Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

32 reviews

dalek_caan's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

If I wasn't reading this for a book club I wouldn't have finished it. I don't understand at all what I was supposed to take away from this book other than grad school sucks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

cadystanton's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

snoodle_poodle's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

megelizabeth's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

This was a book that really crept up on me. It's dense, heavy, slow, and incredibly brutal, and it was only towards the end that I properly started to realise just how brilliant it is. It's overwhelmingly about loneliness, and explores that - as well as other themes - so, so well. The characters are incredibly well-developed for a story set mostly over one weekend, and by the end my heart was just completely aching. I just know that this is a book I will not forget. I do wish that there had been some nuance to the way that animal exploitation is portrayed, but otherwise I loved this so much that I don't feel I can give it less than the full five stars.

I always encourage checking trigger warnings, but with this one I would do so even more heavily than usual - there is a LOT of really heavy content in this one and it's definitely one to only go into if you really feel you're in a good place to handle it. If you do feel able to cope, though, I truly cannot recommend this enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Vomit and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism and Cancer

laserdaddy's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It would have been just as good and twice as poignant without the

two graphic rape scenes

in my humble opinion 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

trashfford's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

TW: SA, homophobia, racism 

This book is a great portrayal of loneliness in a crowd. The ending felt rushed to me, but the writing was impeccable. It was traumatic and beautiful. I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

stierwood's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

kers_tin's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny and Suicidal thoughts

yaelm's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism