Real Life by Brandon Taylor

Author: Brandon Taylor

Genre: LGBTQ+, Contemporary, Literary Fiction

Synopsis:

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.

Format: Hardcover, 329 pages

Awards: Booker Prize for (2020), New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award for None (2021), Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction (2020), Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction and for Debut Novel (2020), Society of Midland Authors Award for Adult Fiction (2021), Alabama Author Award for Fiction (2022), Aspen Words Literary Prize for Longlist (2021), The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize for Longlist (2020), The Publishing Triangle Award for Debut Fiction (2021)

Goodreads Rating: 3.79

*This book is pre-loved, but has been carefully looked through to ensure it is not missing any pages and is in good condition. All visible flaws have been documented in the product photos.