What’s in it for me? Experience a fascinating epic of love, loss, and friendship.
What and who do we live for?
And how much do love and friendship weigh against pain and suffering?
Those are the big questions in A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara’s second novel.
The book tells the story of four friends in New York City, following their lives over the course of 30 years.
There’s talented but obnoxious painter JB; solemn, perfectionist architect Malcolm; and kind, handsome actor Willem.
But at the center of the narrative is Jude, a brilliant lawyer with a mysterious backstory.
Over the course of the novel, Jude’s tragic past reveals itself through multiple timelines and perspectives – and we begin to understand the demons that haunt him.
When A Little Life was published in 2015, it was an instant success.
Readers were spellbound by Yanagihara’s beautiful, character-driven writing as well as her harrowing account of life persevering in the face of abuse, violence, and trauma.
While the novel may not provide clear answers to the big questions it asks, it’s a touching testament to how much humans cling to the beauty of life.
If you’d like a super-short plot summary of the book, you can skip ahead to the final section.
A short note before we begin: This Blink deals with themes of sexual violence, abuse, drug addiction, self-harm, and suicide.
Lispenard Street: The beginning of adulthood
The story opens in New York City.
Best friends Jude and Willem are fresh out of college, and they’re looking for a place to move into together.
But while viewing one of the listings, they’re told that without guarantors, they’ll have slim chances.
The guarantor issue proves tricky: Willem’s parents are dead, and Jude’s parents … well, they’re a mystery.
Jude and Willem are one half of the college friend group that is now trying to make it in the big city.
There’s also Malcolm – a quiet, serious guy who’s on a solid path to becoming a respected architect.
And there’s Jean-Baptiste – JB to his friends – who’s an aspiring artist.
For his latest series, he’s begun painting his best friends in everyday scenarios.
He’s clearly talented, but he can be a little obnoxious.
For instance, he teases Malcolm about his issues with his Blackness.
Malcolm is African-American, while JB has proud Haitian roots.
Willem is the most kind and handsome of them all.
He’s trying to make it as an actor, but like so many hopefuls, he makes ends meet by waiting tables.
He hasn’t had the easiest life – his disabled younger brother Hemming died while he was in college, and his estranged parents passed shortly after.
But Jude is the real enigma of the four.
We learn that he’s mixed-race, but his heritage is a mystery even to his friends.
Jude is kind, caring, and multitalented, but his body is covered in brutal scars and he has a bad limp.
Willem and Jude eventually find a place to live: a small apartment on Lispenard Street in Soho.
And although it’s quite run-down, they’re incredibly proud of it.
On the day of their inaugural New Year’s Eve party, the four friends lock themselves out on the roof of the building.
They have to jump down the fire escape to get back into the apartment.
ANALYSIS The first part of the novel introduces us to the four friends at the center of the story: Jude, Willem, Malcolm, and JB.
They have just moved to New York after finishing college, and are about to transition into adult life in the city.
We experience their day-to-day lives through each of their perspectives, which reveal what they think of themselves and also of each other.
They’re going through the typical struggles associated with this phase of life: grappling with questions of identity, sexuality, and earning recognition for their work.
Although there are some unspoken truths and unasked questions between them – about Jude’s past, for instance – it’s clear that they have a lot of love for one another.
But it also becomes apparent that Jude and Willem have a special, deeper bond that may have to do with their difficult childhoods.
We don’t know what happened to Jude yet, but there are plenty of clues that he has gone through something traumatic – his scars, his limp, and his obsessions with locking doors and cleaning.
The Postman: A first glimpse into Jude’s traumatic past
Fast forward to the near future: Jude and Willem have lived on Lispenard Street for a couple of years, and they’re moving up in the world.
Willem has landed a role in a feature film, and Jude is working as a litigator for a prestigious law firm.
But Jude is also experiencing more and more pain in his legs, and he’s haunted by flashbacks to his past.
He recalls his childhood at a monastery.
He was raised by monks, who told him they found him in a dumpster as a baby.
They teach him many skills – languages, math, and gardening – but they also abuse him physically and sexually.
His only friend and confidant is Brother Luke, the monk responsible for the garden and greenhouse.
Jude also recalls a social worker named Ana, who took care of him after the accident that mangled his legs.
