A Little Life - A Novel

27 September, 2015
Author: Hanya Yanagihara
Genre: Fiction
Category: Heywood Hill Readers

Recommended by Heywood Hill Reader David Astor:

The book of the moment seems to be A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It is 730 pages long. I paused after 350 pages, read a couple of other books, then returned to it and I agree with the general consensus that it's an exceptionally well written book although too much of it is too unkind for my taste. The way to recover is to read A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler which is only 140 pages  and a terrific read. There is a connection, quite apart from the similarity of the titles, which is that the protagonists in both books were horribly mistreated as children. 

On himself: David Astor's working life has involved small time venture capital, politics and the Arts. If he had spent less time reading books he might have been more successful.