I just finished this book. I agree the writing was excellent and so were the characterisations. The main narrator (and his collaborator) has a voice that smacks of the prejudices of intellectuals of that period. He's racist in the extreme, never describing any of the non white characters without disparaging or fetishizing their appearances. He's also misogynistic, and sees himself as intellectually superior to everyone and basically considers himself to be a god. So.... typical white colonist stuff. The tone of his narcissistic prose can make this book a difficult read and one where (like all of Yanagihara's books) you'd be advised to check trigger warnings prior to jumping in if you need to. However, it is precisely this quality which makes this book so impactful. Get ready to hate Norton Perina and ask yourself some tricky questions about science, colonialism, and humanity.
Absolutely! You definitely need to know what you’re getting yourself into with Yanagihara. Perina is probably the character that I disliked most from any of her works, and the fact that he is the narrator makes the sociopolitical musings that much more difficult to stomach. I’m currently rereading A Little Life and while her books make for difficult subject matter, I am continually impressed by how immersive her stories are despite the dark content.
Excellent review, Matt! I'm glad I came across your video because I haven't heard of this novel. The fact that the main character molested his adopted child is horrible, but at the same time, it adds so much nuance to the writing since we have an unreliable narrator. The idea of your physical body not aging while your mind ages is very interesting. Hanya Yanagihara seems to tackle dark themes. I definitely need to add this to my TBR! (Also, that intro killed me🤣🤣)
Haha! Thanks for joining me! Sorry to have spoiled some of the book for you but there are still some surprises I didn’t mention. I definitely recommend giving it a go!
I just finished reading The People in the trees, at maybe 5-6 years after reading A little life, and came on YT to hear some opinions, because I have lots of them. While I agree with you that A little life is more painfully written, I would say that this book has a different, more collective trauma( referring to the complete destruction of a tribe, beautiful flora and fauna). Also it talks just a bit about bioethics in research, even though it just scratches the surface but I found it to be extremely interesting. Reading this one, I found myself being annoyed by Perina because of his infatuation of itself and opinions and gradually came to hate him with a burning passion. I also wanted to destroy the book by the time I finished reading it, but would also agree that is an absolute amazing read. So, looking forward to read her other book, and wish you amazing reads in the future 📚
I think you hit the nail on the head in regards to collective trauma. No one in this book comes out unscathed if I remember correctly. Yanagihara has a way of taking you captive and making you experience a narrative trainwreck from which you can’t look away. Perina was a total nuisance and narcissist and I should have known the ending from the first page. Thanks for a great comment and for joining me!
@@BoundinProse -Yup, I completely agree with you on Hanya’s mastery of creating worlds that captivate the reader so powerful that you cannot leave it. I will think for a very long time at what I have read in this book.
In your review it feels a bit cowardly to say "he molested one of his children" when in reality that child was raped night after night as a form of punishment, and Perina also confesses to having raped others of his sons, along with other boys.
Thank you for your comment. I can absolutely appreciate your point that “molested” completely understates what the children endure. I do think “cowardly” is a bit unfair. I was simply trying to convey what sort of topics are covered without going into too much detail or spoilers. Also, as a public educator, I have to be careful as to how explicit I am in these videos. Thank you for joining me and happy reading!
@@BoundinProseright away I saw a handful of themes and ideas that were expanded in a little life ... I never read anything like a little life before so it was so different new and mesmerizing ... if I read a little life first I would have been like oh she mentioned this or part of this came from TPITT etc etc .. but it's fine I'm glad I read "the people" second lol 😂
@@sanssmithy8246 I see! I definitely feel like Yanagihara knows what kind of writer she wants to be, or at least that she knew between the first two books what kind of subject matter she wanted to tackle. She kinda goes there in TPITT, but threw down the gauntlet in ALL.
Thank you for your review. I finished today and I will go on to read A Little Life. I look forward to checking out your other videos.
Thanks for joining me! A Little Life is a beautiful but rough read. I’m actually about to reread it with my brother!
