A Little Life

The final part of the novel—the shortest by far—is also the final first-person narration from Harold to Willem. During this section, the reader finally realizes that Harold is communicating to Willem even though Willem is already dead. The two often commiserated about their inability to help Jude while Willem was alive, and Harold cannot break the habit even after Willem’s death.

Harold narrates a lovely vacation to Rome that he and Julia had with Jude. Although Jude acts pleasant and happy, Harold can feel him “receding.” He finds himself trying to get Jude to commit to long-term projects, like co-teaching a class or cooking lessons, so he can feel assured that Jude plans to be alive in the long term, but Jude never does so. One day, Jude says that Dr. Loehmann thinks it would be useful for him to tell Harold and Julia about his past, so he plans to try writing it down.

Approximately one year after his friends’ intervention that resulted in his forced hospital stay, Jude kills himself by injecting an artery with air and giving himself a stroke. Andy tells Harold that his death would have been painless, but Harold looks up this method and finds that Andy was trying to spare him; Jude’s death was very painful.