Notorious miseryfest A Little Life to have West End theatre run

Is this show entertaining or is it just a long sermon?

[quote]Bring a cushion. And some tissues.

Don't forget your vomit bags!

It was a SLOG to read and everybody with a brain could tell what the ending would be. Misery indeed. I had to reserve reading it for days that were generally pleasant as if I was to read it on a bad day I'd be as suicidal as Jude.

I always hated the book for its cover.

“Orgasming Man”… Christ, he looks like he’s on the verge of tears when he should be lettin’ it rip! Who cums like that?

Omg I agree with R2 and R3 - no way in HELL I would go see that after reading it.

R4 wait, you mean that was his cum face? I genuinely thought it was of a guy about to burst into tears given the nature of the book!?

I obviously didn't get the memo.

Jude cuts himself. Oh poor Jude. More hideousness happens to Jude. Oh poor Jude. We find out the priests raped Jude. Oh poor Jude. We find out the guy who rescued Jude as a kid also raped him and ran him over and mangled his legs. Oh poor Jude. Jude continues to cut himself. Everyone tries to love Jude. Some mean bitchy gay is violent to Jude even though they're lovers. Oh poor Jude. Jude kills himself. Oh poor everybody who invested time and energy into this laugh a minute mess.

This woman is profiting from other people's pain.

[quote] I always hated the book for its cover

It is ugly.

That they made this into a show is mind boggling to me. Good for the writer - but its like “Less is Lost” come to life. “Why would anyone turn that into a play?”

Some foolish people think misery equals artistic profundity.

The last 20 years of Benjamin Britten's career was spent writing miserable music.

I really did like the book, as depressing as it was, but it took me over a month to read it. I kept having to leave it for a few days.

Casting announced. Premiering in London in March. James Norton to play Jude....i thought Jude wasn't white? When I first saw the press pic I thought oh yeah James Norton would be a good Willem but he's Jude? Omari Douglas will be good as JB as he just has to riff off the character he played in It's A Sin but Americanise it.

The other two I've never heard of, but I bet this will be pulling the crowds. 4 hours of misery.

James Norton went all out : full nudity, running around on stage stark naked, self harm, blood everywhere

Too bad DM has removed many of the pictures

The poster

Intense, but unfortunately censored

Nothing left to the imagination

With so much running around in full nudity, HOLE will be presented, even if unintentionally

Vulnerable

Not for the faint hearted

Christ, some of you people are nasty.

What exactly is the point? Does it just wallow in one miserable person’s miserable life until he kills himself?

R22 It is a fucking awful story and play. And unremittingly grim.

YOU are unremittingly grim as well, R24. Check yourself.

Is there any point to this unremittingly grimness —apart from our need to see nude men?

Regarding the unremitting misery and if there’s any point to it, probably only the lady writer herself could answer

R25 Why are you on this thread? Jesus read a synopsis on the story, bizarre frau gay hating bullshit.

R26 See above.

Throwback: A must read

As prosperous, content and fat as Buddha.

As a matter of fact, Hanya represents the ideal beauty of Tang Dynasty [618-907 CE]

As captured in the Tang tri-colour glazed terracotta figurines, like this

Well with Heartstopper being such a hit, there is clearly a market for books by straight women fapping to gay sex and gay struggle.

James Norton is a beautiful man and a good actor too

James Norton has good facial bone structure but disconcerting milk-coloured flesh.

He looks 'distressingly-nude' while professional models can look 'happily-naked'.

How much are they willing to pay me to accept a ticket to this piece of shit?

Throwback: out in the sun

R36 he is still dreamy. Van some poor soul go and watch just to give us sizemeat verification?

He has a lovely body and is meant to be very polite and relaxed with fans who've happened upon him in London. Glad to see he's sustaining his career post-Granchester and Happy Valley.

R36 He has that Celtic skin which looks blue when exposed to sunlight.

The same blue that corpses have.

Running on stage

Maimed for life

Unrelated Throwback: Not his first Rodeo

^ He's an 'actor'. Actors do what they're told.

^ Sure, but at least they looked like they’re enjoying it

R42 What is that from, please?

Am I the only one who thinks she ripped off Thomas Hardy calling her unfortunate protagonist Jude?

