Willem Ragnarsson

I was clearing my OneDrive when I found this review I made after reading A Little Life. I know I already wrote a review on my 2024 reading list blog, but I still want to put this out here along with the playlist I created on Spotify that I entitled Willem Ragnarson, a character from the book. Book review starts here:

This book wrecked me. I was full-on ugly crying at 2 AM, clutching the book like they could somehow soften the pain. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is one of those books that kind of changes you. It’s devastating, beautiful, and almost too much to bear.

I almost put it down at the Caleb part—it was too much for me. The way Jude’s friends treat him with such care yet his lover treats him so cruelly, was infuriating.

The book made me cry in ways I didn’t expect, and that’s when I realized just how deeply sensitive I am to stories about family. This book doesn’t just make you feel; it carves its way into your heart and stays there.

At first, I thought it was just about life in your thirties, but no—it follows an entire lifetime. Maybe that’s why it’s called A Little Life. For a while, I kept wondering: When will it get better? When will Jude finally open up? He starts with Willem, little by little but still not entirely. Their relationship is layered, sometimes even romantic, but the book itself is about so much more than love.

It’s about friendship, family, trauma, healing, the weight of memories, and the scars—both visible and invisible—that shape us. It delves into the impact of abuse, the struggles of mental health, and the complexity of human connection. It made me think about the characters long after I turned the last page.

I’ve always been the type to wonder what happens to characters after their stories end. Is a happy ending really the end? I imagine them growing old, facing new struggles, even dying, and it makes me sad because I want them to live forever. Maybe that’s why I’ve always been drawn to supernatural stories—immortality feels like a way to escape the inevitable. But this book made me sit with the reality of endings.

I knew A Little Life would be tragic, but not in the way I expected. And yet, despite the heartbreak, it left me feeling like I had gained something—wisdom, perspective, a deeper understanding of suffering and resilience. It doesn’t have a happy ending, but it’s a satisfying one. The kind that leaves you in tears, yet grateful to have experienced it. It’s beautifully tragic, and I would recommend it to anyone ready to feel everything.