Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Real Life

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

22 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.

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cadystanton's review against another edition

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challenging 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

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sfx_naike's review against another edition

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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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melon_ramune's review against another edition

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yaelm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

יש לי בעיה קשה עם הספר הזה, כי הוא כתוב -נהדר- ממש, וחלקים גדולים ממנו מופלאים ברמת חמישה כוכבים, אבל החלקים שלא כ״כ מעצבנים שאני לא יכולה, פשוט לא יכולה, לדרג ביותר משלושה.

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foxblood's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

This book was a little hard for me to push through in the last third - definitely check TWs prior. Regardless, I really enjoyed certain aspects of this book, and it will certainly stick with me.

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kwarnimont's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

I thought this novel was lyrically and descriptively written, but to the point that it just wasn't for me. We get pages long descriptions of nematodes, tennis, and dinner, at the expense of any character development or self reflection from the narrator. Wallace is a complicated main character who doesn't change over the course of the novel, but provides a vessel to reflect on implicit (or even explicit) biases that we project onto even the people we hold close. I am glad I read it, I did a lot of personal reflection inverse to Wallace's lack of reflection, but it was done in a narration style that I had to trudge through by the end of it. I am glad I read it, but I'd be hesitant to recommend it to someone if they don't want to put in the work to analyze it as they go through. At least it's short.

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