A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Format: ebook

Pages: 669

Series: NA

Source: Library (OverDrive)

Genres: General Fiction, Literary Fiction

Publisher: Doubleday

Publication date: March 10th, 2015

Thoughts: It took me a long time to sit down and write the review for this one. You see, it has been a long time since a book made me cry so much and so earnestly.

The book tells the story of 4 college friends: JB, Jude, Malcolm and Willem. We see them as time passes by, from their college dorm, through their careers and all that growing up might entail. They are not picture perfect characters, all with as much baggage as you can imagine (some more than others). All in need of love and friendship which, eventually is clear, can be the same thing.

First let's talk about the parts that weren't sad. The way the author presents their friendship, so full of flaws and hence so perfectly beautiful. The way Yanagihara shows the city of New York is also a thing of praise. You would think this city has been used so much that it cannot be shown with different eyes, and yet, the streets and the environments presented in A Little Life felt absolutely different for me. The mental picture of the city going in along with the feeling of whichever character we were listening too...and yes, I will say listening since their voices were so strongly jumping out of the pages into my head.

We could argue about whether there are four main characters or just two (some can even say that it's the story of Jude mostly) but for me their lives are so intertwined that I feel I could not answer to this argument. Their friendship, with so many ups and downs for the four of them, is at the end what carries all the emotions for me. It's the feelings between them: when they are happy, when they fight, when they love...as I'm writing, flashes of the story keep coming back and my heart contracts once again. I cannot say how Yanagihara did this, but I can tell you that I know this book will be with me for a long time.

You might be scared of such a big book. I know I was. When I saw that it was almost 700 pages, and knowing ahead that there were a lot of heart crushing moments (it was impossible not to gather that from people talking about the book around me) I hesitated a bit, afraid the book would've been too much. But the truth is that Yanagihara's language is so absorbing I didn't notice the time passing by. It is not through big words that she does this, just very poignant, on point phrases that catch you and won't let you go.

It's not a happy book. Far from it. There are extremely happy moments in the story, that's for sure; moments that made me so happy that I chocked a bit with them. But the thing is that through the story you go so high and so low that sometimes I had to put the book down and force me to do something else, for it felt like too much to take.

Some people have pointed out that all these ups and downs, the intensity of every feeling depicted in the book is exaggerated, and I agree. They are heightened for sure. But in the world of the story they didn't felt out of place and I realize as I am writing this that it might not make sense for a lot of people, but it did for me. And that's why I gave it a full 5, because as a whole everything fitted for me which is also why it got me so hard.

At the same time I don't know who I would recommend this book to, just because knowing how I felt all through the reading, I feel awful telling someone to put themselves in the same position, even if I feel that it was worth it at the end. 

 

This is your life, Harriet Chance by Jonathan Evison

Format: eGalley

Pages: 304

Series: NA

Source: NetGalley

Genres: General Fiction

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Publication date: Expected on September 8, 2015

I asked and received this book through NetGalley for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. Thanks to Algonquin Books for the book.

First impression

It's rare that I get to review books this far ahead from their publishing date, but I was lucky enough to be accepted for This is Your Life, Harriet Chance. Since it's not the final version I will not use any quotes. The reason why I asked for this book was that it had a blurb by Maria Semple, author of Where'd You go, Bernadette, a book I enjoyed. This and the description: an old woman, going on an adventure while confronting her past and her present. I am very happy I asked for the book even if it wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. It has a darker tone than Bernadette and while this is not a bad thing, I came to the book with a different expectation. But I grew fond of Harriet and fell for the jumping in time narrative.

Final thoughts

As I mentioned, while the book did remind me of Semple's book, probably with the narrative style, this one had for me way less funny sides while keeping a dark humor. The author jumps in time with Harriet, so you can see her as a newborn, a teenager, a newlywed but almost never in a linear narrative. Harriet will be in her cruise cabin at 79 and the next chapter will be a flashback of her first office party in her early 20s.

For most of the book, the reader is kept in the dark about Harriet's past, only getting tiny glimpses that she herself is revisiting. Some things (big things that I won't give away, because spoilers) will be revealed at the same time for the reader and Harriet and so her tone changes a bit, she no longer sounds impassive, like just remembering, but much more emotional.

I kept debating whether this was a 3 or a 4 for me. You see, it was a good read, a fast read, with a lot of things going on but not on a messy way. However, I finally settled for a 3 because I was left with the sensation that something was missing from the end of the story, something that would round up the whole thing better. I hate saying this type of things, because it can sound like I think I could've done better, and that's not what I mean. I can't say what is that thing that feels missing for me, I can only tell you that's the case.

I would definitely recommend this book to others, mostly people who liked the style of Where'd you go, Bernadette and people who enjoy slowly getting to know the main character, by little pieces. 

