skybridge

sethdmichaels.bsky.social · @sethdmichaels.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated Real Life 8/10

A beautiful and intense book. It’s most literally about a few brief days in the life of a grad student, but it’s very much about loneliness and the ways we distance ourselves from each other. Wallace, the protagonist, is a gay black scientist in a very white social milieu; he’s recently lost his estranged father; he’s on the wrong end of a pointlessly cutthroat academic environment; and his traumas make it hard for him to trust and connect to other people. The book is really good at conveying a subjective, Interior perspective; everything we see is mediated through Wallace’s experience of it. It’s also very perceptive at the ways people interact and talk around their feelings. It’s a tough read in some ways - it’s very, very sad - but I tore through it in maybe four or five sittings. Highly recommended.

#book

Published 2026-08-18 14:46 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere