Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Real Life

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

3 reviews

jcinf's review against another edition

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.

Content Warnings

dontmindmiri's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

4.5

Content Warnings

messica's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-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

2.75

This book started all kinds of shit that it did not finish. And there is a lot of sexual violence which I did not know about in advance. If you are dealing with grad school/loneliness/depression/sexual trauma/family issues ... I don't know if this book will be cathartic or triggering for you. Probably triggering.

I appreciated the commentary on microaggressions, grad school depression, and uncertainty of careers. But sexual violence, trauma and grief get halfway unpacked and nowhere near addressed.

We leave the main character worse than we found him, with fewer friends, an uncertain job, and a toxic and possibly dangerous relationship with a violent homophobe. What kind of arc is that?

I am very surprised this was shortlisted for the Booker considering the writing waffles between immersive and overwritten. I skimmed the parts that were screaming "I am literary fiction!" although I'm sure there's a literature student out there right now writing an essay on the significance of birds. There were too many times that I was confused about what was going on in a conversation (argument?) or like... wait I thought it was already dawn 4 pages ago....?

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