Of course it was a rip-off.

R45: it’s from the movie, ‘Bonono’ [2014]

^ sorry, ‘BonoBo’

R49 Ha, and it stars the house keeper from Grantchester.

A Little Life author Hanya Yanagihara says ‘no one wants to fund’ screen version

Yanagihara has been attempting to adapt her novel for the screen since its publication in 2015

The posters above have already said this but... I don't know why I read this to the end but it was gay bashing misery porn. I threw the book across the room when she killed off yet another sympathetic character in the most sadistic way. I will never get those hours back. That millions (like me!) paid her to indulge in one of the most homophobic books I've ever read...Shame on her, shame on me.

I'm not sure with the real world in such a mess, people are interested in a a misery porn film.

[quote]That they made this into a show is mind boggling to me. Good for the writer - but its like “Less is Lost” come to life. “Why would anyone turn that into a play?”

The book has a huge fan base. Fans have been daydreaming about the ultimate HBO limited-series adaptation for years.

I couldn't even finish the book. It was trauma porn and yes, homophobic. Imagine if a non black author had written about a black man that way.

The fact that it was so highly lauded is stomach turning.

The author typifies the true victim mindset. Not a gay man herself, she gets to wallow in the misery she creates for her charcters. The more they suffer the better for this woman. But she's an ally remember not a homophobe! If a homophobe wrote it, the book would be vile garbage.

[quote]A Little Life author Hanya Yanagihara says ‘no one wants to fund’ screen version

I am firmly on the side of "no one".

Let me guess...most of the fans of the book are damaged young women.

Is the author even real? No photos on any of the books.

Why would somebody write such misery porn anyhow? Just reading a description of it is depressing.

Perhaps surprisingly, gay author Garth Greenwell is a fan:

Hanya Yanigahara was "not the person to tell this story."

(What publishers and agents routinely tell white authors who are writing about non-white experiences)

[quote]Is the author even real? No photos on any of the books.

Pic at r51.

I read constantly. I mean, every single day since I first learned how. I never hated a book until I read this piece of shit.

[quote]Is the author even real? No photos on any of the books.

She appeared at public events across the U.S. and all over the world to promote her novel.

After "A Little Life," she vowed it would be her last (and only) book, but she released a new novel, "To Paradise," seven years later. Amazing discipline, given that she also held (and continues to hold) a full-time job as editor-in-chief of T Magazine.

I sort of assumed she was a latent lesbian, and (forgive the dime-store psychology) channeled her same-sex desire into creating these gay male characters ("playing with gay dolls," someone here on DL called it). Turns out she did have same-sex experiences at Smith (who didn't?) but came to identify more with gay men later on.

The most damning review of "A Little Life" was by Daniel Mendelsohn in the New York Review of Books:

Whatever you might think of her novel and its innumerable flaws, if you've read it you'll never, ever forget the character of Jude St. Francis, which I guess is an accomplishment in itself.

The book was so praised by so many when it came out. And the Amazon reviews…

It’s so twisted and miserable that it almost sounds like a dark comedy. Who the hell would want to see this onscreen?

I dunno, r65. Is he the one who keep apologizing for everything?

I saw the Dutch stage adaptation of the novel in Amsterdam a few years before Covid. Yanagihara was the guest of honor on opening night. Seemingly, she wasn't altogether happy with the production, complaining that director Ivo Van Hove was not subtle enough and "hit you over the head with everything": the opposite of 'show, don't tell.' Funnily enough, that's exactly what she does in the novel: the characters' feelings and actions are described in exhausting detail.

She cites Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day" as one of her favorite books. She admires the understated way in which he presents the major tragedy and suffering in the protagonist's life, and how he gets under the reader's skin. Yet her novel is the polar opposite of "The Remains of the Day": absolutely nothing is left to the imagination, and it's surely on the far end of the "show" and "tell" spectrum.

R67: yes. The phrase "I'm sorry" appears approximately 1,753 times throughout the book.

Registration required, R64 and I used up my one time. Anybody have a non-paywalled copy?

I'm sorry, R64 (to quote Poor Jude). I can't help you there.

The review was so withering that Yanagihara's publisher felt compelled to respond. His letter, and Mendelsohn's response, are linked below.