*Trigger warning for mentions of suicide, self harm, abuse, and pedophilia. Major spoilers ahead.*
You probably have seen the famous cover of this well-discoursed novel at least once. Whether you’ve decided to pick it up to give it a go or heard discussions on it, you know one common piece of advice: “Read the list of trigger warnings before reading”. Hanya Yanagihara’s junior novel is described in its own synopsis as “A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century”. Although it is roughly 800 pages too long, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Although A Little Life claims to focus on a group of friends, it centers around Jude St. Francis and his life story. While the reader is captured by the group dynamics on the first instance, they stay for Jude. So, what might be so controversial about telling the life story of your character? Isn’t that what a book is meant to do?
Well, you’d be correct; other books follow this same structure. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë’s Victorian novel, focuses entirely on Jane’s life story, from childhood into adulthood, we follow her through ups and downs. Then, if this is not the controversial element, then what is it?
The most controversial elements of this novel are the content, the execution, and the message the author leaves you with by the time you’ve finished this lengthy piece of literature.
What makes the content of A Little Life completely disastrous is the amount of trigger warnings it merits. Now, this is not to say that some authors have not done a good job in showing the same topics and themes in their texts. The problem lies in the amount of moments we, as readers, encounter scenes with no seeming point other than exposition trying to flaunt the main character’s mental illness. If not exposition, exploitation.
Take for example Jude’s character arc; orphaned and abused– that pretty much sums up his tragic upbringing. Yet, with seemingly no opportunities for education, he manages to attend Ivy League institutions for his higher studies. Not only does he attend such institutions, but he manages to get postgraduate degrees in Physics and Law. It is understood that many people can overcome their circumstances and do great things in their lives but, realistically, Jude feels like an ideal more than a person– a martyr even.
That brings us to the next matter on content: Jude can do no wrong. He is constructed on the basis of the things that happen and are done to him. This is an inherently problematic and harmful way for characterization. There is a fine line between creating a character that has been through hardships such as abuse, neglect, ect. and reducing a character to these experiences. The line blurs for Yanagihara.
Poor research and no sensitivity best describes Yanahigara’s execution of her second novel. In a panel, hosted by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, when being asked what kind of research she did in order to depict topics such as self harm she answered: “None”. On another instance she was asked how did she prepare to include depictions of pedophilia and its effects she simply responded “In terms of the pedophilia, I didn’t do any research, and, you sort of don’t have to”.
At the very least this is flat out lazy writing and at worst it is disrespectful. Researching depictions of what you will include in a fiction work is extremely important, more so when you as an author are not basing any of it upon your own experiences. Research is important because there is a certain accuracy authors owe to the human experience, especially, when writing about such sensitive topics.
Lastly, the message. No matter how you consume media (books, movies, tv series, etc.) whether implicit or explicit it always has a message. After reading page after page of Jude suffering and struggling with mental and chronic illness, right towards the end readers might feel a false sense of hope. Because all of this can’t be for nothing… right?
At least that’s what I, as a reader, thought to myself; and oh how wrong I was. In the end, it didn’t matter. You were simply reading a tale that could’ve only ended one way all along: suicide. Heartbreaking is one way to put it. The erroneous belief that some people are just too damaged to continue with their lives, the erroneous belief that suicide might be, after all, the solution.
If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, know that there is help available.
For Puerto Rico: Línea PAS 1 (800) 981- 0023
For United States: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 988