The proceeding events force Wallace to come to terms with this hard truth, and though he cannot initially put his finger on it, he is considering life beyond the “safe space” of school, otherwise known as real life. Wallace’s struggle with place is rooted in self-hatred that is evident early, the reasons for which Taylor discloses artfully throughout the novel. Despite being with a group at the campus hang-out spot, Wallace feels himself an outsider an uninvited “plus one” at a wedding where the planner must begrudgingly fuss to accommodate him with a seat and a plate of food only for Wallace to reveal after all the effort that he’s allergic to seafood-the caterer’s only remaining dish. He quickly confirms that he does not truly belong among them nor the sea of other people moving along the pier. After discovering his grad school biochem research had been contaminated by a jealous and racist peer, setting him back weeks if not months, he leaves the lab to meet with friends only to spend most of the time analyzing his relationship dynamic with each person. Remaining insulated from the real world is no longer an easy choice for Wallace in Brandon Taylor’s novel, Real Life.
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