Realistic shell-model calculations and exotic nuclei

This paper presents a short overview of the shell-model approach with realistic effective interactions to the study of exotic nuclei. We first give a sketch of the current state of the art of the theoretical framework of this approach, focusing on the main ingredients and most relevant recent advances. Then, we present some selected results for neutron-rich nuclei in various mass regions, namely oxygen isotopes, $N=40$ isotones, and nuclei around $^{132}$Sn, to show the merit as well as the limits of these calculations.