This memoir is at once captivating and simultaneously heartwrenching. With every chapter, I found myself even more enthralled with the author's story, From experiencing his father's disapproval at a young age to his own self-destructive behavior as an adult, the deeper he got into his story, the more I wanted to reach out and hug him and tell him he's not alone. This was such a beautifully written memoir, and it was incredibly eye-opening. I absolutely adored Broome's writing and would love to read more from him in the future.

Punch Me Up to the Gods is a powerful memoir written by Brian Broome. Brian is a Black gay man who grew up in Ohio and later movedto Pittsburgh, PA. His story is heartbreaking yet full of hope. Each chapter is prefaced with vignettes titled "The Initiation of Tuan" which covers
Broome's observations of a Black father and his young son Tuan on a city bus interacting as the father teaches his son not cry or whine - how to be a real man. Broome's own story which focuses a great deal on colorism, sexuality, race, and drug addiction, etc., is not easy to read. Broome endures a troubled, sometimes violent relationship with his own father who would threaten to "punch him up to the Gods". He writes a chapter in his mother's voice to allow her to tell her own traumatic story. Their family is obviously highly dysfunctional.

Punch Me Up to the Gods is a powerful, raw, primal story that unfolds through Broome's lyrical writing. His descriptive passages are visually impressive and stimulating as are his characters. Growing up as a gay Black man who was ostracized at school and in everyday life is heartbreaking, but his journey to find and accept his own identity along with his message to others is inspiring. A beautifully rendered story highly recommended to fans of heart touching Memoirs.

I had downloaded the book via Netgalley but it timed out before I was able to read it, but noticed it was available (after it published) as an audiobook from the public library. It's a shorter memoir in which Broome focuses on his his life as a son, a sibling, a child, a teenager, an adult seeking himself as someone who is gay and as someone who is Black. This intersectionality growing up in the Midwest poses issues for Broome to fully-realize who he wants to become.

The raw truth is similar to [book:Heavy|29430746], [book:The Last Black Unicorn|34974310], [book:Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In|45046838], and [book:Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend: Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump|54698705] to name a few. Broome leaves it all in the pages because he exposes elements of his life like toxic relationships, details his drug use, self-hate, and emotional abuse by his father. He narrates it with straightforward aplomb and readers can appreciate the candor.

Memoirs are hard to rate. This one was well-written - with emphasis on being a black gay man in today's world. The alternating chapters added a lot to the storyline and I liked how the story was structured.

I alternated listening to this one on audio and reading the physical book, and it was one of the heavier memoirs I've read this year. Broome talks about growing up poor, Black, and gay in Ohio. Told through essays, I also loved how Broome incorporated stories from his past with a present-day bus ride where he sees a young Black boy learning the social mores from his father and other passengers on the bus. Subtleties throughout the ride across town spur memories from his childhood and he uses those moments to deeply reflect on a hard and painful childhood. It is extremely powerful and I really enjoyed listening to Broome narrarate his own story. He is a talented writer and I would really love to see how he handles more light-hearted material.

This was an insightful, powerful memoir about what it means to be a black man, a black gay man, a drug addict, and grow up in America and find one's way. The odds seem stacked against him, but he somehow finds his way and makes his way. There is so much vulnerability in this book and we get a real inside look at what it can mean to be human and to be struggling.

You can find our review of this book with our interview with the author in the link below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brian-broome-punch-me-up-to-the-gods/id1511650673?i=1000522111750

The narrative of this book is very raw and carries the turmoil with it.
His experiences with his father and siblings, the interaction between his parents, the hopelessness that lingers in the walls, are palpable in the words.

This is certainly a book to pick up and read.

Thank you #NetGalley and #MarinerBooks for giving me the opportunity to read this.

I’m not really a memoir reader of people I’ve never heard of before, but something about this book made me want to read. This memoir was beyond heavy. Brian struggled with deeply internalized racism and is also dealing with abuse from his father. Being gay in the Black community is frowned upon especially if you’re a guy. You are expected to “be a man” and conduct yourself a certain and if you didn’t good luck. The whole time I read this story I wanted to reach in and give Brian a hug. He longed for and looked for acceptance in all the wrong places. I was happy at the end when he finally found peace.

I had to keep putting this book down because it was so devastating. The writing is brilliant. Brian’s story made me cry. I’m so glad he made it through to tell it.

Was happy to check out a new author via NetGalley. Just wow! Very intense story with a sprinkle of comedy here and there. What a powerful message. Thank you for sharing your story with the world.

As beautiful as it is heartbreaking, Brian Broome shares his reality of growing up gay and Black in America. His writing is lyrical and haunting. You feel his pain and want to embrace him in a big, protective hug as you read the abuse he endured at home, at school, just everywhere. I loved the way he managed to weave events from different times of his life so seamlessly. And the use of Tuan and his bus ride to set up each chapter was genius. And if you have the opportunity to listen to the audiobook -- take it! Brian's voice is pure butta!

Thanks to #netgalley for the copy in exchange for a review.

link to review on Goodreads:

JUNE GEMS

These titles are two of my favorite of the year and each will sit with me long after this year is over. One is crime fiction at its finest, filled with social themes that don't beat you over the head but work with the non-stop plot to sink into your bones. The other is flat out one of the finest memoirs I've ever read.

