Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

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CalWilliam
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by CalWilliam »

I finished it last night, alone in my bed, and today I can say that it has been one of the most emotionally changelling reading experiences of my life. It has affected me more than I expected in the first place. Maybe I’m still too young and unexperienced. I’ll try to collect some of my feelings about it as best as possible.

I agree with you on Malcolm’s underdevelopment as a character, and I’d also say that, all around the novel, Yanagihara has the (not always successful habit) to introduce a lot of information about new minor characters that afterwards it won’t have any sort of impact or relevance in what she is telling. I don’t know if this is a narrative device in order to relief the attention from Jude and Willem or a capricious way to inflate the storytelling. Anyway, Jude and Willem are definitely the focal points, though at the beginning we may think it’s going to be displayed as an alternate perspective of each one of them four. Nevertheless, I think it is structurally successful, though we could agree that, in a minor scale, there’s plenty of reiterative, harrowing material that could have been relieved in some way, even though its seven segments perfectly find their place throughout the book. I consider both Lispenard Street as a prologue and epilogue respectively, being The Postman, Vanities and The Axiom of Equality the first part, and The Happy Years and Dear Comrade the second one. This may seem obvious, but it makes sense to me as a deeply moved reader. It was a beautiful decision to finish the book with the rememberance of that scene of both Jude and Willem in the roof and the fire escape. That was one of the images that stayed with me, considering it as the seed of their future relationship, an utterly wonderful intimate moment. A considerable impact on me had also another scenes like those when Harold tells Jude about the adoption, Jude meeting Caleb (I was thrilled), Jude naked in the street (the most horrendous thing I ever remember reading), and of course, the car accident (I assumed Harold was the one to pass away, not Willem), so I found myself devastated by it. But there are also beautifully written instants, like Willem and Jude’s prolonged embraces in The Happy Years section, a truly work of beauty.

There’s a great deal of things to say, but you’ve already written down many substancial remarks, so I’d only like to add that I found very interesting that Yanagihara didn’t provide any specific physical description of any of the characters, and as for its lack of any kind of historical urgency, I think she intended it to be a timeless tale, where only the intimacy, the psychological insight and the human relations are the world’s moving forces. I’d dare say that, if it was supposed to be placed in any period, it would be before 09/11. Anyway, I don’t think of A Little Life as a realistic novel, but a meditation of where are mankind’s limits, where are love’s limits, friendship’s, evil’s, resilience’s… Their incredible professional succes is only circumstancial and it only seems meant to be a tiny part of a hugely developed intimacy. Even Willem himself at some point recognizes to Jude that he does not want to be remembered for his career as an actor.

I know I’ll keep thinking about Jude and Willem many time for now on and that in some way my perspective of things has leaned a little bit, I don’t know. I do know that if it hadn’t been for this board, I probably would have never read this wonderful book, so I thank you all for that.
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light". - Dylan Thomas
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by Mister Tee »

Never say never -- the right talent might make anything into a successful film -- but I not only think a standard feature would find it impossible to capture enough of the book's virtues, I'm dubious even a miniseries would be up to the task. The reason is, I find much if the book's quality lies in its interior aspects -- its characters' inner thoughts; a dramatization, however sensitive and thoughtful, would inevitably center on events, and while some scenes would certainly play -- JB's cruel imitation of Jude, the Caleb segments -- much of the rest would be reductive without the inner interpretations.

Flipp mentioned that early on in the book he was reminded of The Group, and that's a film/novel tandem I think might be analogous. As it happened, I saw the movie of The Group first, and found it generally mediocre/bordering on soap opera. Not long after, I read the book, and the same events that had struck me as routine in the film became far more compelling as told through the eyes of the participants. There are some novels -- many, actually -- that work specifically because of the novelistic technique involve, and when one strips that away, it can be difficult to engage an audience in the same way.

But if course, there are works that seemed resistant to adaptation -- The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Cabaret, The English Patient -- that, thanks to visionary artists, were able to make unexpected leaps and produce notable if not exactly equivalent works of film art. So, I don't rule out the possibility a film version could succeed. But extreme luck and talent would be required, and one can't rely on that.
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by flipp525 »

FilmFan720 wrote:I love the way that the book doles out information, although some of it was a little too forecasted for me and I think loses a bit of the punch because the pieces of the puzzle had already fallen into place for me. The entire Dr. Traylor section seemed a little anti-climactic, though, and I'm glad I'm not the first. I think this is not just what happens to Jude in the basement, but the way it is told. The Brother Luke section of the book is so vivid, and we see the torment in Jude so strongly during it, that the Dr. Traylor stuff felt much more rote and pulpy than anything else in the book. I don't think what Traylor does needs to be worse, but we need to get deeper into Jude's psyche in those moments. I did love, however, that we don't find out how Traylor was caught...in my mind, I don't think Jude knows how he was caught, nor do I think he cares.
I can't get rid of the image of Jude reading Emma in the basement as he waits for Dr. Traylor to come back. I agree with you that the section is anti-climactic and, as Tee mentioned, not quite up to the level of horrors that we've already encountered. But that's one image that has inexplicably stayed with me.
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by FilmFan720 »

flipp, it may be true to life, but I also felt like there weren't a lot of new ideas being revealed. Jude kept having the same ideas and thoughts over and over again, and nothing new was being revealed.

As for a movie, I think an HBO miniseries is the only way it could be done. A feature film would have to go the Owen Meany/East of Eden route and focus on just one small portion of the story (and I fear that would lean more towards the former and not the latter).
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by flipp525 »

FilmFan720 wrote:All said, thank you flipp for pushing this so hard. I don't think I would have read it had I not seen so much chatter on the board about it, and I am glad I read it. It is perhaps 75 pages too long (I found a lot of the ending, as beautiful and moving as it was, very redundant), but it is engrossing and this is a major literary talent we have on our hands!
I was looking forward to hearing your thoughts, Tripp.

Do you think that, in a way, the ending feels more true to life though because of the constant back-and-forth, will-Jude-survive-this kind of extreme magnifying close-up? I agree with you that it was redundant at times (how many scenes can we see of Jude meeting yet another one of his saviors to discuss his depression over dinner?) But I felt like the long game there was to show how arduous and drawn-out a suicidal person's mind can be. Also, that final section does represent over three years.

We've touched on this a couple times in this thread, but is the novel filmable? An HBO miniseries event seems like the most conducive environment for the material (you have to think that only HBO would be willing to "go there" for some of the more extreme scenes of abuse and self-mutilation). But, what do you do about the ages of the actors? A young, 20s/30s set and then age makeup or totally different actors for the older versions? As mentioned previously, Yanagihara has already rejected one film option offer for her novel.
Last edited by flipp525 on Wed Oct 21, 2015 7:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by FilmFan720 »

Finished this over the weekend. I didn't race through it as much as many of you did, but that could be as much life getting in the way (and having to read some other stuff concurrently) as it is my enthusiasm, but not over-the-moonness, for the book.

I really liked this book. Jude is certainly an immediately classic character, one who leaps off the page at every turn. In his personal side of the story, Yanagihara also manages to make each and every character round and memorable...favorites include Harold, for sure, and Andy, and even in his own twisted way Caleb, who you have a hard time ever forgetting.

The star of this book, though, is Yanagihara's prose. The way she describes the world of these characters is beautiful, and I found in many places her prose was propelling me through the book more than her plot. She has also set up a lot of very difficult passages and handles them superbly: the Caleb beating, the JB incident, the car accident, all the tales of abuse and manipulation, even the sex scenes that are so painful for Jude. Yanagihara doesn't make a false mood in any of those moments, and they are dealt with care, compassion and a marvelous use of words.

Reading through this thread, I see that the two biggest issues I had with the book have already been touched on here:

I had a hard time getting through the first 100 or so pages, mostly because there seemed to be so much exposition being thrown at me and I didn't find myself connecting with any of the characters (that may just be me, though). By the time the book settles in on Jude, I began to warm up to it a lot (by the time Caleb shows up, I was hooked). For so much of that exposition to not pay off (we spend so much time with Malcolm, and then he becomes such a non-entity) that I think there was a better way to structure that. The book is non-linear enough that this is info that could have been laid in later on in the story...it felt like after a while the book shifted gears, and I am not as forgiving of it as many of you seem to be.

I love the way that the book doles out information, although some of it was a little too forecasted for me and I think loses a bit of the punch because the pieces of the puzzle had already fallen into place for me. The entire Dr. Traylor section seemed a little anti-climactic, though, and I'm glad I'm not the first. I think this is not just what happens to Jude in the basement, but the way it is told. The Brother Luke section of the book is so vivid, and we see the torment in Jude so strongly during it, that the Dr. Traylor stuff felt much more rote and pulpy than anything else in the book. I don't think what Traylor does needs to be worse, but we need to get deeper into Jude's psyche in those moments. I did love, however, that we don't find out how Traylor was caught...in my mind, I don't think Jude knows how he was caught, nor do I think he cares.

All said, thank you flipp for pushing this so hard. I don't think I would have read it had I not seen so much chatter on the board about it, and I am glad I read it. It is perhaps 75 pages too long (I found a lot of the ending, as beautiful and moving as it was, very redundant), but it is engrossing and this is a major literary talent we have on our hands!
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
- Minor Myers, Jr.
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by flipp525 »

Great post, danfrank. I enjoyed your viewpoint, especially your viewpoint as a clinical psychologist.

Here's a self-portrait of the late Peter Hujar, the artist whose photograph entitled "Orgasmic Man" was used as the cover photo for the novel. Hujar died of AIDS-related complications in 1987.

