This book totally consumed me. Once I started reading it, I was totally enthralled. I stayed up all night to read it. I couldn't concentrate on work. I ate a bag of gummi savers for lunch because I couldn't be bothered to break away from it to get real food. This is one of those types of books. "A Little Life" could have so easily collapsed under the weight of its ambitions or lapsed into tawdry melodrama but instead Yanagihara crafts a thoughtful, brilliant, devastating, spectacularly written character study. 
 I feel like nothing I say can fully do this amazing novel justice. Yanagihara is unflinching in her commitment to chronicling the lingering impact of extreme, unspeakable childhood trauma on protagonist Jude's life. Much of the material here is gut wrenching. It will bring tears to your eyes. However, no matter how dark the material, this book never feels exploitative because Jude is such a nuanced, well developed character. Rarely does a character feel as authentic as Jude, despite the extreme unorthodoxy of his life. If I just summarized the plot for you, many elements of it would sound unrealistic (the wealth and success of Jude and his friends, the lack of chronological specificity and historical details in the plot, the particular facts of Jude's abuse). These things should feel contrived but they don't. They feel totally real. 
 There are also beautifully rendered moments of sensitivity, compassion and kindness in this book that offer some respite from all the tragedy. Yanagihara denies the reader the false catharsis of a traditional "from tragedy to healing" narrative arc yet she allows Jude moments of power, dignity and happiness, though the crippling self hatred and neurosis from his past is never far away. 
 Yanagihara also does a fantastic job writing relationships. While this is undoubtedly Jude's story, the supporting characters are interesting in relation to each other and in relation to Jude. Watching all these characters grow with each other over the course of decades, seeing their relationships grow and deepen and/or crack and reconstitute themselves was so powerful and affecting. I really feel like I lived beside these people as I read this, as I was swept up in the course of their lives. 
 This is incredibly emotionally intense, heavy reading. For anyone looking for a totally immersive reading experience, this book will challenge, move and astound you.