Library
Text by Vivek Tejuja
It is never easy to read books that are too close to the life you live. They are relatable and all of that, but it isn’t easy to turn to the next page. It cuts and hurts and makes you see yourself in the mirror much more clearly than you would like to. For me, Real Life by Brandon Taylor is one such book.
Real Life follows Wallace, a gay Black postgraduate student in southern America. He is working on research related to the culture of nematodes and finds himself drifting from wanting to be with his friends to seeking solitude. It is, of course, a lot more than this. I’ve put it simply. But Real Life is also like that: simply written yet intricately layered. It is being touted as a gay campus novel, but I think it could have been set anywhere – any country, any place, anywhere at all…
