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What a tough book. I started reading this immediately after I finished [b:The Book of Memory 25666068 The Book of Memory Petina Gappah https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439811882s/25666068.jpg 14504677], but it took me three weeks to finish this, and meanwhile I finished ten other books. One might say finishing A Little Life was something of a struggle.Yet there was no doubt about it: I would read this all. It's all very captivating, but also frustrating. Jude is such a character... not easy to love, no, and reading through all of this is such a painful ride at times. But I had to know what happens in the end.There are some rather graphic depictions of abuse, self-inflicted and otherwise, and parts of the book are very depressive. It's not for squeamish or too sensitive. But the depictions of friendship and love are there as well, and they are powerful.It's not without flaws; it's all very long and I'm pretty sure you could remove at least 200 pages without losing much. The characters are somewhat implausible, particularly Jude who is both seriously broken and super talented in many respects. All of the friends are quite special, really, and able to avoid many of the life's struggles.Worth reading? Maybe.