Review
An e-ARC has been provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House International, in exchange for an honest review.
My suffering has finally come to an end!
And although it wasn’t all suffering, a huge chunk of this book was soooooooooo long that I wanted to rip some pages out for sanity.
Hanya Yanagihara has a distinct writing style that, to me, comes across as either very literary or somewhere along the lines of classical writing. It was pretty simple to get through. The words wasn’t flowery or overly saturated, though she enjoys writing plenty of additional details that doesn’t necessarily affect the main elements of the story—resulting to a dragging read.
“Preparing to be thirty, much less forty or fifty, was like buying furniture for a house made of sand—who knew when it would be washed away, or when it would start disintegrating, falling apart in clots?“
The book has been portioned into three parts and each part has its own beauty. Every story’s conflict revolved around different ideas yet, similarly, around family and love. They were poignant and felt everlasting. And despite the futuristic setting of the book, it felt relatable and timely.
“He was exhausted, David would later understand, but he never complained about it, because exhaustion was a privilege of the living.”
BOOK I: WASHINGTON SQUARE
Washington Square is a story that follows a rich young man in an alternate America where in New York (called the ‘Free States’) you’re able to live and love however and whoever you like. The main character is betrothed to a suitor of wealth (although not as they were) but falls in love with a music teacher of no means.
The story, in itself, rubbed off of the setting, is a very typical romance novel trope. Nevertheless, the story alone wasn’t about the man but more about the nuances of life. It was an interesting tale of sacrifice for the sake of love—what you’re willing to lose to be with the one you love. Also, it is a story of what you’re ready to overlook.
I find this story to be oddly familiar and that stripped off some of the excitement of reading for myself. There was too much emphasis in my expectation to Yanagihara that I failed to digest the thought of her possibly writing something that isn’t exactly out of the ordinary. My mind processed her, being famous and all, as someone who’ll blow me away. Regardless, I enjoyed it book for what it was.
“It’s funny—of all the things I was scared of, I was never scared of the dark. In the dark, everyone was helpless, and, knowing that, that I was just like everyone else, no less, made me feel braver.“
BOOK 2: LIPO-WAO-NAHELE
Lipo-Wao-Nahele is a story heavier than the first. It follows a Hawaiian man who’s troubled by his past as it tries to merge with his present, ruining him.
Boy, oh, boy! WOW! How this book was loooooooooooooooooooooooooong!
I love the idea behind this book, but it was written so long and slow that I was lost in the thought of wanting to drop the entire novel due to boredom and disinterest. It might be insensitive to say, as it gives room to myself not appreciating the fact that this was a touching story of heritage and family, but I wouldn’t want my dishonesty to colour my thoughts just because I want to be a part of the group that enjoyed the story.
“What did I think our pretending would amount to? The most pathetic answer is that I didn’t. I pretended because, when I was pretending. I had given myself something to do.”
The definite reason that ruined the entirety of this book for me was its pacing. It was dragging and although I can see the importance of some details within the story, I believe that it could have been easily diminished for a shorter book with an equally strong composition of depth.
The characters within Lipo-Wao-Nahele are truly interesting. They are multifaceted and each of them driven a role integrating a complex structure to the main character. However, his overall appeal ended up to be odd and evoked a level of detachment.
“Nathaniel always says he’s mature for his age, which is one of those things worried parents say about their children when their children baffle them, but I think what he’s mature in is his loneliness. A child can be alone. But he shouldn’t be lonely. And our child is.”
There is no denying that the story holds a captivating profundity in its gravely dragging arrangement. However, it did not work well for me as the combinations of length and weirdly placed chapter cuts performed poorly than what the author might have expected.
“The problem with doing something the second time is that, while you know what you can correct, you alsoknow what’s beyong the scope of your powers—and I have never wished more for ignorance than I do now.”
BOOK III: ZONE EIGHT
Zone Eight is a story of a damaged woman trying to live her life in a ruined world of pandemic her grandfather helped create.
This is an interesting story but at the same time it’s paranoidal. The implications within the story in connection to the power of politically inclined people makes you think of the causal reasoning behind the calamity they were facing.
“But when you’re older, you do anything you can to try to stay alive. Sometimes you’re not even aware you’re doing it. Something, some instinct, some worse self, takes over—you lose who you are. Not everyone does. But many of us do.”
Similar to the two previous story, book 3 is relatively slow paced. There is a small understanding to this as there are many catalyst within the story that may or may not directly affect the main and supporting characters of the story. As such, Zone Eight can be very descriptive. It does not reach a point of disgust, but there are parts where it can get unnerving.
Despite being bored within half (or even a greater portion) of book 3, I find this to be my favourite in this collection. There was so much depth to the story—a multitude of threads interwoven beautifully, unravelling slowly as you go through the story.
“It was better not to want at all: Wanting just made you unhappy, and I was not unhappy.”
Overall, I can see how the book can be appealing; however, in its attempt to become something more than it is, it became mediocre. There is a specialty to it that someone can find themselves in. If not for how lengthy the book was, I would have enjoyed it more yet there were too plenty parts that I believe could have been cut off. It wouldn’t be a signature Yanagihara work if that were to happen, thus I just hope this book works better for you than for myself.