Ana helps him process what happened, and encourages him to go to college.
When she falls sick with cancer, she makes Jude promise that one day, he will talk about his experiences with someone.
But Jude has yet to talk about what really happened with his friends.
When JB drunkenly prods him about his limp, Jude tells them that it was a drunk-driving accident.
JB starts calling Jude “the Postman” because he considers him “post-sexual, post-racial, post-identity, and post-past.
” JB’s mocking leads to an event causing a rift in the group: he exhibits a painting of Jude in his leg braces that Jude specifically asked him not to paint.
In typical JB manner, he refuses to apologize, so Willem stops speaking to him altogether.
Eventually, JB sends Jude the painting as a silent apology.
Apart from the friend group, there are other important confidants in Jude’s adult life.
There’s Harold, his former law professor who becomes a trusted mentor and father figure.
Shortly after Jude’s thirtieth birthday, Harold and his wife Julia offer to adopt him – an offer that’s first met with disbelief but later accepted.
And there’s Andy, an orthopedic surgeon that assists Jude with all of his medical needs.
Andy is the only one who has seen Jude naked, and who knows the severity of his self-harm.
Together with Willem, he’s constantly trying to help Jude get better.
ANALYSIS In this part, we begin to understand Jude’s traumatic past, as well as the physical and emotional scars it has left.
Despite receiving care and affection from so many sides, Jude is convinced that he’s hideous and undeserving of love.
His self-hatred shows in his dramatic reaction to the adoption.
We also learn about Jude’s coping strategies.
There’s obsessive cleaning and extensive baking and cooking – but also not eating enough and cutting himself with razors.
The cutting in particular is his way of cleansing himself of difficult memories and feelings.
There’s also the first fracture in the relationship between JB and the others, particularly Willem and Jude.
In deleting JB from his life after the incident with the painting, Willem reveals his loyalty to Jude.
And although they eventually make up, there’s a marked shift in JB’s relationship with the others.
Greene Street: Jude and Willem’s dream home
Eventually, Willem and Jude make enough money to get their own places.
Willem is starring in prestigious movies and plays.
Although he’s happy with all the work he’s getting, he feels alienated from the people on set and is happiest when spending time with Jude.
Jude has become a successful litigator at a firm called Rosen Pritchard and Klein.
When Willem starts dating a woman named Philippa, he decides to give them space and move out of the apartment on Lispenard Street.
With his new wealth, he can afford a much nicer apartment on Greene Street in Manhattan.
Willem and Philippa break up eventually, in part because she’s uncomfortable with how close and codependent Willem and Jude are.
And after the breakup, Willem moves back in with Jude.
Malcolm helps them renovate the new apartment into a luxurious condo.
Malcolm is in a good place, too – he’s found success as an architect and is about to marry his girlfriend Sophie.
During their years at Greene Street, Willem becomes a major stabilizer for Jude.
Whenever Willem is away on a shoot, Jude’s flashbacks get more frequent, and his cutting gets worse.
His leg pain also waxes and wanes over the years.
There are periods when he has to use a wheelchair almost daily, and others when he’s almost free of pain.
But Jude is not the only one struggling; JB has fallen into drug addiction.
He still makes paintings of his three friends, and his exhibitions get bigger and bigger.
But since the incident with the painting, he feels abandoned by the others.
He falls under the spell of an unlikable fellow artist named Jackson, and they spend their days taking hard drugs.
Eventually, his friends and family stage an intervention.
But when they try to bring him to rehab, JB becomes irritable.
He says some mean things about each of them, and finally does something unforgivable – he imitates Jude’s limp.
Jude is horrified, as JB’s impression of him confirms his worst fears and insecurities.
But it is Willem who will never forgive JB for this cruelty.
ANALYSIS Now in their thirties, Jude and Willem’s friendship is deepening.
It becomes clear that they are indeed codependent; they need each other to be happy.
For Jude in particular, Willem’s love is a major factor in keeping his demons at bay.
At the same time, the rift with JB deepens.
As an artist, JB struggles with the boring, adult lifestyle of his friends, and he views his drug use as his way to spite them.
But secretly, he just longs for more connection with his old friends.
Unfortunately, his addiction only makes him push them further away.