I much prefer his understated work to that of Robert Mapplethorpe, his much more flamboyant and more famous contemporary. The success of A Little Life should bring him some much belated mainstream recognition.

http://peterhujararchive.com/wp-content ... 33x944.jpg
http://peterhujararchive.com/wp-content ... 33x624.jpg (another self-portrait)
http://peterhujararchive.com/wp-content ... 33x957.jpg ("Orgasmic Man" 1987)
http://peterhujararchive.com/wp-content ... 33x955.jpg ("Orgasmic Man [II]" 1969)
http://peterhujararchive.com/wp-content ... 33x953.jpg ("Orgasmic Man [III]" 1969)
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by danfrank »

I finished this a couple of weeks ago. I don't have much time to write about it now, but will agree that it is an incredibly powerful book. I was speaking to a friend yesterday, a voracious and not easily impressed reader, and was struck by how moved she was by this book. She kept asking me questions like, "did you find yourself thinking about it a lot even when you weren't reading it?"

As a clinical psychologist who has worked a good amount with complex trauma, I found Jude's actions and thought processes completely plausible and consistent with some of what I have observed. I didn't read this book primarily through a clinical lens, though, but just a human one. I don't know when I have cried reading a novel as much as with this one. A lot of the tears were ones where I was more moved in a positive way than sad. The characters--the main ones, anyway--were so clearly and beautifully drawn that I felt I had known them for years. I loved that this book was largely about men loving each other, and not in a romantic or sexual way. I guess you can say that it showed both the best and worst of humanity. There was incredible beauty in it.
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by flipp525 »

A Little Life has been revealed as a finalist for the National Book Award.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... ook-awards
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by flipp525 »

Okri wrote:
Okri wrote:Not really that optimistic, flipp, but I will be thoroughly delighted to be proven wrong.

I haven't seen Olive Kittredge (I believe you're thinking of dws) but I hope to soon.

It's placement on the Booker shortlist is awesome. I love the Booker Prize (I own almost 250 shortlisted novels) and while I think Marlon James will trip the Yanagihiri at the last hurdle, it's a significant achievement.
Just tooting my own horn.
Good call, Okri. I was just hoping you were going to be wrong!
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by Okri »

Okri wrote:Not really that optimistic, flipp, but I will be thoroughly delighted to be proven wrong.

I haven't seen Olive Kittredge (I believe you're thinking of dws) but I hope to soon.

It's placement on the Booker shortlist is awesome. I love the Booker Prize (I own almost 250 shortlisted novels) and while I think Marlon James will trip the Yanagihiri at the last hurdle, it's a significant achievement.
Just tooting my own horn.
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by flipp525 »

So Yanagihara's A Little Life just lost the Man Booker to Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings, a fictional account of an attempt to take Bob Marley’s life. He is the first Jamaican writer to win this prestigious prize. I was obviously pulling for Yanagihara, but this was an amazing achievement nevertheless.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by flipp525 »

Mister Tee wrote:It's quite a big deal for Maslin to give this front-page-of-the-arts-section prominence so long after publication. The last time I can remember her doing that was for I Am Pilgrim last year, and that was after the book had become a major paperback success. Pilgrim is of course a much different, far more pulpy book (though hugely enjoyable). For A Little Life to be accorded similar treatment suggests it's really entered the bloodstream.
I think The Times became aware that they missed the boat in not covering a book (except in the Sunday Book Review) that has basically become something of a phenomenon. Hence, the late Maslin review.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by flipp525 »

Okri, your Monty Clift suggestion is my #1, but I think Alan Delion would also have made a great Jude. Montgomery Clift would've been great, and would have the acting skill to pull it off. Alain Delon is possibly even closer to how I imagine Jude looking, but I'm not so sure about his capacity to act that part.

https://www.google.com/search?q=alain+d ... U8NRHMw%3D
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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Re: Official A LITTLE LIFE Thread

Post by Mister Tee »

I thought she was definitely referring to the car accident. I remember a critic years ago referring to a car accident in a film (which I won't name, for fear of spoiling) as "one of the few truly unexpected car accidents in film history" -- his point being that most car accidents occur, in literature and film, when the character is in such a downward spiral that such a development is the logical way for the author to resolve the plot. For that reason, I dispute Maslin's use of the word "melodrama" -- in melodrama, you'd be thinking, yeah, that figures; here, it came from the blue, and became something else, unanticipated, that our charcters (esp. Jude) need to deal with.

It's quite a big deal for Maslin to give this front-page-of-the-arts-section prominence so long after publication. The last time I can remember her doing that was for I Am Pilgrim last year, and that was after the book had become a major paperback success. Pilgrim is of course a much different, far more pulpy book (though hugely enjoyable). For A Little Life to be accorded similar treatment suggests it's really entered the bloodstream.

Maslin highlights some of the things we have (like the fantasy levels of success the characters achieve), though I question her use of the word "squeamish" vis a vis the sexual scenes. As I said, I think that was more a matter of restraint, and in deference to Jude's mind-set. But, overall, she's fair to the book, if a bit less enthusiastic than we (almost as if she can't really rave about it without making readers wonder why she missed it when it was first published).
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