Name: Une vie comme les autres
Rating: 4.304900744416874 (1612 reviews)
ISBN: 9782253100560

Hanya Yanagihara

Une vie comme les autres

Moving to New York to pursue creative ambitions, four former classmates share decades marked by love, loss, addiction and haunting elements from a brutal childhood. By the author of The People in the Trees.

A Little Life

A Holder

Moving to New York to pursue creative ambitions, four former classmates share decades marked by love, loss, addiction, and haunting elements from a brutal childhood.

eight hundred pages of pure devastation, I loved it

Sam Chew

Marvelous maaZa

At first, I didn't get the hype. I thought the book was boring with far too much unnecessary detail. I almost questioned why everyone on Instagram was talking about it. It took me 27 days to get through, but by the middle, everything changed.  I became so worried about Jude. He didn't deserve the life he had. It is truly heartbreaking to see how cruel people can be, but also how difficult it is for someone so traumatized to accept the love of the good people he eventually meets. By the last page, I cried for 20 minutes straight. It is a trauma that stays with you. *Fair warning:* If you are an adult, if you want to cry out loud, if you feel deeply for others, and if you are prepared to carry this trauma for the rest of your life, please pick this book. Otherwise, don’t. It is a brutal, beautiful, and cruel look at survival. Rating: 4.7/5

I think it was beautifully written and reveals a lot about humanity. But I understand why people label it "trauma porn" (I think). At some point, it felt like Yanagihara was adding horrible things to the plot just for the shock factor. At first, I felt everything really deeply and I cried a lot for Jude, but, after Willem's death and my initial reaction to it, I couldn't really feel anything but frustration. Jude's ending was a depressing one, but I don't know if that invalidates the book as a whole. Sure, the ending is not satisfying but does it have to be? I don't really know what to think overall. The one thing I didn't like was that one scene where JB kissed Jude, I think it was completely unnecessary. Yet, I have to admit, I really like the book. It's probably one of my favourites.

Daniella Amaebite

One of my favorite books. This book got me out of a 6 year slump. I  LOVE this book and will reread it again. 

Sidney Woodhouse

A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.

