A letter to Hanya Yanagihara · A Little Life
The Friends We Carry
On friendship as the central, decades-long work of a life — and a novel that asks how much suffering a reader can be asked to hold.
Working draft — title, framing, and cover are in place; S.E. will write the essay.
Yanagihara writes friendship the way other novelists write marriage — as the central, decades-long project of a life. It is a book people press on each other like a warning and a gift at once.
This is a placeholder essay so the page reads like the real thing — the novel, the cover, and the shape of the argument are here; S.E. will write the words that go in this space.
Priya Raman buys books at Parnassus Books. Support a living author — buy it new from an independent bookstore.