A Little Life audiobook vs book: which should you choose?
The novel follows four friends across three decades and gradually narrows to one of them. The 28-hour audiobook is highly praised, but the timeline and the shifting viewpoint are easier to follow in print.
Content note: sources list childhood abuse, sexual assault, self-harm, addiction, depression and suicide among the novel’s themes. This page does not describe them.
Short answer: for the A Little Life audiobook vs book choice, we say read it on Kindle (72% confidence, leaning). The audiobook is read by Matt Bomer and runs 28 hours 39 minutes, unabridged, and Library Journal and AudioFile both praise the reading. The book jumps in time, shifts viewpoint and has literary prose. Those favour print, and they outweigh the praised narration and the 736-page length.
Read it on Kindle
Praised narration and a 736-page book pull towards listening; flashbacks, shifting viewpoints and literary prose pull towards reading.
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Confidence 72%, which puts it in the leaning band. Bands run from close call at 50 to 64, through leaning at 65 to 79 and clear at 80 to 94, up to clear cut at 95 and above.
The audiobook at a glance
| Recording | UK edition, our verdict (Picador) | US edition (Random House Audio) |
|---|---|---|
| Narrator | Matt Bomer | Matt Bomer |
| Length | 28 hours 39 minutes (28h 39m) | 28 hours 38 minutes (28h 38m) |
| At 1.5x | 19h 6m | 19h 5m |
| At 2x | about 14h 20m | 14h 19m |
| Abridged or unabridged | Unabridged | Unabridged |
| Audio publisher and year | Picador (Pan Macmillan), 2025 | Random House Audio, 2025 |
| Print length | 736 pages (Picador paperback) | 736 pages (Doubleday hardcover) |
Oliver Wyman read the original 2015 recording (33h 5m on the US Brilliance Audio CD); it did not come up in Audible UK search results. Whether the UK and US Bomer editions are one recording is not confirmed.
Lengths checked 15 October 2026. Speed times are calculated from the listed length.
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara
- Genre
- Literary fiction
- Published
- 2015
- Length
- 736 pages (Picador paperback)
- On audio
- 28 hrs 39 mins
- Narrated by
- Matt Bomer
- Prizes
- Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2015 and the Women’s Prize 2016, winner of the Kirkus Prize 2015, National Book Award finalist 2015
- On stage
- Ivo van Hove’s adaptation, West End 2023
On this page
Why we reached this verdict
Every book on this site is checked against the same thirteen questions. They are based on research into what most people find easier to follow in each format, not on whether the book is any good.
Listening: award-winning or praised narration (6), long book (3), 9 points. Reading: jumping timelines (8), three or more points of view, one narrator (8), literary or dense prose (7), 23 points. 72% of the confirmed points favour reading, so the verdict is read it on Kindle at 72% confidence (leaning).
The recording in detail
- Narrated by
- Matt Bomer, solo, unabridged
- Critics
- Library Journal: “truly breathtaking”. AudioFile: “a steady and thoughtful presence”
- Listener ratings
- 4.5 from 523 ratings on Audible UK and 4.5 from 1,868 on Audible US, as of October 2026
- What audio adds
- One praised narrator for all 28 hours, with the author’s endorsement
- What you miss
- Visual signposts for the jumps in time and the switches into Harold’s sections
What this book actually is
A Little Life is Hanya Yanagihara’s standalone literary novel, first published in March 2015 by Doubleday in the US and in May 2015 by Picador in the UK. The Picador paperback runs to 736 pages, and a tenth-anniversary hardback (752 pages) came out in October 2025.
It follows four friends from a Massachusetts college to New York over about three decades, gradually narrowing to one of them, Jude, whose past is hidden from the others. It is in seven parts, opening and closing with “Lispenard Street”.
It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2015 and the Women’s Prize in 2016, won the Kirkus Prize in 2015 and was a National Book Award finalist. Ivo van Hove’s stage version played in the West End in 2023, and a planned TV series was dropped.