Mini Reviews: Wife of the House by Gudrun Mouw and Mi Abuelo Explicaba muy bien a los Pájaros by Ivan Castro Rodelo

Wife of the House

Format: Paperback

Pages: 100

Series: NA

Source: LibraryThing EarlyReviewers

Genres: Poetry

Publisher: Raincloud Press

Publication date: April 15, 2014

I asked and received this book through the LybraryThing Early Reviewers program for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. Thanks to Chronicles Books for the book.

First impression

It's been a long time since I read poetry. To be honest with you, both poetry and theater are genres that are hard for me to read; I just don't get immersed enough and most of the time I feel like I am forcing myself to continue reading. Unfortunately for me, this was one of these times. Don't get me wrong, the author manages to put a lot of feeling in each of her poems...I just never connected with them.

Final thoughts

I think that Mouw manages to show and share what she feels as a Housewife, her story of a troubled marriage, how she got there and how she got out. Her imagery can be very vivid and sad and this I have to give it to her, I could feel all that. However I was never fully engaged with the poems, and while it is a short read it felt very long, precisely because I had to force me to continue. This is no fault of the author or the writing, as you will probably notice from other reviews. The book just wasn't for me. 

Mi Abuelo Explicaba muy bien a los Pájaros

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 126

Series: NA

Source: Own (BookOutlet)

Genres: General fiction, Esoteric

Publisher: Grupo Nelson

Publication date: December 1st, 2009.

First Impression

When you look for books in Spanish in BookOutlet, most of what you will get are either bibles or books classified on the self help and religion genres. I am not a fan of either genre, but it is from a Colombian author and I was thinking of my Granpda when I bought it so here we are. This book is somehow categorized as self help and it does have some parts where the main character mentions him finding God, but the story turned out to be more than that, so I did actually enjoyed it. Told in the voice of the grandson, remembering his vacation time spent with his grandfather and the stories he told him, it was quite a beautiful story of love and family.

Final thoughts 

 

More than anything this is a story about love, represented in the grandparents relationship. The side stories of the grandfather joining the circus, and making his way to success reminded me of my grandpa and his stories of odd jobs he took along the way. The book touched a lot of personal fibers for me, and I do believe I read it in the right moment for me to enjoy it. However, as much as it made me smile while I was reading it, I find it hard to identify who else would I recommended for. It was nice and the writing made me remember zones of my country I haven't visited in years but I don't know if this would be enough for me to revisit the book in the future or to pass it along. 

Hausfrau: A Novel by Jill Alexander Essbaum

Format: eGalley

Pages: 336

Series: NA

Source: NetGalley

Genres: General Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher: Random House

Publication date: March 24, 2015

I asked and received this book through NetGalley for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. Thanks to Random House for the book.

First impression

So many people were talking about this one, so when I saw it on NetGally (and also look at the cover, so gorgeous) I immediately asked for it. Jill Alexander Essbaum has a very captivating style that makes you want to keep reading; makes you want to know what happens next. In that sense, the book was great. The plot was interesting too as well as the setting. But (and you knew there was a but coming) I did not enjoy the main character one bit. I am perfectly ok with unlikable characters, Gone Girl being a perfect example of this, where both Nick and Amy are completely unlikable, but they are enjoyable. I found myself wanting the story to be told from someone else’s perspective, other than Anna’s and that’s what made this a 3/5 book for me.

Final thoughts

Anna Benz is a housewife (a Hausfrau) in Switzerland. She has the “perfect” life, a handsome and successful husband, 3 loving, healthy, beautiful kids, a house…but she is bored. She hasn’t adapted to her new environment, and has fallen in a tedious routine, that she tries to break by going to German classes (suggested by her therapist). But is not good. The only thing that seems to take Anna out of her stupor is lovers: she collects lovers.

The writing in this novel is simple beautiful and enticing. That is what kept me going. The author builds a rhythm that grabs you and takes all along, wanting to know more, walking through the disorganized thoughts of Anna’s head. As you read, you find yourself in the busy days in Zurich, in the train, in her walks. The building of the environment is so well done.

But then I just couldn’t enjoy Anna. Is not that she is unlikable (she is, but that is not the problem) or that she seems sad and selfish most of the time. No, a character doesn’t have to upbeat or even likable for me to enjoy the reading. It was just that, I could not enjoy getting in Anna’s skin. I would found myself jumping to paragraphs where other were being depicted, or even the angle was posed on the situation itself, but no on Anna.

I can definitely see myself reading more by the author, again, she has a wonderful narrative. I would recommend this one to several of my friends actually, there is something beyond Anna that makes me want other people around me to read it so I can discuss it even more.