Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Real Life

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

25 reviews

gracer's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-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

4.25

For the most part, I really liked this book. I got sucked in pretty quickly (although, for the sake of clarity, I did start it in the vacuum of a transatlantic flight) and then had a hard time putting it down. I would have finished it sooner, but I got nervous about finishing it without having something else going, so started some other books in the meantime.

The downsides to this book are basically the MFA-writing and the dramatic last 15% or so. The MFA-writing was mostly beareable, aside from the overuse of the word slick:

"the world spun in slow, dark, slick circuits." (p. 20)
"There was something slick in the water" (p. 29)
"some inner surface goes slick and hot" (p. 84)
"he peels back [the apple slices'] slick skins" (p.173)
"slick with sweat" (acceptable. p. 259)
"the slick, cool countertop" (p. 291)
"slick with sweat" (p. 298)
"the smooth, slick concrete stairs" (p. 316)

There's only 8 mentions in the whole book but wow I found it distracting. Mr Taylor, please, retire this word from your vocabulary.

Sorry to dwell on that. I really had to get that off my chest.

More importantly: this is a book about a weekend when everything and nothing happens. It is about a very strong internal life and feeling completely ostracized and alone. It's also about racism and homophobia. (side note: as a white person... damn. This is why we need to read more books by Black authors.) The writing (aside from the previously mentioned) was really engaging; scenes were strong and visual as well as atmospheric. There were almost too many characters, but the way they were introduced, mostly as groups in scene-like situations, made it work - I was only confused a couple times, and only about minor characters (and then the kindle x-ray feature solved any lingering questions).

Gotta love that the token racist, homphobic, manipulative, coddled b**** is a Pacific Northwesterner.

This book was full of really reflective and interesting musings on the nature of being in grad school, how consuming it can be and how hard it is to be part of the "real world" when you are consumed by the world of grad school.

But be warned, it's not for the faint of heart. There's a lot of intense stuff that happens at the end, and a lot of characters unpacking lots of issues throughout. A fast read, but not at all a light one.

Content Warnings

kwarnimont's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings