Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

7 reviews

jennaclarek's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

okay so either i am bad at reading summaries (likely) or nobody had the foresight to tell me this is apart of the "toxic friendgroups who are all a little in love with each other but also hate each other" universe (less likely)...because holy cow i wasn't expecting this powerhouse. immediately from the get go i was compelled by the writing, the characters, and the overall tone of this book. it's so well written, the prose is just breathtaking, and i really will need to pick it up again to underline all the fantastic passages in here. it touches on so many of my favorite things - academia, the complexities of queer friendship, grief...

this is a very dark book - it touches on some heavy topics, and overall there aren't a lot of positive scenes. it has flickers of light throughout, but a lot of it is unfair and a little hopeless and incredibly frustrating. but i think it's such a fantastic book because brandon taylor does not shy away from the darkness. the whole point of the book IS the darkness. that real life is like this. it's messy and chaotic and white people do ruin everything and sometimes "i'm sorry" isn't good enough, it's never good enough, but we all just walk around lying to each other saying we're fine and that's fine.

i don't have anything innovative to say! it's just a damn good book! and i will be revisiting in the future because it has so much incredible prose and the Point is Poignant. i could not put it down. i will be thinking about it for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Racism, Rape, Blood, Gaslighting, Cursing, Death of parent, and Vomit

sfx_naike's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Racism, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Abandonment

nialiversuch's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, Addiction, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, and Rape

gracer's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

 For the most part, I really liked this book. I got sucked in pretty quickly (although, for the sake of clarity, I did start it in the vacuum of a transatlantic flight) and then had a hard time putting it down. I would have finished it sooner, but I got nervous about finishing it without having something else going, so started some other books in the meantime.

The downsides to this book are basically the MFA-writing and the dramatic last 15% or so. The MFA-writing was mostly beareable, aside from the overuse of the word slick:

"the world spun in slow, dark, slick circuits." (p. 20)
"There was something slick in the water" (p. 29)
"some inner surface goes slick and hot" (p. 84)
"he peels back [the apple slices'] slick skins" (p.173)
"slick with sweat" (acceptable. p. 259)
"the slick, cool countertop" (p. 291)
"slick with sweat" (p. 298)
"the smooth, slick concrete stairs" (p. 316)

There's only 8 mentions in the whole book but wow I found it distracting. Mr Taylor, please, retire this word from your vocabulary.

Sorry to dwell on that. I really had to get that off my chest.

More importantly: this is a book about a weekend when everything and nothing happens. It is about a very strong internal life and feeling completely ostracized and alone. It's also about racism and homophobia. (side note: as a white person... damn. This is why we need to read more books by Black authors.) The writing (aside from the previously mentioned) was really engaging; scenes were strong and visual as well as atmospheric. There were almost too many characters, but the way they were introduced, mostly as groups in scene-like situations, made it work - I was only confused a couple times, and only about minor characters (and then the kindle x-ray feature solved any lingering questions).

Gotta love that the token racist, homphobic, manipulative, coddled b**** is a Pacific Northwesterner.

This book was full of really reflective and interesting musings on the nature of being in grad school, how consuming it can be and how hard it is to be part of the "real world" when you are consumed by the world of grad school.

But be warned, it's not for the faint of heart. There's a lot of intense stuff that happens at the end, and a lot of characters unpacking lots of issues throughout. A fast read, but not at all a light one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Cursing, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

tesshersh's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

it’s like nothing happens and also so much happens I feel crazy!!!!! heartbreaking

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Child abuse, Blood, and Alcohol

noahee's review

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Excrement, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

oliverlang's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm not sure what I expected from this book to begin with but as it went on I found myself compelled to read more in the hopes that the resolutions I wanted from it would come to fruition.

There's a lot of friend group drama going on throughout this book with a lot of dark/serious themes. 

I feel like I wanted this book to be more than it was. It had the opportunity to provide strong character development and show a bisexual identity and it just didn't give me that. 

Although the book only documents the events over one weekend, the ending felt unfinished and the final chapter came out of the blue with a flash back to the friends meeting for the first time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts