Olivia Cram
Professor Frank
Prize Fiction
10/15/2021
Real Life: Book Review
The novel Real Life by Brandon Taylor follows the story of a gay, black graduate student, Wallace, studying biochemisty at a university in the midwest. The story takes place over the course of one weekend, touching upon themes of death and grief – especially the psychological aspects of the two – along with racism and the microaggressions Wallace is consistently facing from his friends and academic peers. Wallace’s story also highlights a theme of sexual assault throughout his life and the need to make himself small as a defense mechanism. This novel is Taylor’s debut and coincides much with his own life. Taylor also grew up in Alabama and went to college for biochemistry before he decided to pursue a career in creative writing. Much like Wallace, Taylor is also a gay black man and has many queer friends, to whom he actually dedicated Real Life to (Brandon Taylor (Writer)). Because of the social and psychological aspects of the novel and the ways in which Taylor chooses to write about them, it is no wonder why this novel was in the running for the Booker Prize. Taylor offers an in-depth analysis of what it means to be a minority and how it can affect one’s psyche.
At the start of the novel, Wallace talks about a few instances where he has been talked down to and doubted for being a black student in a university with a majority of white students; some of these instances taking place even with his own friends. He is often doubted for his knowledge of biochemistry and whether or not he is actually taking his education seriously. Arguably, the biggest example of this takes place in his lab after Wallace’s agar plates seem to have been sabotaged. One of his peers suggests it to have been Dana who messed with his plates, as she is someone who has never gotten along with Wallace. Dana, after entering the lab where only Wallace is present, decides to confront him on this. She says things such as, “‘… You get to walk around because you’re gay and black and act like you can do no wrong,’” and “‘… Well, fuck it, women are the new niggers, the new faggots’” (95-96). Here, Dana is pitting her own insecurities about her lab failures against Wallace. She has had a few failed experiments and resents Wallace for attempting to help, viewing it as him claiming to know more than she. She’s using racial and homosexual slurs against him in order to make him feel small, much as she seems to feel, while she starts to feel bigger. The worst part of it all is that she is actually successful.
In his argument with Dana, Wallace constantly talks about the need to hold back and bite his tongue. Taylor narrates Wallace’s thinking patterns throughout this argument, saying things like “None of this is good, he knows. But he also knows that the point is not fairness… The point is to get your work done. The point is results” (96-97). This is Wallace’s way of reminding himself to stay quiet, stay calm. He knows it is not worth it to argue with her and he won’t win regardless. Everyone, including his lab supervisor, takes the side against his. This is similar to when Wallace opens up about his past with sexual assault. Growing up, a family friend would repeatedly sexually assault him at night. One day, Wallace’s mother caught them in the act of it all and physically abused Wallace, claiming that he brought it upon himself for being gay. When Wallace recounts these assaults, he always talks about how he would disappear while it was happening. He would enter a different world, leaving his body behind to handle the assault while his mind was elsewhere. Likewise, when it was over, he would attempt to bathe the bruises and blood off his body. He figured if he could clean himself of the assault, it was like it never happened. For Wallace, this worked as a defense mechanism. He would make himself so small that these incidents didn’t feel real. They weren’t happening if he wasn’t there, equating the emotionality to the physicality of the assaults.
Wallace is constantly trying to be quiet, hold back and be passive for most of his social encounters. His passive approach to life is often misunderstood by his white peers, but for Wallace it’s his way of survival. Part of what makes this novel so successful is the realness of Wallace’s thought patterns and experiences. Not only does Taylor offer insight into the ways in which racial and sexual minorities can be mistreated in academic and social settings, but he offers a look into the mind of a student in their mid 20’s and the way these microaggressions can mess with one’s psyche.
Works Cited
“Brandon Taylor (Writer).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2021,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Taylor_(writer). Taylor, Brandon. Real Life. Riverhead Books, 2021.
