A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, a million-copy bestseller, is an incredibly powerful and poignant novel that explores the complexities of brotherly love and the boundaries of human endurance. The story follows four graduates from a small Massachusetts college who, upon moving to New York City, rely on their friendship and ambition to navigate their impoverished and uncertain lives. Despite their individual successes and struggles with addiction and pride, their greatest challenge comes in the form of their enigmatic and troubled friend Jude, whose unimaginable past haunts him into adulthood. Yanagihara's writing delves so deeply into the characters' lives and minds that they linger in the reader's thoughts long after the book is finished.