Spotlight

A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara (2015)

After a childhood filled with multiple traumas and a long history of abuse, a man struggles to silence the ghosts of the past and build a life for himself, with the help of those who come to love him.

This has been sitting on my shelf for years now and I just haven’t been able to get myself to pick it up, being a sensitive reader and knowing just how difficult its subject matter is. But, I’m so, so glad I finally read this. This is a stunning work of art, a tragic masterpiece more than worthy of all the critical praise it has received. I’m not sure how Yanagihara did it, but this was somehow still beautiful and hopeful despite all of the real pain, and I couldn’t put it down.

Content warnings for everything to do with bad things happening to children, sexualized violence, self-harm, loss, and suicide.

Read this if you’re interested in:

• Trauma
• Resilience
• Grief and Loss
• Found Family
• Love

My Rating: Premise 10, Atmosphere 10, Main Character(s) 10, Plot 10, Intrigue 10, Relationships 10, Success 10, Writing 10, Enjoyment 8, Lasting Impact 10: TOTAL 98

Weekly Roundup

Fourth Wing, The Empyrean 1, Rebecca Yarros (2023), 96: As her society is putting itself back together in the years after a devastating civil war, a young woman is forced into a cut-throat competition to become a dragon rider — a challenge that will test not only her own abilities but also her loyalties and everything she thought she knew about the world. This is an incredible start to this series; I haven’t been so immediately sucked into a fantasy series since the Daevabad Trilogy. Great characters, a unique and complex world, great plotting — even the plot-points that were predictable were so well-done and so earned that I didn’t at all mind. A great success all around. I cannot wait until book two! (Fantasy, Dragons, Trust, Loyalty)

The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese (2023), 92: Over the course of the twentieth century, three generations of a family in Kerala, a place defined by water more than land, deals with a family curse: in every generation, someone dies of drowning. I have to admit that it took me quite a while to get into this; but once it got its claws into me, I was completely hooked. I’m guessing this will make a lot of best of lists this year, and with good reason. (20th Century History, India, Thomas Christians, Family, Inheritance, Medicine)

Charming Billy, Alice McDermott (1997), 92: In this National Book Award winning novel, the death of an Irish-American “lovable drunk” prompts his family to reminisce about his life and the lie around which it was premised, and ponder their own choices, lives, and faith. This is one of those books that is pure awards bait, and I mean that in the best way. It deploys beautiful, spare prose to talk about big issues in the lives of real people in a mature, well-thought-out way. (Alcoholism, Irish American Culture, Roman Catholicism, Christianity, Mid-Century United States)

Happy Hour, Marlowe Granados (2020), 80: Two young women hustle their way into and through New York City’s high life in one not-so-magical Summer. This was never going to be ‘for me’, since I’ve never found the world it describes aspirational or even interesting. But this was really well-done and readers interested in the gilded life of glamorous parties and making one’s way by sheer tenacity, charm, and looks will likely find much to admire. (New York City, Party Culture, Society, Making It)

The Grace of Wild Things, Heather Fawcett (2023), 80: In this mashup of Anne of Green Gables and Hansel and Gretel, an orphan girl with a facility with magic makes a deal with a witch who sees no use for her other than to throw her in her oven. I loved the premise of this, and it’s pretty cute overall, though, for me, it didn’t quite live up to the promise inherent in this irreverent mashup. (Middle Grade, Fantasy, Mashup, Witches, Fairy Tale Retellings)

The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths (2009) 74: A forensic archaeologist is asked to collaborate on a missing child investigation and finds herself far closer to the mystery than she imagined. I absolutely loved the premise for this, and the archaeological angle to contemporary mysteries is really fun. Unfortunately, it was pretty poorly written and I figured out the who-dunnit pretty quickly. (As a person who never guesses who-dunnit, that’s pretty damning.) (Archaeology, UK, Mystery, Detectives, Missing Children)

Best Men, Sidney Karger (2023), 70: A bride’s “Gay Best Friend” reluctantly takes on the duties of ‘Man of Honor’ as he is unknowingly being set up with the groom’s brother. I loved the humour and narrative voice of this, and the setting was a perfectly rendered ‘today’s New York City.’ Unfortunately, for me, this really didn’t work — the genuine humour and clever writing was totally wasted on a main character who was smugly ‘not like the other gays’ even as he exhibited the worst stereotypically ‘gay’ behaviour, and the love interest was completely unrelatable. There’s a lot to like here, but it really missed the mark for this reader. (Romance, New York City, Weddings, LGBTQ2S+)