(Thanks to @riverheadbooks for the free book) • Real Life by Brandon Taylor is so good. It lived up to the hype and went beyond for me. Before you read my thoughts I do want to highlight some other reviews that made me want to pick this book up: @parisperusing posted a brilliant own voices review back in October. @idleutopia_reads captured the reading experience perfectly in her December review. @shelfbyshelf and @allisonreadsdc posted beautiful reviews in January. @lupita.reads posted about it in February. Their reviews are in my story today!

Real Life takes place over the course of a late summer weekend, following Wallace, a gay black graduate student in the Midwest. He’s surrounded by white friends and high expectations. Wallace is a beautiful character, fully formed and complex. I felt like I knew him, I was tired for him, and my heart hurt for him.

Many reviews have written about how Taylor poignantly articulates the experiences of a gay black man in an environment that is unfortunately overwhelmingly white. Beyond that, for me, Taylor perfectly captured the pressures and loneliness and exhaustion of graduate school, the unsettled feeling of “when will my life start” or “should I be here”, the isolation, the way you are thrown in to a group of friends, the imposter syndrome, the constant pressure and wondering if it’s worth it. As someone who left a PhD program early after never quite feeling good enough, this aspect resonated so much with me.

The writing is immersive and beautiful. The late summer melancholy feeling was so strong. These characters will stick with me. I’d highly recommend this one.