Literary FictionHanya Yanagihara ยท 2015
A Little Life in Emojis
Four friends and one man's unbearable past โ in emoji.
Four college friends build lives in New York, but the novel narrows to Jude โ a gifted lawyer whose horrific childhood trauma and self-harm test the limits of love and friendship over decades.
The plot in emoji
A Little Life emoji summary, decoded
Here's what each part of the emoji story means, beat by beat.
- ๐๐ฌ๐ฌFour friends leave college for New York to make their way.
- โ๏ธ๐๏ธJude becomes a lawyer, Willem an actor, and the group thrives.
- ๐คซ๐ฉนJude hides a past too terrible to speak and harms himself.
- โค๏ธ๐ Willem's love and a kind mentor try to anchor him.
- ๐ณ๏ธ๐ขFlashbacks reveal decades of unimaginable abuse.
- ๐๐A sudden tragedy shatters the fragile peace he'd found.
- ๐ฏ๏ธ๐คThe story becomes an elegy for a friendship that couldn't save him.
The cast of A Little Life in emoji
The main characters, one emoji each โ tap any to copy.
โ๏ธ
Jude
The brilliant, deeply wounded lawyer.
๐ฌ
Willem
His devoted best friend and love.
๐๏ธ
JB & Malcolm
The artist and architect of the four.
A Little Life emoji set
A copyable set of emojis that capture the book's vibe. Tap any emoji, or copy them all.
Did you know?
The polarizing, 700-page novel became a word-of-mouth phenomenon and later a hit stage play.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is A Little Life in emojis?
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara can be summed up in emojis as: ๐จ๐จ๐จ๐จ๐๏ธ๐โ๏ธ๐๏ธ๐ฉน๐๐ฏ๏ธ๐ข๐ค โ a shorthand emoji plot summary you can copy and share.
- How do you describe A Little Life with emojis?
- Break the story into its key beats and pick one or two emojis for each โ the setting, the main characters, the turning point, and the ending. The decoded summary above shows one way to do it for A Little Life.
- What can I use these book emojis for?
- Copy the A Little Life emoji summary into a book-club chat, a BookTok or Instagram caption, a reading challenge, or a 'guess the book from emojis' game.