#6 in Contemporary fiction
A Little Life
- 816
- Pages
- about 15 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 4 weeks on the list, peaked at #6
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Our view
Few novels divide readers as sharply as this one. The prose is admired and friendship is the heart of the story, but the suffering heaped on Jude is so relentless that some readers go numb, and some find that the middle loses momentum. At over 800 pages of difficult subject matter it asks for stamina and a strong stomach; for those who accept its terms it is a moving book.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
A Little Life is a 2015 novel by American writer Hanya Yanagihara. Lengthy and tackling difficult subject matter, it garnered critical acclaim, was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Awards, and became a best seller.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.2 across 1,320 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 90% of the weight and the score stays at 8.1 — the Contemporary fiction average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.9 | 121 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 8.2 | 1.2K | 91% |
Frequently asked
How long is A Little Life?
It has 816 pages — longer than 95% of the ranked books in Contemporary fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Contemporary fiction — with scores between 7.7 and 8.3, closest to this book.
