A review by jcinf
Real Life by Brandon Taylor

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. 
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