Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Real Life

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

32 reviews

ejanephillips's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

2.75

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megpotter's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I have never read a book quite like this. Taylor's prose is beautiful and visceral, and I feel like this will be a classic in the not to far off future.

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ecn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

This book was very triggering and emotionally exhausting but the overall premise was interesting. Maybe not my thing? But I wanted more of an exploration than explicit trauma

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hollieadaw's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

real life is an introspective, melancholically realistic read that's startlingly sublime and nuanced, and i quite liked it up until towards the end where my enjoyment unfortunately wanes for a few reasons.

this book masterfully captures the bone-deep exhaustion of a queer black man navigating adulthood who's been through - is still going through - a lot of shit, and flays open the world's bullshit for all to see. taylor offers a deep, skeptical exploration of the world of academia - and by extension the main character wallace's escape of his source of trauma - and asks: is this real life, a life spent in labs, cocooned from the outside world? is staying in one's comfort zone truly better than taking one's chances in harsh reality?

i enjoy the illustration of subtle maneuvering and socializing as well, how a person - specifically someone deemed a minority or different - has to be sacrified for the comfort of the greater group around both the literal and proverbial table. the microaggressions and sometimes overt racism endured by wallace are scream-inducing and infuriating, once again shedding light on the reality of black folks and how white ppl gonna white ppl, even the supposedly 'good' ones. most of the characters are also nuanced and multidimensional.

however, i find the writing to be a lil stiff at times esp in the beginning. the long soliloquys on birds and the like - even though i kinda get their symbolic significance - also annoy me, as they sometimes seem too out-of-the-blue and affect the pacing.

nevertheless, my personal dislike of the lack of character growth is what most affects the book's overall rating towards the end. i respect the author's decision and am aware that it'd be unrealistic for wallace to significantly develop or change in some way w/in the period of one friggin weekend. what bothers me actually isnt the lack of character development but the character's unwillingness to change - maybe even overt avoidance or active decision to self-destruct - despite being aware of his own faults, though to be fair it's perhaps a result of his trauma and family conditioning. still, too much has happened for there to not be any change, yet awareness might be the first step towards it.

overall, this is a novel that subtly yet powerfully explores its themes, main character, and the world around him, esp in regards to racism and mental illness, though i personally would've liked more subtle interspersing of symbolism and more character development.

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samarakroeger's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

Christopher Isherwood meets Transcendent Kingdom meets Bryan Washington (???) -- I'm doing that thing again where I end up picking up books that are pretty different on the surface but end up covering very similar themes/topics or have similar tones. Real Life takes place over a very short time period and deals with queerness, otherness, and grief like A Single Man, and the coldness of the tone is almost dissociative, like Isherwood. It also has a similar setting to Transcendent Kingdom (Black grad student from Alabama studying STEM at a PWI) and for some reason I can't quite place Brandon Taylor's writing reminds me of Bryan Washington. Both Memorial and Real Life fail to show a single healthy relationship and both have "unsatisfying" endings (which I personally appreciate). If you liked any of these elements in other books, you might really like Real Life.

Real Life honestly sometimes felt a little too real, certainly very raw and almost dejected. I'm glad I didn't read this while I was struggling to slog through my STEM degree and frequently felt like I didn't belong there. The Imposter Syndrome vibes are very very strong and honestly is a bit of a trigger warning if that would hit too close to home at the moment. If you're feeling very lonely and lost in the world, proceed with caution. I felt it perfectly captured the Midwestern microaggression flavor and casual racism/sexism/homophobia in a place that is "proud of being woke and liberal" but is still overwhelmingly white. Also, the frustration of advisor favoritism.

The writing style veered a little too close to purple prose for me at times. However, given that Taylor wrote this in a matter of weeks (!!!), I think its solid foundation could have benefitted from just a bit more editing.

I liked all the hints that it was set at UW Madison without ever mentioning it by name, which felt like a fun little easter egg hunt for Midwesterners. I feel like I have to be right because UW Madison is Taylor's alma mater and Real Life seems pretty heavily autobiographical.

All in all, I can see how this book would be divisive for people. There's nothing uplifting about this, there's no healthy relationships, there's no real conclusion or lesson to take away from it. It could be deeply triggering for some people, or verge on not being relatable enough to others. Personally, I liked it a lot, but I can't say I'd recommend this across the board.

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