible to have a romantic relationship without sex? What is love actually able to do? In a constellation like that, intimacy becomes an impossible task. For Jude, openness and surrender are equal to abuse. The closer someone gets, the more difficult it is for him to talk about it. Nevertheless, he finds it impossible to share his past with them. How do you live with trauma and pain? Jude has no family, his friends are everything to him. He finds release in compulsive automutilation, causing his body to become more and more exhausted. It has left him with extreme distrust and a feeling of worthlessness. Behind the façade of professional success, he lives with unresolved grief as a result of emotional neglect and sexual abuse during his childhood.

His past is wrapped in a veil of mystery. The main character is the introverted Jude. They develop their careers in the city where ambition and success are the indicators of a successful life: New York. The story is the history of their friendship, as they remain closely connected with each other during the rest of their lives. In this worldwide bestseller, we watch four men over a period of more than thirty years: lawyer Jude, actor Willem, visual artist JB and architect Malcolm. No book has captivated and moved millions of readers during the past few years like A little life by American author Hanya Yanagihara.

Cover of a little life