Punch Me Up to the Gods - by Brian Broome

About the Book

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S PICK - A TODAY SUMMER READING LIST PICK - AN ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY BEST DEBUT OF SUMMER PICK - A PEOPLE BEST BOOK OF SUMMER PICK

A poetic and raw coming-of-age memoir about Blackness, masculinity, and addiction

Book Synopsis

WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE - WINNER OF A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD - NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' PICK - STONEWALL HONOR BOOK - NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, KIRKUS REVIEWS, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AMAZON AND APPLE BOOKS - TODAY SUMMER READING LIST PICK - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY BEST DEBUT OF SUMMER PICK - PEOPLE BEST BOOK OF SUMMER PICK

A raw, poetic, coming-of-age "masterwork" (The New York Times)

Punch Me Up to the Gods introduces a powerful new talent in Brian Broome, whose early years growing up in Ohio as a dark-skinned Black boy harboring crushes on other boys propel forward this gorgeous, aching, and unforgettable debut. Brian's recounting of his experiences--in all their cringe-worthy, hilarious, and heartbreaking glory--reveal a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in. Indiscriminate sex and escalating drug use help to soothe his hurt, young psyche, usually to uproarious and devastating effect. A no-nonsense mother and broken father play crucial roles in our misfit's origin story. But it is Brian's voice in the retelling that shows the true depth of vulnerability for young Black boys that is often quietly near to bursting at the seams.

Cleverly framed around Gwendolyn Brooks's poem "We Real Cool," the iconic and loving ode to Black boyhood, Punch Me Up to the Gods is at once playful, poignant, and wholly original. Broome's writing brims with swagger and sensitivity, bringing an exquisite and fresh voice to ongoing cultural conversations about Blackness in America.

Review Quotes

Named one of:

Lithub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021BuzzFeed's 75 Books to Add to Your 2021 TBR ListThe Temper's 12 Recovery Memoirs You Need to ReadBookRiot's 6 Stunning LBGTQ+ Books from Debut Authors to Read in 2021 Bustle's 51 Best Debuts for SpringBeyond the Bookends' 75 Books for SpringShondaland's 5 Best Books for MayChicago Review of Books' 12 Must Read Books for MayEntertainment Weekly's 20 Best New Books to Read in MaySaturday Evening Post's 10 Books to Enjoy This Spring

"Punch Me Up to the Gods feels like a gift. There will come a day when some Black child . . . will have read Broome's masterwork and possibly commit to staying alive because of Broome's words. They will tell him that Punch Me Up to the Gods is a testament to the insurgent and ineradicable power of Black queer being. That it reveals that Black queer men are our own best creations." - New York Times Book Review
"This devastatingly beautiful memoir about growing up Black and gay in rural Ohio introduces a major literary talent in Broome." - Entertainment Weekly
"This hard-hitting, unflinching memoir recounts the horrors of addiction, racism, and homophobia--and how one man survived them all." - Saturday Evening Post
"Broome's debut tells of growing up Black, gay, and poor in a country that values none of those things. Taking his titles from Gwendolyn Brooks's 'We Real Cool, ' Broome's writing, even when recalling the roughest experiences, is rich and satisfying, often funny, and always alive." - Boston Globe
"Brian Broome has penned a powerful, emotional memoir about his experience growing up as a sensitive, dark-skinned Black boy in rural Ohio . . . this memoir stands in its own unique lane, strong and true." - Shondaland
"In Punch Me Up to the Gods, Brian Broome breaks the rules, and in doing so, breaks our hearts and our minds wide-open. He forces us to question what we think we know about the way narratives are constructed or who becomes a final authority. Memory carries its own weight in this work, the anchor drawing us back to what we already know but are retaught by experiencing Broome's bright and curious language. This thrilling debut sparkles with deft honesty and shakes alive something hiding deep in the night of our psyches." - Camonghne Felix, author of Build Yourself a Boat
"I wish there was a way to teleport Punch Me Up to the Gods back to a twelve or a fifteen or even a twenty-five-year-old me to prove that the anxiety and pressure I felt to perform 'appropriate masculinity' wasn't singular. Brian Broome's remarkable memoir removes the veil from all of the performing, all of the acting, all of the preening, and just reveals, us--as flawed and as funny and as scared and as weird and as human.... But since time machines don't exist (yet), I'll settle for adult me reading Broome's hilarious and heat-seeking missile of a memoir." - Damon Young, author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker
"With conscious nods to Gwendolyn Brooks, Punch Me Up to the Gods is a stunning introduction to a new literary star on the rise." - Bustle
"Broome's powerful, sharp-edged memoir, often equal parts horrifying and bleakly funny, is made up of essays focusing on key moments in his life." - Columbus Dispatch

About the Author

BRIAN BROOME is an award-winning writer, poet, and screenwriter, and K. Leroy Irvis Fellow and instructor in the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is pursuing an MFA. He has been a finalist in The Moth storytelling competition and won the grand prize in Carnegie Mellon University's Martin Luther King Writing Awards. He lives in Pittsburgh.