nastya ’s Reviews > A Little Life > Status Update

imagine a book about a sweet adorable puppy trying get up on its legs while it is surrounded by a bunch of ruthless boys who just kick it, cut it, set in on fire. and you keep hearing puppy's inner monologue repeating "this is all I deserve, how stupid I was to think it can be different. why it would be different, I am disgusting, they should hurt me, that boy who tries to help me is delulu, I deserve this, keep doing it, boys". And no other thoughts, ever. I mean abuse and self-harm is cyclical, mental illness is tough, an ongoing struggle, but this is not a real person, not a real life, this is a figment of Hanya's imagination. I am sure every real human has something else to them, no? It's so one note, the only note, repeated for 800 pages.

That seems to be the consensus on this one.

Misery porn, I suppose?

Left Coast Justin wrote: "That seems to be the consensus on this one."

Nataliya wrote: "Misery porn, I suppose?"

I don't know! isn't misery porn supposed to crush and drain me emotionally? When I was reading a girl is a half-formed thing I felt anxiety, sadness, anger for her. Here I feel bored. Can misery porn be boring? Can it be misery porn when I can't suspend my disbelief and get lost in the world of the book?

Well, I can watch regular porn without getting too invested in the characters' feelings...

But yeah, Eimar McBride this ain't.

Well, I can watch regular porn without getting too invested in the characters' feelings...

🤣

I feel you. Whenever I detect authorial manipulation of my emotions is too in-your-face, it has the opposite effect.

Left Coast Justin wrote: "But yeah, Eimar McBride this ain't."

If you look at reviews, this is much more beloved than poor old Eimear. 4.29 (842,989 ratings137,485 reviews) vs 3.48 (13,601 ratings2,408 reviews), so fewer people read Eimear and those who diid did not like it. So what do I know.

But you watch that regular porn to achieve a very predictable result, I presume you are not bored until then, and who continues after that. I did not get any satisfaction from this so far, mostly annoyance and boredom.

Marquise wrote: "I feel you. Whenever I detect authorial manipulation of my emotions is too in-your-face, it has the opposite effect."

Yeah, please manipulate me softly, hide it a little. That's one of the reasons i can't with Steven Spielberg when he is in his big-boy-drama pants. Like he never trusts his viewer, so it's always "John, give me the most bombastic score to tell them exactly what they should feel each second."

nastya wrote: "Left Coast Justin wrote: "That seems to be the consensus on this one."

Nataliya wrote: "Misery porn, I suppose?"

I don't know! isn't misery porn supposed to crush and drain me emotionally? When I..."

That’s true of *good* misery porn. Apparently this one is a lower quality offering.

In Spielberg's and William's defence, music is an overpowered emotional stimulant, it's a tough one to restrain. The whole idea of it is to evoke emotion so I don't see it as manipulation so much as the inherent effect. And even if they could reel it in, I'm not sure they'd want to, people like to feel. :D

True, but also there can be different levels of using (abusing) that music, and sometimes a silence where one would expect music can even make a deeper effect on you emotionally, there's def an art to it. Just to be clear: Spielberg is an incredible director and he can translate the feeling of wonderment to the screen like nobody else. And he is a very skilled director technically as well, I mean JJ Abrams tried to copy Spielberg's career, perhaps Roland Emmerich also thought he can be one, and they both failed. What I mean is I am a great fan of their collaboration with John, I adore Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Parks. Not a fan of his later movies tbh. But I just can't do his dramas, he has no self-restraint when it comes to schmaltz and it cheapens the effect of a serious issues at least for me. I just wanted to make it clear that I respect them both. And since there's a subset of videos on youtube where people are vloging their reading of this book in tears, I assume it's the case of not my cup of tea, because I don't see it, the tricks of this book feel so cheap to me.

Absolutely agree with your first point. In fact, Mozart said "the music is not in the notes but in the silence between" so how could it not be true. But in this case then, the silence itself is a manipulation :D But as you say, there are levels and tastefulness does come into it.

people are vloging their reading of this book in tears
Dear God, I can't stand this shit! I always Imagine someone reading a passage and just mildly thinking, gee that was emotional, I'll go back a few pages and film myself reading it so that everybody knows how emotionally affected I was by this (and then some). The narcissism is astronomical.

I think that the whole plot amounts to: there was no point at all. I've always held the opinion that Yanagihara imagined "What is the worst thing that could happen to someone, every day, from birth to death?"

I find this book distastefully written, and also extremely dull. I don't understand the sobbing reactions people had on social media to it.

I saw reviews saying they could not put this book down, and I struggle to pick it up. Please, send help!