A Little Life (Part 1)

Over the last several years, I’ve published the list of books I’ve consumed by year’s end. 

I love to read, and I’ve been reading since I was a child. 

I used to read many more physical books but, lately, it’s disproportionately audiobooks for my consumption. 

I rarely ever highlight my favorite books because I know that taste is subjective. 

However, this year I listened to a book and I was so impressed with it, I had to write something about it with as few spoilers as possible. 

Before I go much further into that particular book, I wanted to give you some other options if you’re looking for something to read. 

Typically, when I recommend novels, I try to pick titles I believe would be enjoyed by most. 

Some titles that stuck out over the last few years: 

Theo Of Golden

The Correspondent 

All The Colors Of The Dark

Demon Copperhead 

The Heaven And Earth Grocery Store 

James 

The Friend

A River Is Waiting

Lillian Boxfish Takes A Walk 

A Gentleman In Moscow 

Mad Mabel

The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell

And to give you some insight into the book that I’m basing this article on, I have to explain how I heard about it.

Social media algorithms being what they are, my Facebook feed has several suggested groups for me to join, all with fans of fiction, psychological thrillers, fantasy, and more.

I’m not actually a member of any of them but the site can tell when I’ve taken a screenshot of a cover so that I can track it down later.

And the book “A Little Life” has come up more than once.

Typically, whoever is writing about will describe it with words like: unforgettable, heart-wrenching, devastating, etc.

So, when I first decided to tackle it, I had no idea what it was about and if there were to be a suggestion I would give you, I would encourage you to not look up summaries about the book.

That being said, I know we live in a day and age where it’s fair to give someone a trigger warning ahead of time.

The fact is, there are a lot of unsettling and disturbing parts of the story.

But that doesn’t take away from the fact that A Little Life isn’t a book you read, it’s a book you experience.

What little I will tell you is that the book is very lengthy, it’s about four friends but with a primary focus on one of the friends.

It spans decades; from the time they meet in college to the lives they lead afterwards.

And, of course, you have to learn more about the main character to see what life was like before all of the friends get to know each other.

A Little Life is a lot of things. It covers a tremendous amount of ground. There will be parts that fill you with so much hope and there will be parts that absolutely crush you.

I listened to the audiobook first and then I couldn’t stop talking about it. The more I talked about it, the more I wanted to read it again.

So, I bought the anniversary edition which collected artwork chosen by the author to illustrate the main characters and then I bought the hardcover so that I could just take my time and read it for the second time.

I was telling one of my clients/friends about it and she’s a retired English professor. She bought the book the day I told her about it.

And the day she finished it, she told me: I was completely worthless the rest of the day.

I’ve read a lot of great books in my lifetime.

A Little Life might be one of the best I’ve ever read.

With one slight caveat, it’s not for everyone.

If you want something I would recommend to everyone, feel free to go back through the list at the top.

But if you want to read something that takes a piece of your soul with it, well…I’ve already said too much.