Caleb: The past repeats itself
Willem is turning 40.
His friends throw a big birthday party for him, celebrating one another’s success.
Willem is virtually a star now, Malcolm is working on a big project in Beijing, and Jude is a respected litigator.
Only JB is not invited – Willem can’t forgive him for his imitation of Jude.
Jude is more stable than ever, but he has begun longing for a romantic relationship.
Especially when Willem is away on a shoot, he feels lonely.
At a work event, he gets to know Caleb, a famous fashion executive.
Caleb invites him for dinner, and Jude soon realizes that it’s a date.
When Caleb asks to come up to Jude’s apartment at the end of the night, Jude relents, even though he’s terrified of having sex.
They begin dating.
But Caleb slowly reveals himself to be a monster.
He’s openly turned off by Jude’s physical deficiencies and reprimands him for his so-called weakness.
The sex is horrific for Jude due to his past trauma.
But he’s addicted to the other kinds of affection that Caleb offers him.
Eventually, Caleb starts hitting him.
After an especially bad beating, Caleb disappears.
But several weeks later, he waits for Jude in his home.
He humiliates and beats him, and finally kicks him down the staircase.
Harold is beside himself when he finds Jude the next day – but Jude makes him promise not to tell Willem, who’s away on a shoot.
After the assault, Jude regresses.
He won’t allow anyone to touch him anymore, and he begins cutting a lot again.
Caleb’s abuse brings up memories from Jude’s past.
He recalls Brother Luke, who promised to save him from the other monks at the monastery.
On Jude’s ninth birthday, they follow through with their plans and run away.
But instead of taking him to a beautiful cabin in the woods as promised, Brother Luke drags Jude from motel to motel.
He tries to convince Jude that they’re “in love,” but he also forces him to sleep with other men for money.
When Jude grows apathetic and sullen from the abuse, Brother Luke tells him that he needs to show ”a little life” for his clients.
Eventually, the police find them.
Brother Luke hangs himself before they can arrest him, and Jude is taken to a boys’ home in Montana.
While Willem is away on a particularly long shoot, Jude’s flashbacks get so bad that he begins planning a suicide attempt.
He writes letters to all his friends, and attempts to kill himself with razors.
Through a miracle, he survives – his landlord Richard finds him.
ANALYSIS In this part, the narrative dives deep into the psychology of abusive relationships.
Brother Luke makes Jude emotionally dependent on him as a child, presenting himself as the only solution to his awful situation.
At first, he shows Jude the love he longs for, but he ends up abusing him just like the others.
As an adult, Jude tries to cope by erasing these horrible childhood memories, but they frequently come back to haunt him.
He also shows some of the typical thinking patterns of abuse survivors: he thinks that he’s hideous, disgusting, and not worthy of love.
This leads him into an abusive relationship with Caleb, which he’s then unable to escape.
Caleb confirms all of Jude’s worst fears and self-hatred – but he also offers Jude enough love to keep him hanging on.
The happy years: Steps toward healing
After Jude’s suicide attempt, Willem commits to staying in New York for a bit.
As he takes care of Jude, he begins questioning his feelings for him.
Even though he doesn’t consider himself gay, Willem eventually realizes that he desires a romantic relationship with Jude.
When Willem tells Jude about his feelings, Jude laughs and presents him with a list of 20 reasons why he shouldn’t be with him.
But Willem convinces Jude to give it a try.
Their friends are overjoyed for them.
JB, with whom they have started to reconcile, even goes on to make a series of paintings about them: Frog and Toad.
Willem is prepared to take things very slowly.
When they eventually start having sex, Jude insists he enjoys it, but he’s lying for Willem’s sake.
In secret, Jude starts cutting himself more again.
Jude’s self-harm becomes a big issue in the relationship.
After Jude intentionally burns his arm, they have a huge fight.
But they can’t stay angry at each other for very long.
And after the apology, Jude finally tells Willem his whole story.
He tells him about Caleb, the monastery, Brother Luke, the counselors at the boys’ home in Montana, and a man named Dr.
Traylor.
It was Dr.
Traylor who kidnapped and abused Jude after he’d run away from the boys’ home – and who eventually ran him over with a car, permanently disabling him.
After hearing all this, Willem decides not to have sex with Jude anymore.
Instead, they have a tacit agreement that Willem can sleep with other women, as long as he comes home to Jude.
Jude is starting to do better again emotionally, but his health problems are mounting.
At age 46, he gets a bone infection that results in the amputation of his legs.
Although the surgery is complicated, Jude eventually learns to walk with prostheses, and he and Willem make some of their happiest memories together: spending weekends at their country house, traveling, swimming, singing, and cooking.
ANALYSIS In this part, Jude and Willem’s relationship comes to its natural conclusion.
Even though he has never been in another relationship with a man, Willem’s love for Jude extends beyond friendship; they are life partners.
And although they are not without trials and tribulations, these years of their relationship are the happiest of Jude’s life.
When Willem is around, the hyenas of Jude’s memories have less power over him.
We see Jude’s care for Willem in how he’s perpetually cooking and cleaning for him.
We also see how much Willem loves – and fears for – Jude.
The tragedy: Jude’s final goodbye
As they approach 50, the whole friend group is closer than ever.
They spend many weekends at the house in the countryside which Malcolm built for them.
But one summer night, an impossible tragedy happens.
Jude stays at the country house to cook dinner while Willem picks up Malcolm and his wife Sophie from the train station.
At an intersection, a drunk truck driver crosses a red light and slams into their rental car.
None of them survive the crash.
In the months following Willem’s death, Jude is in a stupor.
He rewatches Willem’s movies over and over, tries to preserve his smell, and even writes him emails every night, pretending Willem is away on a shoot.
But eventually, it hits him: Willem is gone.
Harold, JB, and Jude’s landlord Richard try their best to console him.
JB even gives him a painting, Willem Listening to Jude Tell a Story, Greene Street.
But the painting can’t bring back Willem.
Jude loses his appetite again, and becomes so thin that his leg prostheses no longer fit him.
As he continues to lose weight, and can barely function, his remaining friends intervene.
They bring him to a hospital and put him on a feeding tube.
Jude begs them to let him go, but Harold convinces him to give life one more try.
Jude recommits to therapy, swimming, and work.
But it’s no use – he can’t keep holding on.
At 53, Jude kills himself.
He leaves behind JB, who has become a famous artist, and his adoptive father Harold, who’s now an old man.
On one of their last walks, Jude tells Harold about leaving his law firm and traveling.
He also tells him an old story about Lispenard Street – how he and his best friends locked themselves out of the apartment, and had to jump off the roof to the fire escape to get back in.
ANALYSIS At 53 years old, Jude’s troubled life finds its end – and not the happy one we wish for him.
It’s clear that after Willem’s death, Jude loses his reason to hold on.
Willem’s love balanced Jude’s demons; once he’s gone, they return with a vengeance.
Jude is older now, and exhausted.
Harold and JB’s love isn’t enough to keep him from releasing himself from his painful memories, once and for all.
We’ve followed the four friends for 30 years now, observed their relationships evolve, and traced the ups and downs of their lives.
They found a lot of success, money, and fame.
And they shared a lot of love, laughter, and companionship – epitomized in the story about getting locked out of their apartment.
But they also faced trauma, setbacks, and tragedy.
In the end, it becomes clear that they lived for each other more than for themselves.
For Jude, this is particularly true.
He depended on their love to supplant the darkness inside him.
Final summary
A Little Life is about four friends in New York City.
The story begins when they’re in their mid-twenties, and ends when they’re in their mid-fifties.
There’s aspiring actor Willem, moody painter JB, quiet architect Malcolm, and the brilliant, enigmatic litigator Jude.
Through flashbacks, we learn more about Jude’s mysterious past.
It becomes clear that he’s suffered a tremendous amount of physical and sexual abuse as a child.
And although he’s been shown plenty of love and affection in adult life, he often has a hard time accepting it.
When he’s around 40, Jude falls into another abusive relationship that sets him back emotionally.
Willem’s love is what saves him, if only temporarily.
After Jude and Willem transform their long-standing friendship into a romantic relationship, they share some of the happiest years of their lives.
But when Willem and Malcolm die in a car accident, Jude’s demons return with a vengeance.
The love of JB and his mentor Harold is not enough to keep him holding on, and he eventually takes his own life.