The case for reading it
The case for print is about keeping your place. The novel spans roughly three decades with frequent flashbacks, and Kirkus notes how few “markers of what’s happening in the outside world” it gives. In print you can flip back to work out when a scene is set. In a 28-hour audiobook that is much harder.
The viewpoint moves too. It begins across four friends, narrows to Jude, and adds first-person sections by an older Harold, set later than the main story. And the prose is part of the experience: Vox reread the book for it, and the Washington Post called it “incantatory”. For a novel this long and this intense, being able to pause, reread and set your own pace matters.
The case for listening to it
Matt Bomer’s recording is the reason to consider audio. Library Journal called the performance “truly breathtaking”, AudioFile praised “a steady and thoughtful presence to an emotionally intense novel”, and Yanagihara said new listeners “will get to experience the book as I’d always hoped”.
A single steady voice can also make a long, emotionally heavy book easier to stay with. If you know the novel already, the shifts in time and viewpoint will be easier to follow, and you can focus more on the reading.
The audiobook in detail
Matt Bomer’s recording was released on 4 February 2025 for the novel’s tenth anniversary, by Picador (Pan Macmillan) in the UK and Random House Audio in the US. It runs 28 hours 39 minutes, unabridged: 19 hours 6 minutes at 1.5x and about 14 hours 20 minutes at 2x. Whether the UK and US editions are one recording is not confirmed.
Oliver Wyman read the 2015 original. The US Brilliance Audio CD runs 33 hours 5 minutes, about 4 hours 26 minutes longer than Bomer’s, and it did not come up in Audible UK search results. Audible UK rates Bomer’s recording 4.5 from 523 ratings, as of October 2026.
Who should ignore this verdict
Anyone returning to the book a second time, who already knows where each part sits in time: Bomer’s reading is a natural way back in. Listeners who manage long, emotionally heavy books better as audiobooks than in print. And readers who mainly want the performance, which critics rate very highly.
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Related verdicts
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
A long literary novel about friendship, where either format works.
The Calamity Club
A novel of similar length, where our verdict is to listen.
The Secret History
Friends, college and what follows, where either format works.
Start hereHow we decide
The thirteen questions behind every verdict on this site.
Questions people ask
Who narrates the A Little Life audiobook?
Matt Bomer, in the 2025 recording. The 2015 original was read by Oliver Wyman.
How long is the A Little Life audiobook?
The A Little Life audiobook is 28 hours 39 minutes (28h 39m) in the UK edition, which is 19h 6m at 1.5x and about 14h 20m at 2x (calculated).
Is the A Little Life audiobook abridged?
No, it is unabridged.
Should I read or listen to A Little Life?
Read it on our checks (72% confidence, leaning). Flashbacks, shifting viewpoints and literary prose favour print, and they outweigh Matt Bomer’s praised reading and the 736-page length.
Why is there a new A Little Life audiobook?
It was recorded for the novel’s tenth anniversary and released on 4 February 2025.
Is A Little Life being made into a TV series?
No. Hulu dropped a planned 12-episode series, as Attitude reported on 13 March 2025. The 2023 West End stage version was filmed for cinemas.
Do you agree with this verdict?
We said read it on Kindle. One tap, no sign-up.
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How this verdict was reached
Every book on this site is checked against the same thirteen questions, set in advance and applied identically to every title. They are based on research into what readers and listeners generally find easier to follow in each format, not on personal preference, and they are published in full so you can check the reasoning yourself. Verdicts are never paid for, sponsored or influenced by affiliate partners.
- The criteria: read the thirteen questions in full.
- What we checked for this book: the Picador and Random House Audio listings on Audible UK and Audible US, Pan Macmillan’s announcement of the Bomer recording, Picador and Doubleday edition details, reviews in Kirkus, Library Journal and AudioFile, and Attitude’s report on the TV series.
- Verdict last reviewed: 23 October 2026. Editions and narrators change, so verdicts are rechecked annually.
- Prefer different criteria? The app, coming soon, will let you change which of the thirteen questions matter to you.
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