I just finished this book. I agree the writing was excellent and so were the characterisations. The main narrator (and his collaborator) has a voice that smacks of the prejudices of intellectuals of that period. He's racist in the extreme, never describing any of the non white characters without disparaging or fetishizing their appearances. He's also misogynistic, and sees himself as intellectually superior to everyone and basically considers himself to be a god. So.... typical white colonist stuff. The tone of his narcissistic prose can make this book a difficult read and one where (like all of Yanagihara's books) you'd be advised to check trigger warnings prior to jumping in if you need to. However, it is precisely this quality which makes this book so impactful. Get ready to hate Norton Perina and ask yourself some tricky questions about science, colonialism, and humanity.
Absolutely! You definitely need to know what you’re getting yourself into with Yanagihara. Perina is probably the character that I disliked most from any of her works, and the fact that he is the narrator makes the sociopolitical musings that much more difficult to stomach. I’m currently rereading A Little Life and while her books make for difficult subject matter, I am continually impressed by how immersive her stories are despite the dark content.
Excellent review, Matt! I'm glad I came across your video because I haven't heard of this novel. The fact that the main character molested his adopted child is horrible, but at the same time, it adds so much nuance to the writing since we have an unreliable narrator. The idea of your physical body not aging while your mind ages is very interesting. Hanya Yanagihara seems to tackle dark themes. I definitely need to add this to my TBR! (Also, that intro killed me🤣🤣)
Haha! Thanks for joining me! Sorry to have spoiled some of the book for you but there are still some surprises I didn’t mention. I definitely recommend giving it a go!
I just finished reading The People in the trees, at maybe 5-6 years after reading A little life, and came on YT to hear some opinions, because I have lots of them. While I agree with you that A little life is more painfully written, I would say that this book has a different, more collective trauma( referring to the complete destruction of a tribe, beautiful flora and fauna). Also it talks just a bit about bioethics in research, even though it just scratches the surface but I found it to be extremely interesting. Reading this one, I found myself being annoyed by Perina because of his infatuation of itself and opinions and gradually came to hate him with a burning passion. I also wanted to destroy the book by the time I finished reading it, but would also agree that is an absolute amazing read. So, looking forward to read her other book, and wish you amazing reads in the future 📚
I think you hit the nail on the head in regards to collective trauma. No one in this book comes out unscathed if I remember correctly. Yanagihara has a way of taking you captive and making you experience a narrative trainwreck from which you can’t look away. Perina was a total nuisance and narcissist and I should have known the ending from the first page. Thanks for a great comment and for joining me!
@@BoundinProse -Yup, I completely agree with you on Hanya’s mastery of creating worlds that captivate the reader so powerful that you cannot leave it. I will think for a very long time at what I have read in this book.
In your review it feels a bit cowardly to say "he molested one of his children" when in reality that child was raped night after night as a form of punishment, and Perina also confesses to having raped others of his sons, along with other boys.
Thank you for your comment. I can absolutely appreciate your point that “molested” completely understates what the children endure. I do think “cowardly” is a bit unfair. I was simply trying to convey what sort of topics are covered without going into too much detail or spoilers. Also, as a public educator, I have to be careful as to how explicit I am in these videos. Thank you for joining me and happy reading!
This book is wild and crazy and in my opinion it’s a little spoilery for a little life
Really? How would you say it’s spoilery? I’m genuinely curious!
@@BoundinProseright away I saw a handful of themes and ideas that were expanded in a little life ... I never read anything like a little life before so it was so different new and mesmerizing ... if I read a little life first I would have been like oh she mentioned this or part of this came from TPITT etc etc .. but it's fine I'm glad I read "the people" second lol 😂
@@sanssmithy8246 I see! I definitely feel like Yanagihara knows what kind of writer she wants to be, or at least that she knew between the first two books what kind of subject matter she wanted to tackle. She kinda goes there in TPITT, but threw down the gauntlet in ALL.
The book is really hard to read. Very boring
I’m sorry to hear that! Thanks for watching though!
really? I thought it was extremely interesting, and Hanya created such an environment ...