Matt Bomer Brings A Little Life Back to Life
And now, a new addition to Hanya’s boys: Matt Bomer will read a new tenth anniversary audiobook of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, out February 2025. It’s another in a series of performances that deal with great gay pain for Bomer — whose recent work has included The Boys in the Band (both on-stage and on-screen), The Normal Heart, Fellow Travelers, and Maestro. “I was truly, deeply moved to be asked to read Hanya’s brilliant, heartbreaking, and timeless novel,” Bomer said in a statement to Vulture. “It’s a book that I’ve been fascinated with since I first heard about it, and having the opportunity to bring these characters to life was both a profound responsibility for me and a chance to fall in love with her work all over again. It’s a piece that, for me at least, changed me as a person after I read it - and what more can we ask for in art?”
Bomer has previously narrated just two audiobooks: James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and Trent Preszler’s memoir of post-coming out father-son estrangement and reconnection, Little and Often. “I am so grateful for the guidance and consideration of our brilliant director Christina Rooney (who let me have walking breaks and step out of my 6 x 6 cubicle to clear my head every now and then!) and our highly skilled engineer Sharon Kearney who were so patient with me in my exploration,” he added. “It was truly a labor of love for all of us. Suffice it to say we were motivated, moved and, at times, undone by Hanya’s sheer genius.”
“It’s a dream to have Matt Bomer – an actor of great generosity, beauty, and depth – as the new voice of the A Little Life audiobook,” Yanagihara added. “New listeners will get to experience the book as I’d always hoped; repeat ones will, I think, find new dimensions thanks to Matt’s subtlety and skill.”
The previous version of this audiobook was read by narrator Oliver Wyman. The finalist for the National Book Award and the Booker Prize follows four gay male friends in New York City, though it focuses most intently on Jude’s trauma. Below, find an exclusive eight-minute excerpt of Bomer narrating A Little Life. Do you think he likes this little life … this little life?
Related