Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

194 reviews

mybestfriendisabook's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

3.0

uncomfortable and tense sometimes. the view from someone who struggles through those moments. 
pace was too slow and confusing for me at times but i was pulled in when it got tense. not really quite sure where this went. 
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bossybookworm345's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

Writing was beautiful and poetic without being too serious, but it was dark and a little confusing. It also was only about a single weekend with multiple flashbacks involved, which was fine but meant that not much actually happened; most of the work/events were internal. Also this is just a personal preference but I was really unsatisfied with how things ended

 
loved the realistic depiction of microagressions and wasn’t too upset with how weirdly tense and violent the relationship of the main character got, but neither of them felt resolved in anyway whatsoever by the end of the book. Not even in a “oh this didn’t end positively/sometimes the bad guys win” kind of way; the situations just didn’t “end” at all. But if you’re not upset about cliffhangers or don’t need your books to be wrapped up neatly with a bow, you’ll likely enjoy the story



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stierwood's review

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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.
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slintangel's review

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

5.0

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cameronjette's review against another edition

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3.75

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luce98's review

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dark emotional 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

4.5

I don't know if I liked how it ended but I enjoyed the ride. 
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kers_tin's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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miraleighv's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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frankieclc's review against another edition

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5.0

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damalireads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

“This could be their life together, each moment shared, passed back and forth between each other to alleviate the pressure, the awful pressure of having to hold on to time for oneself. This is perhaps why people get together in the first place. The sharing of time. The sharing of the responsibility of anchoring oneself in the world.”

I was totally unprepared for how much I was invested in and gutted by this book.

Initially, you think this is going to be a Standard Campus Novel. We have a queer black PhD candidate (believe it’s biology?) approaching his 4th year, feeling uncertain of his place in his lab, amongst his friends, in academia, and as a Southern boy living in the Midwest. The central plot seemingly surrounds a sabotaged experiment, but as you read on, you begin to see the acute conflicts and pain inflicted upon Wallace from multiple sources. As Wallace struggles with belonging, you begin to question if that acceptance is possible or even worth the trouble.

There is a quiet brilliance woven through the entire novel. Jeremy O. Harris described Real Life as a novel that “excavates the profound from the mundane”, and I think that’s the perfect description. Wallace, at heart, is an observer constantly dissecting the people and the interactions around him. When a friend is worried about their boyfriend opening up their relationship, Wallace attributes this to really a fear of losing the “inoculation against the uncertainty of the future” that a relationship brings. When he is subject to microagressions and blatant racism by his peers, Wallace notes that in the rare times he raises the issue, he finds that white people hold his accusations “up to the light and try to discern if you are telling the truth…As if they can tell by the grain if something is racist or not, and they always trust their own judgement.” When he’s assaulted by a lover, who is reeling from exposing his deepest secrets, Wallace notes that the cruelty he experiences is a “conduit of pain…a delivery system, as in the way that certain viruses convey illness, disease, irreparable harm.” It’s in these moments that Taylor shines and I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. As Wallace takes the time to turn these astute observations inward, it peaks in a chapter where he recounts his past/family that is probably one of the most gut wrenching things I’ve read in my life.

There’s a lot of honesty in this book, even with Wallace admitting the ways he even has misjudged or characterized his friends, making it an even more compelling read.

The most human, but frustrating part, about this novel is the lack of confrontation or character development in Wallace. We do not see any retribution for the racism he experiences, or the physical abuse inflicted upon him by a lover, or just generally how awful (I think) his friends are. But sometimes, that’s Real Life 🤪. There’s no perfect resolution, but that does makes sense for a character who is committed to shedding the past in an attempt to become something new, but insincere, in the face of his community & environment.

This novel is special. It was still a Campus Novel, but to center a black and queer experience allowed for an added layer of reflection that was particularly poignant. I laughed in recognition at the Hell of doing anything within the sciences, the consistent doubt that is cast upon you by peers/leaders, and trying to understand how to mold yourself into dimensions that people can understand. I’m excited to read his short stories next, and looking forward to his next novel coming out this year.

4.25 Stars
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