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A review by nickoliver
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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? Yes
4.5
After reading "Slay" by Brittney Morris, I was still extremely in the mood for a book written by a Black author. I wasn't quite picky about the genre or the age group, so I just picked the one I had the most interest in. Which happened to be this one.
I am not entirely sure what to think of it. I had no idea what to expect from it, because going into it, the only thing I knew was that the main character was a queer Black guy. I did read the synopsis before starting it, but even then, it didn’t tell me all too much, except that the main character had a friend group were some guys were straight, some guys were gay, and some guys were presumably straight but not really. And not knowing what exactly was coming my way definitely made me a bit nervous.
The entire book was only set over a weekend. It didn't let you forget that, but it still sometimes didn’t feel like that, because so much stuff happened (while at the same time, nothing at all). It started out on Friday, when Wallace, the main character, met his friends in a park (I think?), and ended on Sunday, or possibly Monday. At the beginning of the book, Wallace started hooking up with one of his presumably straight friends, Miller. Their relationship wasn’t the main plot, but it was pretty central.
What I didn’t expect was how relatable everything was going to be. A lot of the things Wallace said or thought were things that could’ve come from my mind, which made the book a lot more personal than I had anticipated. The book made me emotional and also kind of uncomfortable, because it made me confront certain things I wasn’t ready to confront (a lot of things about my life, especially my line of work).
The funny thing about the relatability was that it made me kind of give Wallace my own personality, so every time he acted in a way I didn’t expect, I was the Pikachu meme. It did made it a bit hard sometimes because I got infuriated with Wallace - for example, when he was a bit of a jerk, or when he didn’t defend himself -, but the latter made sense if I switched my privilege off for a second, and the former was probably my own fault for assuming I knew his entire personality after a short amount of pages.
I was reminded again that sometimes, looking up trigger warnings beforehand would do me good. Because just like in "Ninth House" by Leigh Bardugo last year, I got blindsided again by a child being sexually abused. And it was pretty fucked up. It went into detail and also insinuated that the parents were kind of okay with that or at least expected it? There was also religious trauma, because his parents were the religious, bigoted type (and overall abusive as all hell). And Taylor showed how it messed Wallace up; how he seemed to have gotten used to sex hurting and being used for pleasure. It hurt to read that.
I really liked the way Taylor talked about Wallace’s Blackness and the way it made people treat him differently at work (and generally). For example, the way he had to work twice as hard to get even half the recognition his white colleagues got, and the way he had to deal with slurs and mistreatment without anyone sticking up for him. That’s what got to me the most: that no one ever defended him. For example, at certain times, one of his friends would be really mad at him for something and chew him out over it, even if it was completely inappropriate and they were in the wrong, and no one would stand up for him? Sometimes, they’d come up to him later and apologise for not saying anything earlier, but honestly, that just made them shittier people. If you don’t speak up when something hateful is being said or done, you’re part of the problem. Reading this story made me feel angry a lot, especially in a numb, powerless kind of way, but that felt deliberate.
While I was sometimes angry at Wallace for not defending himself, I did understand why he didn’t. It was easy for me to be frustrated, because I was never in that situation. I never had someone see me as inferior solely because of my skin colour, so I had to acknowledge my privilege there. In any way, it made sense that Wallace was too tired to keep defending himself, because it either never led anywhere anyways, or it made things even worse for him. So he just let people treat him like shit, because he couldn’t imagine an alternative where he could’ve successfully stood up for himself. I got infuriated a lot, and honestly, all I wanted to do was give Wallace a hug and take a piece of the burden off his shoulders.
I was a huge fan of the Taylor’s writing. I have no idea why, exactly - I can’t pinpoint it -, but it scratched an itch for me in a way that was extremely satisfying. I’d definitely read something else by Taylor for that alone.
The only thing I didn’t particularly like was the ending. It was very open-ended and didn’t really wrap up any of the plot points. In a way it made sense, because the story read more like a “slice of life” story than anything else, and again, it was only set over a weekend. But I still would’ve liked to see at least some of the threads wrapped up. This way, it was a bit too unsatisfying to me.
I am not entirely sure what to think of it. I had no idea what to expect from it, because going into it, the only thing I knew was that the main character was a queer Black guy. I did read the synopsis before starting it, but even then, it didn’t tell me all too much, except that the main character had a friend group were some guys were straight, some guys were gay, and some guys were presumably straight but not really. And not knowing what exactly was coming my way definitely made me a bit nervous.
The entire book was only set over a weekend. It didn't let you forget that, but it still sometimes didn’t feel like that, because so much stuff happened (while at the same time, nothing at all). It started out on Friday, when Wallace, the main character, met his friends in a park (I think?), and ended on Sunday, or possibly Monday. At the beginning of the book, Wallace started hooking up with one of his presumably straight friends, Miller. Their relationship wasn’t the main plot, but it was pretty central.
What I didn’t expect was how relatable everything was going to be. A lot of the things Wallace said or thought were things that could’ve come from my mind, which made the book a lot more personal than I had anticipated. The book made me emotional and also kind of uncomfortable, because it made me confront certain things I wasn’t ready to confront (a lot of things about my life, especially my line of work).
The funny thing about the relatability was that it made me kind of give Wallace my own personality, so every time he acted in a way I didn’t expect, I was the Pikachu meme. It did made it a bit hard sometimes because I got infuriated with Wallace - for example, when he was a bit of a jerk, or when he didn’t defend himself -, but the latter made sense if I switched my privilege off for a second, and the former was probably my own fault for assuming I knew his entire personality after a short amount of pages.
I was reminded again that sometimes, looking up trigger warnings beforehand would do me good. Because just like in "Ninth House" by Leigh Bardugo last year, I got blindsided again by a child being sexually abused. And it was pretty fucked up. It went into detail and also insinuated that the parents were kind of okay with that or at least expected it? There was also religious trauma, because his parents were the religious, bigoted type (and overall abusive as all hell). And Taylor showed how it messed Wallace up; how he seemed to have gotten used to sex hurting and being used for pleasure. It hurt to read that.
I really liked the way Taylor talked about Wallace’s Blackness and the way it made people treat him differently at work (and generally). For example, the way he had to work twice as hard to get even half the recognition his white colleagues got, and the way he had to deal with slurs and mistreatment without anyone sticking up for him. That’s what got to me the most: that no one ever defended him. For example, at certain times, one of his friends would be really mad at him for something and chew him out over it, even if it was completely inappropriate and they were in the wrong, and no one would stand up for him? Sometimes, they’d come up to him later and apologise for not saying anything earlier, but honestly, that just made them shittier people. If you don’t speak up when something hateful is being said or done, you’re part of the problem. Reading this story made me feel angry a lot, especially in a numb, powerless kind of way, but that felt deliberate.
While I was sometimes angry at Wallace for not defending himself, I did understand why he didn’t. It was easy for me to be frustrated, because I was never in that situation. I never had someone see me as inferior solely because of my skin colour, so I had to acknowledge my privilege there. In any way, it made sense that Wallace was too tired to keep defending himself, because it either never led anywhere anyways, or it made things even worse for him. So he just let people treat him like shit, because he couldn’t imagine an alternative where he could’ve successfully stood up for himself. I got infuriated a lot, and honestly, all I wanted to do was give Wallace a hug and take a piece of the burden off his shoulders.
I was a huge fan of the Taylor’s writing. I have no idea why, exactly - I can’t pinpoint it -, but it scratched an itch for me in a way that was extremely satisfying. I’d definitely read something else by Taylor for that alone.
The only thing I didn’t particularly like was the ending. It was very open-ended and didn’t really wrap up any of the plot points. In a way it made sense, because the story read more like a “slice of life” story than anything else, and again, it was only set over a weekend. But I still would’ve liked to see at least some of the threads wrapped up. This way, it was a bit too unsatisfying to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit
Moderate: Eating disorder, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Grief, Pedophilia, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Fatphobia and Racial slurs