A few weeks ago I finished A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, and when I went online to search up reviews in hopes of some sort of comfort, I found out that most people deem it the one of the saddest contemporary novels of all time. Honestly, I don’t even know where to start because this book was truly a once in a lifetime experience, and the type of sadness it made me feel was so raw and almost physically painful. It almost felt like I was another character in the book who felt the same pain as the characters. Even though there are many books that deal with sad topics such as depression, trauma, and suicide, no other book that I have read goes into such excruciating detail, which is partly why I believe this book is so fantastically written.

The book starts off by introducing its four main characters: Jude, Malcolm, Willem, and JB. Throughout the first part of the book, which is titled “Lispenard Street”, we learn a little about each character and how they play a part in each other’s lives. JB is an up and coming artist with a loving family who is just starting his journey of self discovery. Malcolm is in architecture school and comes from a rich family. Willem is an aspiring actor who constantly struggles to find good acting jobs to support himself. Jude is a brilliant law student with a traumatic past. The book focuses heavily on Jude’s life, as it carefully peels apart the layers of trauma that haunt him everyday. The saddest part of the book isn’t just the traumatic experiences that Jude has experienced, but also the pain it causes the people who love him, and how it affects not just his life, but also the lives of the people around him. Throughout the entire book, Jude struggles to seek help from others, and his friends have no choice but to see him wallow in despair as they fear he might end his life. In many instances, Jude’s friends would fight with him about how he isn’t telling them anything, and this only leads to more despair and self loathing. I can’t talk about every single sad detail about this book because it is over 800 pages long, so I highly suggest you read it yourself to get the full experience.

So what is the point of all of this? What is the point of reading a book that is basically just 800 pages of depression? The happiest moments in A Little Life are basically setting up the even more depressing aftermath of that happiness, so I never felt truly happy during my reading journey. With that being said however, I think that there is great value in reading sad books because you gain more from the reading experience. When I finish a happy story, I just smile and then forget the plot because happiness is a pretty simple emotion that doesn’t require a lot of thought to process. That is not to say that there is no point to happy stories, but sad stories carry more weight, and you are more likely to remember them. For example, through all the pain that the characters in A Little Life have gone through, I was able to understand the value of life and how trauma can affect individuals. It opened my eyes to the grim realities of the world and how you can’t just be magically saved once the traumatic event is over. 

When asked about what book made her cry, Yuna Shin (11) said “The saddest book was Harry Potter’s seventh and final book when Kreacher- the house elf of Sirius Black- was left alone with his roast beef.” Yuna exclaimed that Kreacher’s life was very sad, and she felt sympathy for him when he was alone with his roast beef. No matter what book you read, the ones you remember are always the ones that leave an emotional impact. While it is good to have some fun and read a comedy book, humans need to read sad books to understand the negative parts of life and how to deal with them.