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In an exclusive essay for The Booker Prizes, award-winning singer-songwriter Dua Lipa talks about interviewing Yanagihara on her podcast, where the author speaks in detail about toxic masculinity. ‘It wasn’t that men didn’t feel vulnerability, shame or sorrow, it was that we live in a culture that doesn’t allow them to express those things,’ Yanagihara told her.

https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/dua-lipa-on-a-little-life-hanya-yanagihara

Yanagihara goes on to detail the effects she believes this can have, which we see in her characterisation - particularly of Jude: 'What happens to half of our population when they are not allowed to express the fundamental human qualities that make us vulnerable? Where does that shame and anger and sorrow go? And, of course, it either explodes outwards or it turns inwards.’

What do you think about the author’s comments? Did you notice this in your reading of A Little Life and do you agree? Do you think Jude ever allowed his vulnerability to show? And is this true of men generally? Let us know in the comments.

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And if A Little Life hasn’t made its way into your TBR pile yet, you can win a copy of the book, and an exclusive Booker Prizes tote bag, in our competition here. https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/win-a-copy-of-a-little-life-by-hanya-yanagihara-and-a-booker-prize-tote

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When four graduates move to New York City to find their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride.

Read the opening pages of A Little Life - Hanya Yanigihara’s deft depiction of trauma and friendship - and listen to an audio extract over on The Booker Prizes website. https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/read-an-extract-from-a-little-life-by-hanya-yanagihara

If you are new to the story or are re-reading once again, we’d love to hear your initial thoughts on the novel’s opening in the comments below. Did you see any glimmers of what is to come?

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The novel’s protagonist, Jude, intense self loathing doesn’t make any sense and nullifies any meaning to the book. Jude was a victim of abuse. Had he recruited other young boys to be abused by his abuser, it would have justified his self loathing. I kept waiting for this to be revealed but it’s not there. An abused child can rise above their abusive history but to become so intelligent, wealthy and worldly as Jude does here and yet be so unforgiving of oneself after a lifetime of therapy is, in my opinion, ludicrous.

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