Review: A Little Life

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Just to start: as someone who unashamedly judges books by their cover, I was not incentivized to read this at all until I accidentally stumbled across the 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition box set of this at a bookstore with the pretty artwork (that also conveniently subdivides the novel into 4 digestible physical books). 

Having finished it, I'd say the original cover is pretty representative of its contents, and also representative of my personal distaste for this work. Ironically, the box set artwork is closer to what I was "hoping" the experience of this would be: a touching reflection on the lives of 4 friends across decades.

One can debate on whether this could be considered "misery porn" or not. I'm not really interested in arguing over the definition of that here. I'll just discuss my overall thoughts:

The first 25% of this book, as well as parts of the middle, are actually decent. Yanagihara strikes me as someone who could be capable of writing a compelling novel if she tried.

Jude and Willem in particular come off as characters that I want to root for. I actually like the exploration of their relationship dynamic, in its imperfections and yet them clearly still caring about each other and figuring out how to make things work amidst the larger shadow that is Jude's trauma.

But all of that said, it comes off at the end of the day feeling in the same manner I might guiltily find myself rooting for two characters in a fanfic. Because the actual execution of their storyline is bad fanfic quality. 

By that, I mean in that story events are orchestrated in a way to satisfy some arbitrary wish-fulfillment of the author that feels at odds with the natural progression of the work.

So many elements in the latter 3/4ths of this book felt unnecessary. 

- Caleb (as a person who literally fits the "worst-case" profile of a partner for Jude) felt unnecessary. 

- Dr. Traylor adding onto Jude's already well-developed existing trauma felt unnecessary.

- Without spoiling, the last 25% of this book in its entirety felt unnecessary.

- Given the way things pan out, Malcolm (one of the 4 main characters) felt unnecessary.

There are already components of a believable narrative arc baked into this book, but they otherwise feel half done (see: JB) and then tossed to the wayside to focus entirely on Jude's suffering and why it continues to be never-ending. For the first 200 pages or so it is compelling. And then it becomes exhausting. And then at some point I'm just hate reading to see how it ends.

And it's not that this kind of suffering doesn't exist in real life. It's just at some point, the point has already been made, and any more additional suffering after that makes me question what the author is really trying to accomplish here. 

A lot of people point to the Yanagihara interview where she shares her thoughts on talk therapy and how she doesn't really believe in it, as a way of casting doubt on this book. I take less issue with that belief in itself, and more with how she set about to write an entire book that in its execution argues against the use of talk therapy for some people, while admitting that she didn't do any research into this subject. 

And then using all of that to basically say, some people are beyond saving anyway.

Even if that notion were true (I wholeheartedly disagree)... I find it incredibly disturbing the extent that it could be weaponized against people for whom this isn't actually true at all. Full disclaimer: I'm writing on this as someone for whom talk therapy didn't really work for years, until switching therapists and finally finding someone who did work for him.

Moreover, the talk therapy sessions that do exist in this book barely feel like real therapy sessions at all. Ask anyone who's actually benefitted from a therapist who actually knows their shit, and they can tell you that more things happen than the bullshit that's showcased as "therapy" in this book. It barely is given any thought, because the author has nothing to show for what real talk therapy actually looks like. Or she's only ever seen shitty therapists. But really though, I can't even say that Jude experienced shitty therapy because I have no idea even after reading this book what feedback he actually got from his therapist.

Anyone with a background as traumatic as Jude's deserves better than the treatment showcased here. It would be one thing if the book ended at the first quarter (with a tinge of hope), or as a cathartic Greek tragedy that ends quickly, but instead we're treated to a decades long treatise on how to live "a little life" in the aftermath of trauma without ever really trying to confront it in good faith, while accruing even more pointless personal tragedies just for the hell of it.

Sure, some people never get around to addressing their trauma either. In other books there is usually a broader point to be made when that happens (e.g. classic literature) but in this case it feels like the only point is to argue against a straw-man that was never convincingly strung up in the first place. 

