This book is such a work of art! The vignettes are each unique and the writing is super visceral. The only thing I wished for was that the book was longer!

Slightly confusing at first due to it's lack of a linear story line, Purnell's 100 Boyfriends did not disappoint. Through a series of vignettes it takes a look at the lives of queer black men in America living in cities, the rural south, and everywhere in between. The dark humor and raw emotion make this a very compelling read. Purnell has packed a lot into a short novel, looking at many aspects of his characters lives and tackling themes such as sex, loneliness, horniness, drug and alcohol abuse, interpersonal relationships, success, failure, aging, and living with HIV. 100 Boyfriends is a well written book that will stay with readers long after the last page.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What to say about Brontez Purnell’s raw and uncompromisingly shameless depiction of homosexuality and blackness? Well, for starters: it’s a doozy! But a worthy doozy. Like riding a bull on acid. Flitting between dark humor and emotional poignance, we the reader are taken on one hell of a ride through the trials and sexualized tribulations of what it means to be a queer black man via varying vignettes. It never once feels disingenuous. Only glaringly open, critical, and hauntingly honest.

The writing here is fluid and clear; I don’t know how else to put it other than Purnell’s prose is a gift. The man has a way with words. I’m f***ing jealous as f***.

”Where God closes a door, He opens a window,” but all I can think about is, like, But wait, the window is on the third floor and the house is on fire.”


”I let him charm me more, I let him let me think I was special—I knew at my core that he was waiting to unzip his face.”


”...everybody is left with the ghost of somebody else.”


This short novel isn’t for the prudes. There’s lots of foul language, emotional ricochets, a plethora of alcohol and drugs (weaving together a rather grim portrait of the devastating—yet, ongoing—opiate/methamphetamine crisis facing the gay community), and lots and lots and lots of sex. It’s a story of stories; of addictions and obsessions, jaded individuals and vulnerabilities, misanthropy and loneliness, horniness, hilarity, and truths.

Purnell examines this all with a candid, unflinching realness