Real Life

A Novel

By: Brandon Taylor

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free

2020 Booker Prize short-listed

2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize long-listed

2021 Lambda Literary Award short-listed

2020 National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize short-listed

2021 VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize short-listed

2021 Young Lions Award short-listed

A Finalist for the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the VCU/Cabell First Novelist Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the NYPL Young Lions Award, and the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award

"A blistering coming of age story." (O: The Oprah Magazine)

Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Public Library, Vanity Fair, Elle, NPR, The Guardian, The Paris Review, Harper's Bazaar, Financial Times, Huffington Post, BBC, Shondaland, Barnes & Noble, Vulture, Thrillist, Vice, Self, Electric Literature, and Shelf Awareness

A novel of startling intimacy, violence, and mercy among friends in a Midwestern university town, from an electric new voice.

Almost everything about Wallace is at odds with the Midwestern university town where he is working uneasily toward a biochem degree. An introverted young man from Alabama, black and queer, he has left behind his family without escaping the long shadows of his childhood. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even within his own circle of friends—some dating each other, some dating women, some feigning straightness. But over the course of a late-summer weekend, a series of confrontations with colleagues, and an unexpected encounter with an ostensibly straight, white classmate, conspire to fracture his defenses while exposing long-hidden currents of hostility and desire within their community.

Real Life is a novel of profound and lacerating power, a story that asks if it’s ever really possible to overcome our private wounds, and at what cost.

©2020 Brandon Taylor (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"[A] stunning debut...Taylor proves himself to be a keen observer of the psychology of not just trauma, but its repercussions.... There is a delicacy in the details of working in a lab full of microbes and pipettes that dances across the pages like the feet of a Cunningham dancer: pure, precise poetry." (Jeremy O. Harris, The New York Times Book Review)

"Equal parts captivating, erotic, smart and vivid...[rendered] with tenderness and complexity, from the first gorgeous sentence of his book to its very last...Taylor is also tackling loneliness, desire and - more than anything—finding purpose, meaning and happiness in one’s own life." (Time)

"[Real Life is] a sophisticated character study of someone squaring self-preservation with a duty to tolerate people who threaten it. The book teems with passages of transfixing description, and perhaps its greatest asset is the force of Wallace’s isolation, which Taylor conveys with alien strangeness." (The New Yorker)

Intriguing

Usually I love the readers of Audible books. This time I thought the invented voices for each character weren’t particularly great matches for their personalities. Just one straight ahead voice would have been fine and less distracting. The story was a deep dive into one character’s psyche and life experiences. It gave the listener just enough to care about him and let us fill in the missing pieces.

Beautiful

This book is beauty as pain. Written in gorgeous prose it is heartbreaking. Evokes UW in every way.

Impressions of Taylor's Real Life

This book confronts difficult realities for graduate students working equally hard on their research and personal lives. There is much pain in the lives of the characters in both settings. The hopes and dreams of youth are quickly engulfed by insecurities and brashness of new friends and sexual encounters. Finding one's self is an elusive goal, only achieved through both reflections of past family influences and what satisfies them now. Trusting the academic world is difficult and challenging; so is finding a person with whom to share daily life. The contrasts between Black, Asian and white characters are truthfully presented. Wallace and Miller begin to find satisfaction only when they acknowledge their pasts and begin to talk to each other honestly.

Heartbreaking

I was not prepared for the emotional rollercoaster that this book would take me on. It left me in tear sometimes, angry sometimes and overall just emotional. There is so many different topics going on in this book that effect so many different people. And seeing how Wallace is trying to move on from the trauma that is his life only to counter more trauma was heartbreaking. I felt like the story had a poetic flow to it and that added to the storytelling. Overall I thought it was a good Story. I do wish that the ending would have gone slightly differently.

indifferent

Towards the end of this book the main character talks about being indifferent to something that just happened to him. That is precisely how I feel about this book. Indifferent

The Good: We have to start with Kevin R. Free. As usual he gives a stellar performance. He knows how to use emotion in his voice without making it too campy. The writing in this novel is beautiful. The words and description leaves nothing to the imagination. For a debut book I think this author has a lot to offer his readers.

The Bad: My biggest gripe with this book is the ending. If you are the type that needs a satisfying ending...or any kind of ending, this isn't the book for you. I honestly felt like we got to this big build up where the characters were going to finally make choices, like a person would do in Real Life, and then it just ended. And because the author has a tendency to jump backwards into the past to explain current characters, characteristics, or relationships I had no idea where the book ended was where it was going to end or needed to end. It felt empty. This isn't the type of book you can just make up your own mind where the story goes from the end.

Chilling, Excellent

Beautifully told story, from a perspective you haven’t heard before. I am sure the main character’s struggles will stick with me for some time.

I read this book for Kid Cudi

I didn’t know what to expect coming into this book. I started listening to it because of Scott Mescudi’s announcement of producing a film out of this story. The plot takes place over a single weekend, and as crazy as that sounds, the author is able to make it the most “real life” weekend. I wish I could write like this. I will definitely be reading more stories like this. I recommend everyone to listen before watching, the book is always deeper than the movie. I’m excited to see what they come up with though.

Great prose, tedious plot

This story captures everything that is mediocre and tedious about gay life and academia. While the narrator does an excellent job at interpreting the tedious characters, the book does nothing to help me feel better about being a gay academic. I had to force myself to finish it. A complete disappointment.

Real Life

An honest story of the uncertainty and unfairness of real life and the traumas that get us there

Masterful storytelling and narration

This is a strong story - the places, characters, events. I was drawn in immediately by the author's skills. I wanted to know more about these people and their lives.

This is a brilliantly written book. Brandon Taylor's pacing and variation throughout are beautifully done. the story moves well, great pace and details - and he is a master of drawing readers into key moments with a slowing down and focusing in on specific parts of a scene. I enjoyed all of this book - and admire his skill in maneuvering through important current events and issues in this book. I particularly love his scenes involving water and food; some of those places I reread/relistened to, as a writer and not just a reader - I know I've already said this - but he is a master of this moving in and out, speeding us up and slowing us down, writing through the body, heart, entire being.

I enjoyed the narration for the audio version. there was enough variation of character voices to know who was who, but it was not too much to be distracting. His voice is clear, matched the story well, good to listen to. very well done.

I highly recommend this book.