Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

21 reviews

celinbean's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Wallace truly is the og traumatized pathological people pleaser and it was a little heartbreaking to read his responses. All of this was honestly a lot to take in. This felt like a character study with wallace as the very observant narrator to whom no detail was too small but who also turned inward a lot to inspect his feelings. But despite that inward look i feel like we just reached the acknowledgement stage of his grief and trauma. 

The whole friend group actually gave me anxiety bc they were all so mean and almost indifferent to each others feelings? And unwilling to actually try to understand each other? I also wanted to root for miller so much but the ending was not… entirely satisfying with what he did. I would’ve liked it if wallace actually found someone who’s gentle and who stands up for him but i guess i would’ve had to read a romance book if i wanted a true happy ending 🥲

Nevertheless this was such an addictive read that was wholly unexpected because ive been in a kind of slump where ive only really been reading/ listening to audiobooks. I quite literally could not stop reading and that hasn’t happened for me in a while. The prose was stunningly beautiful.

TW: rape of a child, sexual assault of a child, racism, disordered eating + vomiting

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Infidelity

Minor: Racial slurs

snoodle_poodle's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

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

1.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Racism, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Rape, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Blood

stierwood's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Everything about this book made sense. It had me thinking about whiteness in communication and friendships, and Wallace was a character exploration i had never read anything like. At first i was like ok, enough with the birds, but by the end i feel like i got it. Just really freaking astute, gutting, challenging, everything.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Racism, Mental illness, Homophobia, Death, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Rape, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

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

---

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

jextown's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Classism, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Rape

marjoleinvanderspoel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Absolute new fave. I'm here for societal critque and especially if it includes acedemia. And what a painful but beautiful book this was. Filled with rage, hurt, fear and indecision, it's nuanced and unapologetic and real. Immediately adding Taylor's other work to my tbr.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, Racism, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Addiction, and Animal death

raelin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

Things I Loved

• The lab setting and descriptions and inclusions of high science. I have never read a book that casually includes the graduate setting of a science lab and I loved that backdrop of order and focus admits the emotional chaos and intensity  surrounding Wallace. 
• The sharing of a painful insight into what it is like to be the “other” in academia at a PWI. 
• The beautiful prose and achingly tragic descriptions. 

Overall this was just a gut wrenching, rip your heart out and cry for Wallace. I was depressed and deeply sad the whole time reading it. It felt open and important to read, but painful. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Racism, Eating disorder, and Alcoholism

samarakroeger's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, and Self harm

Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Homophobia

Imposter Syndrome and feeling incredibly lonely and hopeless in the world also prevalent themes

shreyshrey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

Nails a really specific feeling

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

voidboi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

What can I even say about this book? I ached as I read, submerged in gorgeous and brutal writing, feeling both deep connection and intense alienation as I was let into Wallace's head/body. 

In Real Life, the complexities of grief, memory, identity, and relationships converge over a weekend of experimental setbacks, socializing with friends, walks through a midwestern city, and a burgeoning sexual and toxic connection. The story is grounded in Wallace's internal experience, playing with the stark border between the self and others, as the othered. I was especially impressed by the way Taylor masterfully evokes the existential crisis that is academia, different from my experience in humanities and social sciences, but still painfully familiar with far-reaching impacts. Throughout this book, the world is honestly rendered in both condemnation and empathy. It hurts. I'll carry this one with me for a long time. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Racism, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Violence, Animal death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Vomit