I really do feel like I have been through an entire lifetime with Jude and William and Harold, the main characters of A Little Life. I have never had such a difficult time getting through fiction--there are a lot of tough topics that Yanagihara doesn't simply brush over. But by the time things got bad I felt I owed it to the characters to understand them. I'm not sure I've ever felt I've known a character as much as I know Jude. He is one of my very favorites of all time. This was a page-turner yet at the end I was ready for it to be over because I simply felt exhausted. (view spoiler)[Kind of like how Jude felt when he KILLED himself. (hide spoiler)] 
 The writing wasn't perfect, this book had some flaws. (Lots of pronoun confusion. My own confusion, likely.) But I was so in love with the story and Jude that I didn't care.