A review by chazaloo
Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir by Brian Broome

4.0

Brian Broome eloquently describes the challenges of growing up gay and black in a culture in which, in his telling, anyway, the men are homophobic and macho and need to dominate the women they are in relationship with. His pain is so well articulated, and his understanding of the behavior of the men in his life is deep. And yet, he also manages to have enough objectivity to find humor in some of the situations he finds himself in. For his bravery, humor, clarity, and ability to survive, I gave four stars. But one thing almost made me knock it down to three: I wish he gave some perspective from where he is now. The book seems to only go up to when he is a cocaine and alcohol addicted young man who has compulsive, unsatisfying sexual encounters. How did he make it out of the world he describes? How did he get clean and become a writer? I feel that the book was incomplete in this way, and would have been deepened by connecting his past with how he escaped it and became the insightful writer he is today.

And I have one beef with the audiobook production: There is a long introduction, the author of which is never identified! Other than that, the author's reading of the book is excellent.