Hardcover, 336 pages
English language
Published Jan. 1, 2020 by Riverhead Books.
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 …
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.
not a light hearted read, and i empathized with a lot of what went on in it (perhaps too much? 🙃) and learned, at least a little bit, about the difficulties of navigating a racist world as a non-white person
Someone is in love with their ego
loved the premise, didnt vibe so much with the main character, felt a bit meh about it all
I really liked this so much. Anxiety and belonging in academia; defining what is real in life and what is not. There was a moment about 2/3 in where the protagonist opens up to his lover when he is brought back in time via the sound of thunder that is just so fucking beautiful. I got to it as the sunset exploded in pinks and reds last night and it knocked my breath away.
I waffled on what to rate this but I settled on 4 stars. The voice, the writing style of this book worked for me. I love a deep dive into someone’s existential crisis
