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emma's Reviews > Real Life
Real Life
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emma's review
bookshelves: authors-of-color, diverse, lgbt-plus, literary-fiction, non-ya, recommend, project-black-history-month, reviewed, owned, 5-stars, reread, beautifully-written
Feb 19, 2022
bookshelves: authors-of-color, diverse, lgbt-plus, literary-fiction, non-ya, recommend, project-black-history-month, reviewed, owned, 5-stars, reread, beautifully-written
Read 2 times. Last read February 15, 2024 to February 19, 2024.
Nobody is perfect.
I, for example, come extraordinarily close, and even I have my flaws. I work too hard. I give too much to charity. I cannot, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, WRITE A POSITIVE REVIEW.
I can write negative reviews all day, and have fun doing it. Give me a book that is offensive, or dumb, or just plain bad, and we'll have the time of our lives roasting each other up.
But when I love a book?
Hoo boy. Bad news bears.
The highest compliment I can give a book is that it reminds me of Sally Rooney, the author of my heart, and Brandon Taylor's clear and lovely style does that in spades. This book wrapped me up in it, affecting the language of my internal monologue and the nuances of my mood and refusing to allow me to put it down until I finished - keeping itself at the forefront of my mind even if I did manage to take a break.
I read the author's short story collection earlier in the month, and while I didn't completely love it, I couldn't really shake it. Reading this seemed like a foregone conclusion, and was almost exactly like reading a novel-length version of some of my favorite stories from it.
This story, of Wallace, a gay Black science grad student surrounded by whiteness and solitude, even when in the company of others, has so much to say about violence, about race, about loneliness, about sex and love and cruelty.
Bottom line: Just read it!!!
-----------------
book club update
i loved this book when i first read it, and i loved it even more this time. and now i really need to talk about it with someone so please join book club discussion: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3i17w1LZpD/
5 stars!
-----------------
pre-review
"when you know you know"
- most people about true love / me about authors i like
update: it was true.
review to come / 4.5
I, for example, come extraordinarily close, and even I have my flaws. I work too hard. I give too much to charity. I cannot, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, WRITE A POSITIVE REVIEW.
I can write negative reviews all day, and have fun doing it. Give me a book that is offensive, or dumb, or just plain bad, and we'll have the time of our lives roasting each other up.
But when I love a book?
Hoo boy. Bad news bears.
The highest compliment I can give a book is that it reminds me of Sally Rooney, the author of my heart, and Brandon Taylor's clear and lovely style does that in spades. This book wrapped me up in it, affecting the language of my internal monologue and the nuances of my mood and refusing to allow me to put it down until I finished - keeping itself at the forefront of my mind even if I did manage to take a break.
I read the author's short story collection earlier in the month, and while I didn't completely love it, I couldn't really shake it. Reading this seemed like a foregone conclusion, and was almost exactly like reading a novel-length version of some of my favorite stories from it.
This story, of Wallace, a gay Black science grad student surrounded by whiteness and solitude, even when in the company of others, has so much to say about violence, about race, about loneliness, about sex and love and cruelty.
Bottom line: Just read it!!!
-----------------
book club update
i loved this book when i first read it, and i loved it even more this time. and now i really need to talk about it with someone so please join book club discussion: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3i17w1LZpD/
5 stars!
-----------------
pre-review
"when you know you know"
- most people about true love / me about authors i like
update: it was true.
review to come / 4.5
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Real Life.
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Reading Progress
February 19, 2022
–
Started Reading
February 19, 2022
– Shelved
February 20, 2022
–
Finished Reading
February 15, 2024
–
Started Reading
February 19, 2024
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-15 of 15 (15 new)
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message 1:
by
M
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Feb 20, 2022 01:52AM
this was possibly my fave book last year. hope you’re enjoying it!
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Mia wrote: "this was possibly my fave book last year. hope you’re enjoying it!"it was amazing!
Lem◍nade wrote: "5 stars??"appears that way!
Been a while since you 5 starred a book (not counting rereads)
Who writes reviews? Critics.What do critics do? Criticize.
When you love a book just go home.
Lem◍nade wrote: "Been a while since you 5 starred a book (not counting rereads)"so true
K wrote: "Who writes reviews? Critics.What do critics do? Criticize.
When you love a book just go home."
damn. got my ass
Haha I think you need to get over your fear of the five stars! Nothing in life is perfect and the perfect book will never happen, so when something makes your heart soar then shower is with those pointy gold things ⭐
Fi wrote: "Haha I think you need to get over your fear of the five stars! Nothing in life is perfect and the perfect book will never happen, so when something makes your heart soar then shower is with those p..."and yet i do give five star ratings...maybe i'm just skilled in finding perfection
The way Brandon Taylor puts the minutiae of bodily movements and emotional nuance into prose is astonishing - it does wild things to time and narrative. This book made a weekend feel like 5 years and that’s talent, babyyyy.
Also that’s depression too 🥹😅
if you follow him on twitter, he’s also a sally rooney stan! love his writing
lily wrote: "if you follow him on twitter, he’s also a sally rooney stan! love his writing"his twitter is so important
Matthew wrote: "The way Brandon Taylor puts the minutiae of bodily movements and emotional nuance into prose is astonishing - it does wild things to time and narrative. This book made a weekend feel like 5 years a..."matthew you're a genius and yes yes a thousand times yes
