A Little Life

Yanagihara parcels out the horrific picture of Jude’s past in small doses throughout the novel rather than narrating it all at once. This technique serves multiple purposes. First, it draws in the reader: Through hints given early on, we know bits and fragments of Jude’s past, but each new fragment we get only leaves us more interested in the full picture. Second, the average reader would likely find the experience of reading Jude’s full history in one narrative chunk too difficult; the details are so harrowing that even reading them in small fragments proves challenging.

Third, and most importantly, the segmented telling of Jude’s past mirrors Jude’s own thought patterns. The demons from his past are always lurking just under the surface. On any given day, some sense memory from the hotels he shared with Brother Luke, Dr. Traylor’s basement, or the children’s home might invade a happy scene at work or home. Moreover, the logic he formed as a child continues to inform his entire adult life; he never abandons his underlying certainty that he inspires disgust and that he cannot trust anyone to love him unconditionally. Because he is unable to shed this logic, Jude maintains a childlike presence throughout the novel.