Clearly others enjoyed this book. I'll admit I enjoyed it too at moments. I just... ultimately can't recommend it personally. Unfortunately.

Review: The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I loved the concept behind this setting: one of the two protagonists has a special power than enables him to conjure the characters he reads from books into real life. Or rather, the characters that manifest into reality are his interpretation of that character from reading their book. From a fantasy and world-building perspective, this premise has a ton of possibilities. On some level it's almost Frankenstein-esque.

Also Dickens' David Copperfield is one of my favorite books of all time (see: Uriah Heep). So what's not to like?

As it turns out the execution was just okay; maybe a little too conventional for my taste. The narrator was frustratingly obtuse to his own character flaws (I may be biased because I too am an elder brother), but seriously this guy needed to get with the picture waaay before the climax.

Or basically... do you ever have that feeling where you get 25% into a book, figure out that you already know how to solve the main character's relational problems, and then realize you still have to drudge through a couple hundred more pages of interpersonal conflict and bickering just to see it end? That's basically what this is.

(I still felt emotional during the climax, but again that's because I too am an elder brother. and probably needed this catharsis in my own life lol)

Also if you haven't caught up on your 19th century reads yet (Sherlock Holmes' Hound of the Baskervilles; Wuthering Heights; Pride and Prejudice; Dorian Gray; of course David Copperfield; and more), then beware before reading, because this book spoils ALL of their plots.

Review: The Devotion of Suspect X

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lately I've been going through the process of reading a bunch of Japanese mystery classics that finally got translated into English the past few years (the Kindaichi series; Decagon House Murders; most recently the Tokyo Zodiac Murders). For the most part I've enjoyed them as comfort fare, but none of them have really stood out to me yet in the same way that this one did.

Basically in this book, the culprit is revealed the moment the murder happens, but the real crux of the plot is showing the detective figuring out how the crime was covered up. It's hard to say more without spoiling it, but let's just say I was pleasantly surprised.

I really appreciated that none of the actors in this book are "dumb" so to speak. The police especially are believable, rational actors who in my opinion never really feel too far behind from the detective (unlike other books where you find yourself frustrated with their incompetence); in some ways they function almost as a stand in for the reader trying to play catch-up. I could honestly believe real police functioning the way that they do in this book.

And really, everyone here is suspicious of each other. I had as much fun following the police trying to figure out what the detective was thinking as well as the culprits trying to figure out what each other were thinking. A good chunk of the enjoyment is figuring out what is happening on the fly during the investigation, because so many variables are changing in real time after the murder happens. Seldom do I see mystery novels place such emphasis on the progression of the investigation, on the same level (if not more so) than the event of the crime itself.

It's a refreshing take on murder mysteries. Or rather, I probably just haven't read enough of this style yet. Looking forward to the next one.

endnote: I just read that Higashino died of cancer last week. This is the second author this year who's died within a couple of months of me reading one of their books. I'm hoping this doesn't become a trend ;_; 

Review: The Trees

The Trees by Percival Everett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is framed as a murder mystery, but at its heart it's less a mystery and more almost a meditation on the legacy of racial lynching across America; not just on African Americans/black people, but Asian Americans too. There's some subtext involved that may slip notice if you aren't already familiar with the historical references (e.g. the classic protest song "Strange Fruit"), but the end result is far from subtle.

It crosses a bit into the supernatural especially towards the end of things; on one hand it's attempting to be retributive by forcing a social reckoning in our collective faces, but on the other hand... I'm not sure what to make of it in light of the reality of how American culture actually is today. It almost feels like too much of a wish fulfillment to me. But at the least, it makes clear the pain in a way that isn't always apparent otherwise. Black folks in America have always been more culturally conscious of this fact and the rest of us are still playing catch-up generations after. 

The one chapter that painstakingly lists out of the names (and still not known names) of all the victims tracked in this book alone, Emmett Till and everyone that came before/after, is sobering. Like you turn page after page and think "when will this end?" and you realize that is what the victims' families and communities have asking all this time.

