Book Title:
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
Why I chose it: Shortlisted for Booker Prize (you’ve got to start somewhere!)
What I especially liked about it: Despite the significant length, this book kept me hooked. It follows the lives of 4 friends in the contemporary USA, and with precise and modern prose gradually exposes the layers of terrible trauma that one of them endured. I also find that it effectively avoids gratuitous gore or detail, without sparing us the horror. Even after seeing so much in my professional life, the observations and insights provided by this novel helped me understand some of the psychological and behavioural aspects of living after severe trauma, more than several of my textbooks.