Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

73 reviews

dalek_caan's review

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. 

---

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

prizazz's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

Wow. Yeah. Real Life is too real in the messiness of the characters. I think I'm going to THINK a lot about this book, but I'm NOT going to want to read it again anytime soon. I like the language and the observations made by the author. He is SO articulate, but the romantic relationship stuff is WAY rough.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

I'm not sure with the ending if I should be hopeful or if I should just expect patterns to get repeated, because the author may be implying that and I so HATE that for all the characters, except for Dana, what a jerk!

nova123's review against another edition

• 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

Made me cry on the train as well. Very beautiful written book with an extremely emotional depiction of the life of a black gay man in the Midwest ... but also so unhopeful at the end that I'm not sure if I would recommend it 💀 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Classism

charliesbookshelf's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

best read this year so far.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

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

---

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

mr_cain's review against another edition

4.75

All too real. Rips your heart in two and forces you to confront how you exist in the world.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, and Eating disorder

jcinf's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

I have a tough time rating this one. 

First, I appreciated the portrayal of tokenism and racism in LGBTQ+ spaces. 

Two things I had mixed feelings toward (I promise no spoilers):

1. Wallace’s friend group felt “meh” at best. I get that the author probably wanted to portray Wallace as being an outcast in his group. I know that’s the core part of the narrative here. ** BUT, I couldn’t tell… was Wallace having a hard time reconciling his friends’ problematic qualities against their redeemable traits? Or were they just shitty people that he became “friends” with solely out of proximity? It was well written, but I would have appreciated more clarity on this. 
2. Wallace’s dynamic with another character in the book. I won’t say who so I don’t spoil it. It’s hard for authors to walk the line between glorifying abuse and simply portraying it. I think in large pet he just portrayed in, but in certain parts I felt like it was getting perhaps a little close to romanticizing it. The second to last chapter brought those feelings up for me. 

Overall, though, I felt largely positively about this book. A handful of the things I liked:

1. The descriptiveness was stunning.  
2. The dialogue was realistic and appropriately emotional. 
3. The depiction of nuanced grief and the way some people try to simplify it.
4. This one is a loose spoiler as far as character growth, but doesn’t reveal any specific plot points.
   The acknowledgment that Wallace can be self-absorbed. Butttt also giving him wiggle room to be that way because of his intersecting struggles due to his sexuality, race, economic class, and generally feeling behind in his academics.
   . 

As a whole, this book was wonderfully written. But it wasn’t really an enjoyable read because it was so damn sad lol. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Racism

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

---

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

katdid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Pretty sad and depressing book tbh. I had a real sense of dread while reading it. The narrative takes place over three days and coupled with the descriptions of the stifling weather it reads as v claustrophobic. Some of the content/situations put me in mind of <u>A Little Life</u> --

just, Wallace seems to expect that he'll be treated with sexual violence and not believe he's worth any more than that. I found him a frustrating character because he was so passive. I kind of felt ambivalent about the book until the final chapter which is pitch-perfect and makes (imo) everything hang together (but also more upsetting/devastating). It's a great study of how you gather people around you based on circumstances (in this case, graduate school) but how maybe they aren't really your people.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Animal death

_fallinglight_'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

Minor: Infidelity