Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Real Life

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

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jcinf's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have a tough time rating this one.

First, I appreciated the portrayal of tokenism and racism in LGBTQ+ spaces.

Two things I had mixed feelings toward (I promise no spoilers):

Wallace’s friend group felt “meh” at best. I get that the author probably wanted to portray Wallace as being an outcast in his group. I know that’s the core part of the narrative here. ** BUT, I couldn’t tell… was Wallace having a hard time reconciling his friends’ problematic qualities against their redeemable traits? Or were they just shitty people that he became “friends” with solely out of proximity? It was well written, but I would have appreciated more clarity on this.
Wallace’s dynamic with another character in the book. I won’t say who so I don’t spoil it. It’s hard for authors to walk the line between glorifying abuse and simply portraying it. I think in large pet he just portrayed in, but in certain parts I felt like it was getting perhaps a little close to romanticizing it. The second to last chapter brought those feelings up for me.

Overall, though, I felt largely positively about this book. A handful of the things I liked:

The descriptiveness was stunning.
The dialogue was realistic and appropriately emotional.
The depiction of nuanced grief and the way some people try to simplify it.
This one is a loose spoiler as far as character growth, but doesn’t reveal any specific plot points.
The acknowledgment that Wallace can be self-absorbed. Butttt also giving him wiggle room to be that way because of his intersecting struggles due to his sexuality, race, economic class, and generally feeling behind in his academics.
.

As a whole, this book was wonderfully written. But it wasn’t really an enjoyable read because it was so damn sad lol.

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evasteenberghs's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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mckinleyj's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

“Smells of beer and sweat”, “smells like beer and sweat”, “smelled like sweat and beer”… WE GET IT, everything smells like sweat and beer in this book. I truly wish I liked this book more. I thought I would. It feels like I should in theory. I want to feel bad for Wallace, and I did at least a little throughout the whole book—though my sympathy and empathy slowly ran out as I read—, and feel as though Taylor wants the reader to, but it’s hard to not feel as though many of Wallace’s current problems are almost entirely his fault. Yes, he has experienced horrific trauma and is in a less than hospitable environment, but I don’t know if there is a single instance in the book where he makes a choice that doesn’t cause himself and nearly everyone around him further harm. And again yes, this is likely a result of the things he has been through, but at some point personal responsibility has to come into play. I wish I felt worse for him, but Wallace is self centered, pretentious, rude, self righteous, and thinks of himself as the only person in the world who has ever experienced any kind of negative emotion or event (again despite causing more than his fair share of harm in other people’s lives). The least likable main character I have read in a good while. The writing is a weird mix—great at times; unimaginative, abrasively repetitive, and self appreciating at others. I have no doubt Taylor is an extremely talented writer but I can’t shake the feeling that he’s almost trying too hard here, attempting to write in a style that isn’t exactly his. The novel attempts to discuss the lasting impacts and trauma of a variety of horrible experiences—sometimes successfully and sometimes bordering on trauma porn.

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xosirenox's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

4.0

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qtree'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? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

reidfrancis's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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_puberty2's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-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

This is a beautiful piece of prose, especially for a debut novel. I blew through it in 3 days and was genuinely glued to the story. I just want to hug Wallace and be a friend to him that will treat him like an actual person, Brigit was the only real one.

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