So I just finished A Little Life and I thought I would share how I feel about this book. The novel follows the lives of four friends in the one and only New York City. from college through to middle-age. It focuses particularly on Jude, a lawyer with a mysterious past, ambiguous ethnicity, and unexplained health issues. Jude walks with a limp and suffers from severe nerve damage in his spine, which causes him great pain, and which he blames on a car injury he sustained as a child. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, he also habitually self harms.
The rest of the group includes Malcolm, a struggling architect from a wealthy family who still lives at home; JB, a painter of Haitian descent; and Willem, an aspiring actor with whom Jude is closest because both are orphans. After graduation, Jude and Willem share a one-bedroom apartment due to their relative poverty compared to their friends.
This book is literally painful, if I could use a word to describe this book it’s painful. Maybe because I am a person that also struggles with my mental health I can understand what the main character was feeling. So I really felt bad for Jude and the things that he had to go through. This book really shows the brain of someone that is struggling mentally and I think it’s realistic. You can see how the character Jude went through his ups and downs in several parts of his life, and how the people around him reacted to that.
I think if someone needs a case example on trauma this is a good one. You can really see the complexity of trauma and mental health condition not only on Jude (the main character) but also on the other side characters. And talking about mental health isnt just about the person that’s going through it but it’s also about people around them and how it affects the person.
If you’re interested in reading this I would recommend this book for people 18+ (altho in the book, it’s made for 18+ but I read it because I asked my mom for parental guidance) because there are some parts that are mature and complex. Also, make sure to check the trigger warnings, these are some of the trigger warnings (sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, scary verbal abuse, psychological manipulation and gaslighting, kidnapping/imprisonment, many modes of self-harm, a violent accident, a few moments of prejudice against the disabled, drug use, addiction, grief and loss of a loved one.)
“Things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.”
- A little life (page 134)
