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A review by notesbynnenna
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
4.0
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book!
"This is why he keeps the truth to himself, because other people don't know what to do with your shit, with the reality of other people's feelings. They don't know what to do when they've heard something that does not align with their own perception of things."
REAL LIFE is an excellently written novel that follows a queer Black man named Wallace, who's at graduate school in the Midwest. I will say that it was a slow starter for me. Wallace is studying biochemistry and the science jargon in the first chunk of the book had me struggling a bit to get into the story. Once I accepted that though, I was drawn into Wallace's life.
This is a very quiet, introspective book. As the reader, we are really in Wallace's head and get a first hand look at what he's thinking and feeling. We see his experiences with racism, both at the lab where he works and amongst his so-called "friends." We learn about the trauma of his childhood, and how that shapes the way he interacts with people as an adult.
Wallace often thinks about the scale of the world and the specificity of his life in the grand scheme of things. That notion is reflected in the time frame of this novel, which takes place over the course of a weekend, and shows just a snippet of the things that Wallace has experienced throughout his life. The quote above really struck me because a lot of Wallace's interactions seem to be him performing what he thinks people want to see and hear. He feels like he cannot reveal his true self because it is too raw and unwieldy.
Taylor explores themes of grief, purpose, friendship, identity, and self-worth, with writing that is so well-crafted and cuts to the core. There is an openness and vulnerability that made some passages difficult to read. My heart broke for Wallace, who deserved to be treated so much better than he was. This is a novel that gets under your skin, and I feel like I won't stop thinking about it anytime soon.
"This is why he keeps the truth to himself, because other people don't know what to do with your shit, with the reality of other people's feelings. They don't know what to do when they've heard something that does not align with their own perception of things."
REAL LIFE is an excellently written novel that follows a queer Black man named Wallace, who's at graduate school in the Midwest. I will say that it was a slow starter for me. Wallace is studying biochemistry and the science jargon in the first chunk of the book had me struggling a bit to get into the story. Once I accepted that though, I was drawn into Wallace's life.
This is a very quiet, introspective book. As the reader, we are really in Wallace's head and get a first hand look at what he's thinking and feeling. We see his experiences with racism, both at the lab where he works and amongst his so-called "friends." We learn about the trauma of his childhood, and how that shapes the way he interacts with people as an adult.
Wallace often thinks about the scale of the world and the specificity of his life in the grand scheme of things. That notion is reflected in the time frame of this novel, which takes place over the course of a weekend, and shows just a snippet of the things that Wallace has experienced throughout his life. The quote above really struck me because a lot of Wallace's interactions seem to be him performing what he thinks people want to see and hear. He feels like he cannot reveal his true self because it is too raw and unwieldy.
Taylor explores themes of grief, purpose, friendship, identity, and self-worth, with writing that is so well-crafted and cuts to the core. There is an openness and vulnerability that made some passages difficult to read. My heart broke for Wallace, who deserved to be treated so much better than he was. This is a novel that gets under your skin, and I feel like I won't stop thinking about it anytime soon.