A great book will immerse you in its world -- you’ll feel like the characters are your dear friends, like the setting is a place you know. Finishing it will feel like a sad goodbye; starting a new book is a rehoming of sorts. Ideally, the words of a novel are enough to accomplish this, but a new Instagram feed hopes to take the world-building of fiction a step further.
The account is dedicated to Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, a book that came out earlier this year, following the lives of four friends. Jude -- the group’s glue -- has endured unspeakable traumas, and has spent his adult life trying to move past them. Yanagihara brings their relationships to life with heartbreaking lucidity. By photographing literal manifestations of scenes and metaphors, alittlelifebook makes reading a community act.
"He felt he had awakened Harold's curiosity, which he imagined as a perked, bright-eyed dog," one caption reads. "A terrier, something relentless and keen -- and wasn't sure that was such a good thing." The image is of a sad-eyed black lab, looking expectantly upward. Another, of a splattered canvas, reads, "Cleaning was boring; it was particularly boring while sober."
Whether or not the project captures the Yanagihara’s words, it's a fun supplemental scrolling experience.