You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Bella and myself are going to be reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara which was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. The start date is next Sunday (15th November). Everyone is welcome to join in. The more the merrier :)

Thanks for setting up the thread, Lisa. Hope more people join us. It's supposed to be a wonderful book.

I think she's a travel writer and I love her Instagram-
https://instagram.com/hanyayanagihara...

I love the ones further back when she was in Asia and posted tons of food pictures. I'm still hungry.

Thanks for linking her Instagram Bella. She has posted some great pictures on there! The food ones made me hungry too. I also really like some of the ones she took whilst in Hawaii. Those beaches look like paradise!

Just want to check in and say I haven't forgotten and plan to start the book. I even put it on my Nook's Home Page thing so I see it all the time.

Sounds like you are all set and ready to go Bella :) I plan on starting it tomorrow.

I have started and am up to the beginning of Chapter 2, Part 2 (page 156).

I loved Hanya Yanagihara's writing style from the very first page but despite this, I found the first 80 or so pages to be a bit slow going. I enjoyed learning about (view spoiler)[Willem, Malcom and JB's backgrounds but there were times in those 80 odd pages where my attention wandered a bit, I struggled to fully engage with what was going on and I wondered if and when it was going to pick up. However, once the focus shifted away from them and onto Jude, I found myself getting more and more drawn into the story. He has clearly experienced a horrific amount of cruelty in his life and seeing how this impacts on him, both physically and psychologically, is both fascinating and heartbreaking. There have been several parts that have really touched me so far, namely Jude thinking that he deserved what happened to him in the past, the descriptions of some of his physical injuries, chiefly his legs and back, and him thinking that he is selfish for choosing to go on living when his body seems to be giving up. I just want to give him a hug and tell him that everything is going to be ok! I am also really enjoying his interactions with his friends, especially Willem, and how they want (and try) to help him, even though none of them know what is really going on beneath the surface. Small details of his past are starting to be revealed now and I am finding that part of me wants to know what happened and part of me doesn't as you just know that things are going to get a lot worse and a lot darker before they start to get better. That's if they actually get better at all... I really hope they do! (hide spoiler)]

I may, let me think about it.

I like the scene in the Vietnamese restaurant. I know many men who would eat at a disgusting place just because it's cheap. And it's the first in many of the author's "little" touches that add authenticity to the characters.

Lisa, I agree, it's starting very slowly. There really isn't any plot to speak of, just yet. So it's very brave of the author to make these characters- initially- repellent. Then, we start getting to know them. (But I doubt that these are the kind of characters that you end up liking. At least most of them.) I like the part where JB talks about his family- "he would look at his women and feel something swell within him." Very fitting of his character, so far.

I liked that quote by JB too. Out of the four main characters, he is the one that I like the least so far. I don't dislike him by any means, I just prefer the others. (view spoiler)[He is a very multifaceted character though, as they all seem to be. Outwardly he acts quite cocky and seems very sure of himself but when you have access to his inner thoughts, you can see that he is actually quite insecure and worries about a lot of things. (hide spoiler)] The author is doing a really good job of creating believable characters that we can relate to.

I haven't been able to get much reading done this week so I am only up to Chapter 2, Part 3 (page 233).

(view spoiler)[I really like the relationship that Jude has with Harold and his wife Julia. They have become the parental figures that he has never had and it was really nice when they decided to adopt him. I have to admit, I had no idea that adults could legally adopt another adult. It's always good to learn something new :) (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[The descriptions of Jude's repeated self harming are harrowing to read about but I think the author is doing a good job with those scenes as they could easily feel gratuitous and unnecessary but to me, they don't. As upsetting as they are to read about, I feel they are necessary for us to better understand Jude's mind set and the scars from his past that drive him to do what he does to himself in the present. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[I think Willem is deeply in love with Jude, he just doesn't realise it yet. I really like the bond that exists between them and I only hope that Jude can eventually find a way to open up to Willem and tell him about his past. (hide spoiler)]

How are you getting on with this Bella?