ikkychan

The concept of trauma porn is fairly new to me, as I rarely explore literature that leans in that direction. The idea of reading a story where pain takes the spotlight—where suffering is excessive, even gratuitous; where trauma seems to serve no clear thematic or emotional purpose; where there's no healing, growth, or critique—honestly sounds both horrific and fascinating. I wouldn't go so far as to say pain has no place in literature; as Calvin’s Dad says, it “builds character.” But relentless, unending, inescapable mental and physical torture from childhood through adulthood, with no resolution? That’s what 
 A Little Life
 by Hanya Yanagihara presents—a test of the reader’s emotional endurance. At the center of it all is Jude St. Francis, a brilliant yet broken man whose past abuse seeps into every relationship he has—especially with his three best friends: Willem, Malcolm, and JB. These four bonded during their college years, finding brief sanctuary from New York’s harsh, high-pressure world. While the novel initially gives space to each character, it eventually zooms in on Jude. Through him, it dives into the brutal reality of male mental health—but whether it does so empathetically or exploitatively is a matter of debate. Jude’s defining trait isn’t just his pain—it’s his refusal to acknowledge it. He never calls himself a victim, even when he clearly is. This isn’t just a personality quirk; it’s a disturbingly realistic reflection of how many male trauma survivors deal with a world that discourages vulnerability. Jude internalizes blame, hides his scars, and tries to act “normal” for the sake of others. Yanagihara captures, with eerie precision, how trauma—especially male trauma—is often suppressed, silenced, and turned inward. But what makes this even more tragic is how Jude’s denial protects him in the short term while destroying him in the long run. It gives him the illusion of control, helps him avoid triggers, and allows him to maintain his relationships. But it also ensures he never heals. Instead, he spirals through self-harm, toxic relationships, and a slow collapse into self-erasure. His denial becomes both his shield and his prison. In this way, Jude is not just a character—he’s a stark reminder of what happens when a society makes no room for male vulnerability. And yet, for all its insight, A Little Life is deeply unsettling. The suffering is relentless—so much so that some readers have accused it of turning trauma into spectacle. Like the controversial scene in Hunters that fictionalizes Auschwitz for shock value, Yanagihara’s novel walks a fine line between bearing witness and emotional exploitation. The excessive trauma risks trivializing itself. Jude endures horror after horror, and many of these scenes feel less like narrative necessities and more like an endurance test for the reader. I started out tense, flipping anxiously through the pages—only to end in a kind of emotional numbness. There’s barely any catharsis, no real arc of healing. His story is one of endless suffering, which raises hard questions: Is this honest, or manipulative? Does it raise awareness—or simply squeeze tears from pain? At times, the novel seems to perform empathy without offering real depth. The trauma is intense, but often lacks emotional variety beyond sheer anguish. The supporting characters circle Jude, but we rarely see alternative paths—no stories of resistance or recovery. We just watch him unravel again and again, until the only thing left is silence. What makes this even more striking is how A Little Life compares to other traditions that explore male pain—particularly in Japanese literature. Writers like Kenzaburō Ōe, Ryu Murakami, and Osamu Dazai use personal suffering to reflect on broader cultural and social issues. Ōe’s A Personal Matter links fatherhood to Japan’s postwar anxiety; Ryu Murakami’s Coin Locker Babies critiques cold, capitalistic society; Dazai’s No Longer Human wrestles with shame, alienation, and conformity. In those works, pain becomes a lens to examine the world. The characters suffer, but their trauma reaches outward—sparking questions about society, history, identity. Jude’s pain, by contrast, loops inward. He doesn’t resist. His trauma doesn’t lead to change, or even contemplation—it just deepens, until it consumes him. Yanagihara does critique broken systems—the foster care network, the Church, institutional indifference—but those critiques are buried beneath the weight of Jude’s suffering. He even chooses a profession that subtly reinforces discrimination against the marginalized and the downtrodden, almost as if forgetting he was once part of them. The novel doesn’t ask how the world might change. Instead, it accepts that the world breaks people like Jude—and always will. So, does A Little Life go too far? Maybe. But perhaps that’s the point. Maybe Yanagihara isn’t asking us to understand Jude’s suffering, but simply to sit with it. No redemption, no silver lining. Just pain. In that sense, this book is less a story and more a provocation. It lingers because it offers no comfort. It challenges our craving for closure and growth. It asks: What if there’s no healing? What if pain just… exists? It’s a brutal question. And whether that makes A Little Life essential or exploitative might depend entirely on whether we believe pain—on its own—is worth reading.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015. Shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction 2016. Finalist for the National Book Awards 2015. The million copy bestseller, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance. When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome – but that will define his life forever.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015

Normally I finish any book I read no matter how boring or complexe. This is the first one I break that streak for. 

I made it about 60% in and googled how it would continue. No thank you. Why is there no content warning anywhere on the cover or in the book? Oh yes, I googled that as well:  

"A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara does not include formal trigger warnings printed inside the book. The author has stated she does not believe in using them. [1] (https://lunchticket.org/a-little-triggering-life/)"

Well that's certainly a choice. Not a good one, in my opinion. 

In the beginning it was already tragic but can handle that...somehow I was naive enough to believe that Jude's history would stay in the history mostly. 

From page 400 onwards when the story stepped back to his time at the monastery I had to skip more and more pages. At some point it stopped being educational on trauma and just turned to sadism.

Why on earth does anyone have to write such a detailed description of rape? Over and over again? What does that add to the storyline? What does that do for anyone? 

Bekki

Normally I finish any book I read no matter how boring or complexe. This is the first one I break that streak for. 

I made it about 60% in and googled how it would continue. No thank you. Why is there no content warning anywhere on the cover or in the book? Oh yes, I googled that as well:  

"A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara does not include formal trigger warnings printed inside the book. The author has stated she does not believe in using them. [1] (https://lunchticket.org/a-little-triggering-life/)"

Well that's certainly a choice. Not a good one, in my opinion. 

In the beginning it was already tragic but can handle that...somehow I was naive enough to believe that Jude's history would stay in the history mostly. 

From page 400 onwards when the story stepped back to his time at the monastery I had to skip more and more pages. At some point it stopped being educational on trauma and just turned to sadism.

Why on earth does anyone have to write such a detailed description of rape? Over and over again? What does that add to the storyline? What does that do for anyone? 

