![]() Equally tough is Wallace’s valiant struggle and losing battle to overcome childhood trauma, together with his ongoing friction with individuals who rub him the wrong way or wear him down. Problems arise when tender feelings give way to violent outbursts. There is initial confusion - Miller believed himself to be straight, Wallace never envisaged a true friendship let alone a relationship - but soon both men embrace their newly forged connections and self-discoveries. One day, Wallace’s cares and woes are temporarily put on hold during a surprise passionate encounter with a fellow student. He yearns to break free of his cloistered realm of research and experiments, “to leap out of his life and into the vast, incalculable void of the world.” Surrounded by brilliant minds, he worries that his heart is no longer in his studies. “He always got stuck on the edges,” Taylor writes, “talking to whoever pitied him enough to throw him a bone of small talk.”Ĭompounding matters is Wallace’s flagging enthusiasm and ability. As a black, gay, introverted man from Alabama, he feels like a stranger in this Midwestern town and a peripheral hanger-on in his social circle. But Wallace is painfully aware of his outsider status. When not studying, he and his friends get together and make the most of the great outdoors. Wallace is in his fourth year of graduate school, pursuing a degree in biochemistry. ![]() “Real Life,” Brandon Taylor’s bravura first novel, revolves around a man who fits in but also stands out. ![]()
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