What an incredible memoir - I loved 500 Boyfriends, and was very excited to dive back into Purnell's work again. This is my first experience of a memoir fully in verse, and I was so impressed by the skill but also the vulnerability and humour amidst the pain in each chapter. Purnell's ability as a poet to make each verse feel effortless while commenting on the immense effort to create and capture his life reminded me of how skillful you have to be to use such economy of language, and to play with sadness, restlessness, apathy, grief, all with a sense of humour and precision. I strongly recommend this to anyone who loves poetry, or simply good writing, and I will definitely be reading Purnell's other work ASAP!

Purnell turns a really great phrase, but the real reason this collection of poems is so enjoyable is his use of humor. Not all poetry needs to be esoteric, cold, confusing, or colorful! It can be colloquial and funny!

I was enamored by the wisdom, honesty, irreverence, and humor of this collection of autobiographical poems by Brontez Purnell. Just as the best gymnasts do their art with a confidence and an illusion of simplicity and approachability, Brontez does the same with poetic language—never pretentious but with a stunning complexity to be found. That is, if you want to; you can also just enjoy his poems for the refreshing, life-affirming, emotional, and at times, daring works that they are. As others who have reviewed this collection have pointed out, there are more than a few lines from this collection that I will carry around with me if only for their pointed humor and perspective.

Another breathtaking and hilarious book from Brontez Purnell. You almost forget he's using a new writing style with the way his cadence flies off the page.

Thank you to the author, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't read poetry often, but could not resist this collection - that witty and promising title reeled me in, and the raw, honest and by turns hilariously funny and wistfully yearning writing kept me captivated. I need more of this!

Ten Bridges I've burnt is an absolute banger! Brontez Purnell has graced us with another amazing piece of pure art.
A quick read though packed full of raw emotion. Love the exploration of form with this memoir written in verse.

so I read this very very early, when I received this book in 2023. I dropped everything to read this book and I enjoyed it, Brontez Purcell is an author when he they have a new book coming out. I will be buying, they are a writer I enjoy and look forward to what they are gonna deliver next,

its a very fast and quick read, but it also packs a big punch. small but mighty.

Fantastic! I have been a fan of this author for a long time and this memoir did not disappoint. It's wholly original and something different, yet deeply relatable.

As a memoir connoisseur, I was curious about this collection of autobiographical poems. The poem that sold me: I’m Bloody by Nature, Not ‘Cause I Hate Ya. With humor and stark confessions, Purnell uses blood as a metaphor to examine human behavior and the idea of fault. Basically, it’s complicated.

Ten Bridges in the title symbolizes the 100 bridges he’s built versus the ten he’s burnt that stick in his critics’ minds. Perhaps one of those burnt bridges was Tommy Chin? A poem by the same name describes a spectacular altercation at the San Francisco Young Gay Poets Luncheon. Point Nemo contains an achingly beautiful perspective on what it might feel like to be in the midst of a depressive episode. If I Had a Time Machine, I Would Kill My Parents… addresses the complexity of family dynamics and intergenerational trauma with plenty of wit thrown in. New words that will forever stick in my mind: guy-o-logical clock and pre-traumatic stress syndrome.

This was a great introduction to a new-to-me, accomplished writer. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

A very interesting book, by a very interesting author. Interested in interviewing the author, but will have to see if it fits into our editorial calendar.

Brontez Purnell has done it again! Many thanks to FSG and NetGalley for the ARC.

"I have murdered myself in small amounts so often
I've become ectoplasmic, can walk through walls"

"I insist that I am only as bloody as my memories."

This book had me in a spell. It's sharp, vulnerable, conversational, hilarious, sexy, and full of banger turns of phrase — everything you'd expect from Brontez Purnell based on his other writings. I was whistling and furiously highlighting lines on basically every page because all the poems slapped.

I read an interview where Purnell, who is also a musician (and dancer, director, etc.), said, "I'm the kid who wanted a loud guitar, and I wanted to scream my fucking head off. To this day, that's where I feel most comfortable: screaming my head off into a microphone."

This memoir in verse gives us that feeling of rawness and immediacy, which I think would otherwise be lost/chiseled away/weighed down by prose. It also resists the artificial nature that a chronological structure or timeline imposes on so many autobiographical accounts. What we're getting here is something like an album of songs, each with its own beauty and register and texture, but that come together to form something expansive, truthful, and exhilarating.

I can’t stop reading this book. I read, mark a passage, keep reading, flip back uncounted pages before flipping ahead again. While I do this, new threads stretch between lines and images and ideas that are, of course, only new to me. I sit alone in my house and read whole passages aloud, and I hear the poetauthor’s words in my own voice but also not in my own voice and I keep thinking, “Damn,” and wondering how in the world Purnell managed to wrestle these words into a shape that lets me see a little bit of how he fits himself into the world whether or not that world wants him to fit.

All this to say—I read this book and now it won’t leave me alone. I hope you read it, too.

Brontez Purnell is back with another excellent read. "Ten Bridges I've Burnt" gave me exactly what I've come to expect from Purnell, pulling no punches, frank and exhilarating with his words. 
      In this particular book, we are given a memoir told in verse. The prose is great and I found myself making note of some passages that just make you pause and wish you had said it like that yourself. Did I take notes? You bet. Part of me always feels like I'm peeking around the corner watching to see where he'll go next and IF he'll go there (the answer is yes).
      Nobody handles personal trauma and reckoning with their past and being a gay man quite like Purnell does, and I am so thankful he's here for it.

a masterclass in voice and personality— let’s give Brontez their flowers 💐 the poems read so beautifully in conjunction with each other, I couldn’t get enough

Excited to see Brontez Purnell's newest work. This one is like the Brontez version of "And Still I Rise." I expected more scandal, and was surprised to see less of the nitty-gritty (although there were still some gloriously dirty phrases and X-rated honest reads and Oakland-OG-punk-bitchiness) and more of the cosmic here. I love the idea of a poetic memoir and could see a part II to this (with more dirt in it!).

"...𝘪𝘧 𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩
𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯
𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘧*𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢
𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘧*𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬"

Purnell is so real for this. I want to go to brunch with him and laugh and cry and look at boys and go out with them, through and through bottomless mimosas. Kitchen Story? Mama's?

Capturing the queer experience with such raw honesty that hones in on humor and pure tenderness. All in verse, he is himself, and a life unabashedly lived that has you leaving with a bit more richness in life.

A deeply personal, honest and raw memoir in verse that touches on a wide range of topics, some humorous, some more sensitive and personal, but all are presented in a very accessible and reflective manner. Highly recommend for those who enjoy poetry and reflective and unflinching self-reflection. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love Brontez Purnell's work, and this is no exception. No one else can scratch that particular itch of humor and heart. TEN BRIDGES, in particular, was exciting for its form above all. Each chapter is presented in verse (this is a book of poems?), with all the trademark Purnell-isms. I gobbled this up. Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!

4.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and Farrar, Straus & Giroux for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I very much enjoyed these poems. The author has the gift of writing in such a way that feels natural, as if a friend is having a conversation with you yet the poems are beautiful, raw, honest and revealing as if innermost secrets are being divulged. These poems are autobiographical that deal with being Black and Queer, family issues, his job as a writer in entertainment, sex and intimacy. I will definitely be reading more of this author.

Wholly original and impressively written. A recommended purchase for collections where memoirs and novels in verse are popular.