Horrible, do not recommend.

monica

Tan poca vida

kitkat

Creo firmemente que lo malo de este libro para mi ha sido que es INNECESARIAMENTE DEMADIADO LARGO si le quitamos -500 paginas hubiera que dado un libro mejor. Ns siento que hay partes aburridas que me hacen querer cerrar el libro y hacer otras cosas :( La escritura y la historia como tal me ha parecido interesante pero no la ejecución 🥹 Eso si sabia desde el principio lo que probablemente (y ha pasado) pasaria al final Lo vivido por Jude es CRUEL y su conportamiento solo llegaria al suicidio a demas siento que no recibio ayuda psicologica que le ayudara lo suficiente :(

Sinny

My friends did tell me about this book, but I didn’t want to listen. I’m speechless.

Para descubrir...
Qué dicen y qué callan los hombres.
De dónde viene y dónde va la culpa.
Cuánto importa el sexo.
A quién podemos llamar amigo.

Y finalmente...
Qué precio tiene la vida y cuándo deja de tener valor.

Para descubrir eso y más, aquí está Tan poca vida, una historia que recorre más de tres décadas de amistad en la vida de cuatro hombres que crecen juntos en Manhattan. Cuatro hombres que tienen que sobrevivir al fracaso y al éxito y que, a lo largo de los años, aprenden a sobreponerse a las crisis económicas, sociales y emocionales. Cuatro hombres que comparten una idea muy peculiar de la intimidad, una manera de estar juntos hecha de pocas palabras y muchos gestos. Cuatro hombres cuya relación la autora utiliza para realizar una minuciosa indagación de los límites de la naturaleza humana.

I find it to be rly slow bt I also understand it is necessary, after all you literally go through all the lives of the characters. Still there were points in the book were it was more difficult for me to read and not bc of the triggering topics in the book bt jst bc I saw myself getting distracted easily, and other parts were I was so hooked in I couldn't stop reading. I also find the use of metaphors like the x axiom and such to play a huge part in the book and make it even more emotional if that is even possible. Overall I really liked the book.

Suzanne C.

This book is very much five-star worthy in terms of the emotional heft it brings. This is the kind of story that stays with you for weeks - even months - after you finish it. It's worth reading for this reason alone. I need to bring the stars down to four for other elements, however. I felt the "friendship of four," which is touted as the book's premise, is not really true: it's really a friendship of two that eventually changes, and the other two friends are almost inconsequential to the story - so much so, that when something very substantial happens to one of these other friends, I felt almost no emotion for that at all, because the author barely mentions this character as the story progresses, or if he is mentioned, it's in passing. I found it strange that he was included in this climactic storyline at all. For such a long book, I expected better character development. Secondly, I found some things a little implausible. This is a minor quibble, but I'm not sure how Jude could drive a car when he was suffering from severe neuropathy in his feet, but he did and from NY to MA. I'm not a doctor, but found it odd that in one paragraph the author describes Jude's feet as very heavy and without any nerve conductivity, and the next paragraph he's driving long distance. There were other similar situations where I found it hard to believe Jude was able to work insane hours at his job, and in very poor health. I have to admit, too, that I found Willem and Jude's friendship converting to a romantic relationship a little hard to buy. I'm sure it happens in real life from time to time, but it didn't feel very authentic here. Willem was not in any way attracted to men physically before Jude, and then later turned to women again for companionship. I think the story would have been just as powerful if they had remained the best friends and roommates that they were. The missing component would be the sex they had together, and Jude's aversion to it, but to me that wasn't a key storyline. Willem was truly a brother and caretaker to Jude, and that is what resonated more than anything else. I think this was the first novel I've ever read where female characters were so much the minority, and lacking in importance. Ana's character, while strong, was fly-by-night in Jude's life, and Julia as his adoptive mother was so downplayed compared to Harold, his adoptive father, that I left the story knowing nothing about her and what makes her tick. I am pretty sure this was intentional on the author's part - Jude's past seemed to predicate a need for male approval for the rest of his life - but it still felt like poor character development. I left the novel thinking Julia's existence was only so that Harold adopting an adult man wouldn't appear creepy or wrong without her. Women as plot devices only is not a good idea. Another factor that distracted me was that all four friends found fame and fortune, or at least power and wealth. Really? Real life odds for this are less realistic. And I couldn't help thinking that for all the ongoing stories of Jude's health problems, how easy and immediate it was for him to get treated, how easy it was for him to get around New York, and to live in a special apartment for his needs, etc. The characters seemed to jet set to other countries or spend time at their secondary homes on a whim most times. This seemed to put a gloss on this story that I'm not sure I wanted there. I often finished a chapter, closed my eyes, and then imagined it in a more realistic setting - a handicapped person forced to take the NYC subway, little to no access to good healthcare, unemployment and career disappointments, etc. Maybe this is my own issue, but I have to wonder what made Yanagihara have this part of the story be so neatly wrapped in a bow. It's not that rich people don't have problems, it's just that people like me typically have less empathy for them considering they have so many options to solve them. Despite all these issues, I still think it's one of the best books I've read in quite some time, and I heartily recommend it.