Punch Me Up to the Gods, by Brian Broome

I did not know who Brian Broome was when this gorgeous little face and intriguing title captivated me. I will now never forget him, as this is certainly one of the finest memoirs to ever torture me. It's the story, like so many others, of the perils of being a young, poor, Black boy, queer to boot, and his efforts to find a place in the world. The search for a path made all the more treacherous by his father, who was an angry, violent man who would rather kill his son himself than have him killed by a white person.

While one can hate the methods, Broome does a stellar job of explaining the undercurrents of raising Black boys. This is where the memoir skyrockets from uber-talented writing to genius -- the format through which Broome tells his story along with that of our societal failings. He begins with one bus ride he shares with a toddler named Tuan and his father. One of the first things Broome observes is Tuan falling headfirst onto the concrete while waiting for the bus. Out of fright and/or pain, Tuan begins to wail. At which point his father tells him to stop crying and be a man. Thus begins the chapters titled The Initiation of Tuan.

Through these chapters, Broome observes ongoing interactions between Tuan and his father. Each chapter then feeds into Broome's own story and the way he learned those same lessons of hyper-masculinity. Through these alternating chapters, Broome tells his story and the story of young Tuan, both of which will empty your guts out like a rusted melon-baller. At turns hilarious and raw, Broome's ability and willingness to convey his innermost emotions are extraordinary.

Not only was I super impressed with this memoir, I really liked the way this story is structured. While Broome details life stories, readers are taken back and forth between his personal experiences and watching a little boy and father on a bus. After Broome shares a story, it is mirrored with a somewhat correlating situation on the bus.

It almost feels silly to give this book five stars on the Internet. It deserves so much more.

This book is honest and very raw. Broome wraps all his deepest, darkest secrets, well maybe not secrets anymore, into this story. It’s so thoughtful, so well written, and so painful to read.

I really hope he writes more in the future. I will absolutely read every book.

Content warnings: homophobia, addiction, abuse, depression, drugs, bullying, racism

Thank you so much Net Galley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC! And to Libro FM for the ALC.

Brian Broome grew up Black and gay in Ohio, a place where he felt like he never fit in. In his raw coming of age memoir, Broome tells of how he felt like a disappointment to his father and brother. How his mother came to sort of accept who he was and how he moved on to try to find a place where he felt more comfortable in his own skin. This is at once a memoir about Blackness, queerness and masculinity. Broome describes how when at gay bars, people who are "into Black guys" typically want them to be big and athletic, which is not what he is. He also shares his experiences with substance abuse and how that was used to mask his uncomfortableness at times. Broome's writing makes me feel like his confidante, although his life is so different from my own.

Two thumbs up!

In PUNCH ME UP TO THE GODS: A MEMOIR, Brian Broome reflects on his life growing up in Ohio as a dark-skinned Black boy, his crushes on boys, being raised by a Father whose ideology regarding what it means to be a man was drilled into him with an iron fist, and his addiction to alcohol and drugs.

Though I do know what it’s like to be treated as different, I can’t even begin to imagine what life was like for Broome growing up, and later into adulthood. Raising a daughter who is Bisexual, from a parent’s perspective, our children need to know they’re loved and supported.

Life is hard enough without adding the burden of isolation and loneliness. Thank you, Brain Broome, for your strength and sharing your life story with the world.

‘My biggest failing in this life has been my gasping need to be loved at the expense of so many other things. I have allowed others to tell me who and what I am supposed to be and, when I failed to meet their expectations, I blamed myself. This need to be loved by everyone has led me down dark roads more times than I can tell in one book — in one thousand books even — and all I have to show for it are these stories.’

PUNCH ME UP TO THE GODS: A MEMOIR—Highly Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, for loaning me an eGalley of PUNCH ME UP TO THE GODS: A MEMOIR in the request for an honest review.

"Punch" seems very appropriate. This whole memoir was a punch in the gut. Some chapters, I wanted to sob. Some, I laughed. Some, I wanted to grab my own Black boy and hug him tight and tell him it's okay to cry, it's okay to feel, it's okay to be you. This book touched me. It is absolutely worth the difficult read.

I must preface this with the book may need a trigger warning or content warning. There are areas in the book that are tough to read. It is painful and brought back many memories of my childhood. I got so much more out of this memoir than I ever thought I would. This absolutely broke my heart, but I think it's important to read. Oftentimes people don't put themselves in others' shoes. This memoir does a good job of making you think about life from other perspectives.

This debut memoir is stellar! It’s raw, compelling, honest, and beautifully written! Upon completing it, you find yourself grateful that you took the time. Such a book worth reading! FULL REVIEW ON YOUTUBE.

I knew very little about this story before starting. I liked the cover, the title and found the topic interesting so I'd just jumped right in. I liked the short story style - the stories lead in to each other just slightly but the story flowed really well as the MC aged and went through a lot of self discovery.

Some stories were really hard to read, broke my heart but there were also some that made me smile. The few chapters that were from a different POV were my least favorite as I really enjoyed the main storyteller and wanted to know more about his journey. I really appreciated this one and am so glad I gave it a try!

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>