First, Yanagihara, I will never forgive you for this story. Second, while people claim this is trauma porn, I think—and this is my OPINION, not a JUDGEMENT—they may have missed the point of the story. Third, this book is HEAVY. I can usually finish a book pretty quickly, but boy was I not prepared for, well, everything. If you’re looking for a story that has a happy ending, this is not the book for you. (Though, there’s much to be said about the ending, and how

Jude—even under the circumstances—finally claims control of his own life.

) It’s tough and raw and scary and just all around emotional, it is a story that makes you think about people—about what you may not know about them, about why they act and react to things, and how, in the end, there are few people who really understand, who care to look at us when they know the deepest, darkest parts of us. It’s a story about life and just how profound it is, and that is what makes it a story worth reading.