Tada

I hated it. Then I felt so deeply for it. But mostly hatred and disappointment. To watch the person you love wilting away and denying every goodness in the world, and who could’ve blamed them? The world is nasty, the world is evil, the world is ran by men who are greedy. Men who take everything and ravage everything good in the world. But other than that, there are others who love so deeply, so purely, with no limitations. And what you could’ve done with it, is that you could’ve kept these goodness forever in the book. The world is nasty, and the world is evil. Why in the world would we need to see a struggle against the nightmare, only to see it won? Only to have those goodness become memories? Sounds a little too fetishistic for me. But yeah. I like some parts of it. Definitely love the burgeoning love in it. Also, I don’t know why but I’m picturing Rami Malek as Jude.

Nadine MacDonald

this book took me 9 months to get through because I kept having to step away from it. Insanely depressing, but well written. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend it because of how much I dreaded picking it up again. Happy to have read it, but glad to be done. 

coco nini

A Novel

Jennifer

This isn’t what I thought it was going to be. Well written, interesting, graphically detailed. I’m surprised it hasn’t been made into a limited series on Hulu yet. I kept imagining who would be cast as each person. Disturbingly detailed look into sex trafficking and grooming and pedophilia. Was not expecting this. Heartbreaking and maddening.

this needs trigger warnings, i was left feeling like an empty shell after the last page

Quando quatro amigos de uma pequena faculdade de Massachusetts se mudam para Nova York em busca de uma vida melhor, eles se veem falidos, sem rumo e amparados apenas por sua amizade e por suas ambições. Willem, lindo e generoso, é aspirante a ator; JB, nascido no Brooklyn, é um pintor perspicaz e às vezes cruel que busca de todas as formas ingressar no mundo das artes; Malcolm é um arquiteto frustrado que trabalha numa empresa de renome; e o solitário, brilhante e enigmático Jude funciona como o centro gravitacional do grupo. Com o tempo, o relacionamento deles se aprofunda e se anuvia, matizado pelo vício, pelo sucesso e pelo orgulho. No entanto, seu maior desafio, como cada um passa a perceber, é o próprio Jude, um litigante extremamente talentoso na meia-idade, porém, ao mesmo tempo, um homem cada vez mais atormentado, a mente e o corpo marcados pelas cicatrizes de uma infância misteriosa, e assombrado pelo que teme ser um trauma tão intenso que não só não será capaz de superar — mas que vai definir sua vida para sempre. Com uma prosa magnífica e genial, Hanya Yanagihara criou um hino trágico e transcendental do amor fraterno, uma representação magistral da dor física e psicológica, e uma análise da verdade nua e crua que permeia a tirania da memória e os limites da resistência humana.

Source: http://www.record.com.br/livro_sinopse.asp?id_livro=29186

Uma Vida Pequena

É um bom livro, bem escrito e com questionamentos pessoais e que instigam um raciocínio amplo em relação a tudo que vivemos e ainda será vivido. Gostei de acompanhar a vida dos personagens, um livro grande que te faz ser parte daquele grupo de pessoas e viver ao lado deles. Na minha humilde opinião, há um pouco de forçação em diversos sentidos, desnecessário, porém justificável.

Larissa Campos

too many thoughts but the most gorgeous piece of literature. sobbed for 3 hours 

Ralie Sutton

Not to open if u can’t handle strong emotions 🙏🏾✨

Aaron

I do not want to read this book again but I am glad that I read it. 

Une vie comme les autres

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