This is one of the lesser-known books but is a modern classic portraying the traumatic life of four struggling friends. This is one of the best books with the complete package of astonishing, upsetting, and profoundness.
The book by Hanya Yanagihara follows four friends after they graduate from a small yet prestigious college in Massachusetts. Willem is a kind and talented actor, Malcolm is an aspiring architect in a well-known firm, JB is the sharp and caustic artist and Jude is a mysterious and intelligent litigator. What feels like an average book turns into a tragic and enigmatic tale after knowing Jude’s backstory. The book hones to Jude’s struggle of freeing himself from the demons of his past with the support of his beloved friends.
The book is about love and humanity and the love of friends for each other. The best thing about this book is how well it portrays the power of friendship. Over the decades their friendship endures through spats, early career struggles, JB’s drug addiction, and the traumatic past of Jude and its effects. The novel is refreshing in its depiction of race, gender, and sexual orientation. The book is beautifully written and contains some of the rawest and honest prose you’ll ever have the pleasure or the misfortune of reading.
This is one of the books that you’d like to read when you want to just feel sad and feel good about your own life. It is never explicitly beautiful nor is it flowery but the book has hope thus this the best books to make your time worthwhile.