A Little Life

The writing was engaging and hugely readable, the plot...less so. definitely got better at the end imo, maybe because I became acclimated to the level of seriously unfortunate tragedy that permeated his life. but the sheer degree of tragedy seemed almost ridiculous, which i suppose i am in a privileged position to think but how many pedophiles in america are there really?? like his childhood went pedophile monks—>pedophile orphanage people—>pedophile truckers—>pedophile psychiatrist???? I suppose as predators they are noticing that he is vulnerable and go after him at a higher degree, but it seemed kind of overwrought, literally every grown man he met up to the age of 15 was horrible. Just as Jude's childhood was unbelievably awful, he himself was unbelievably perfect. He is a genius mathematician and incredible lawyer, fluent in multiple languages that he learnt at a later age, an incredible pianist and singer, perfect homemaker, dazzlingly handsome (but he cannot see it) etc etc. And the people in his life love him, for these reasons as well as his seemingly effortless kindness and charisma. It just felt a little heavy handed when combined with the extreme tragedy of his upbringing (and of some aspects of his later life, these being events that he brings upon himself because of the self hatred stemming from his upbringing). Ultimately this book was more good than bad: I liked the bits about the purpose of life, and at the end how deeply and unconditionally his parents loved him. It was also a fast and hugely engaging read, definitely a result of the prose rather than any light-heartedness in the plot!