Review: Lincoln in the Bardo

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Don't think I've seen another novel written in this style before, with each chapter being a series of discrete quotations from different sources and custom prose styling for each of the narrative voices (easier to explain if you just look at a page sample).

It's refreshingly unique... if perhaps a bit overwhelming to keep up with. At some point I stopped trying to keep track of which external sources were being quoted in favor of trying to follow the longer term narrative they were contributing to as there were so many of them.

As far as vibes go, it's giving uplifting Haunted Mansion. If that makes any sense lol. Definitely not what I was expecting from the premise, but in retrospect I enjoyed it a lot.

Review: The Man Who Died Twice

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Turned off a bit by what felt like the lack of regard for human life from the main characters. Granted this is a murder mystery so dead bodies are expected; I'm referring more to evaluating risk towards people who might (and actually do) end up dying in advance, even though some of those folks probably had it coming.

It kinda left a sour taste for me, particularly in comparison to the previous book in this series which I felt put more thought and care into the same subject.

Review: I Who Have Never Known Men

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

This feels like the kind of book that if I had had to read it in school-- which is likely today given how short it is, it's the perfect length for high school scrutiny-- I probably would've disliked it.

Not that it's bad by any means (actually it's quite good); just that it's intensely focused on a subject that objectively is worth looking into, but not something that personally interests me as much, even though I can see what it's going for.

Basically to appreciate it you need to look past the "why" of things (a lot is left unanswered to both the reader and the narrator) and rather focus on the "what" that actually happens. What is it like to live as a human when stripped of all the hallmark things we traditionally associate with human life on Earth? Culture, the opposite sex, nature, a common sense of time, etc. It's enough to drive anyone mad, but that's in part because we already know what it's like to have all of those things. And then you have a narrator who literally is the embodiment of never having known any of it (the title itself is a misnomer -- it's not men so much as it's everything).

And it's all hopeful and depressing at the same time. If you're someone who likes to see things resolved in one's lifetime then maybe more of the latter. The unanswered questions still bug me even after finishing this and knowing that those answers weren't the point. Kind of like how I felt when I decided to quit the TV show Lost in its final season when I realized where the show was headed.

It's a good read for sure, and I'm glad to have read it. Just maybe thankful I didn't have to write a school paper on it.

Review: The Bone Clocks

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Similar to Cloud Atlas in that the story is split across 6 different narrators, and yet despite the plots being more interconnected in order to tell 1 larger story, somehow thematically the result feels a bit less than the sum of its parts. Each individual section feels like it could be its own novel in style and substance, except that as soon as a given subpart feel about to come into its own, the novel moves on to the next story. So basically they all feel underdeveloped.

Part 1 was where I felt most invested initially due to the way it built up intrigue towards the bigger picture. There were some scenes where I remembered thinking "I would love to see a film version of this"; they felt familiar in ways I've seen from a good supernatural thriller that knows how to pull you in.

People say the fantasy aspect in part 5 feels contrived. Personally, I was engrossed despite it also feeling underwritten-- like it had climaxes that felt unearned because we wasted time on side plots and characters and digressing genres in parts 3-4 that should've been spent building more up to this (1 and to some extent 2 at least did a decent job). I would've preferred interspersed moments with the Anchorites and Horologists more directly involved with the narrators than the detached appearances we actually got: casual interviews that the narrators themselves proceed to immediately forget for story reasons.

All of that said, I still enjoyed each part for what they were and got pretty invested every time despite the lurking lack of cohesion, so it wasn't entirely for naught.

Ultimately I'm looking forward to more stories in the Mitchell-verse after The Bone Clocks. Between this and Jacob de Zoet I've been pretty enthralled so far and like seeing how all the connections play out between books. Really looking forward to the Hugo Lamb related one coming next year. It's not often I get to enjoy reading from the perspective of an asshole, and I felt I needed more of him in this book.