“I thought that the key to being a Black man was to learn how to properly lean on things to look cool. What I didn’t know at the time is that what Black men lean on the most, whether we want to admit it or not, is Black women.”
Y’all need to know, this is heavy. This hits hard. Broome does not spare us the niceties and gets to the real trauma they have endured, and will continue to endure as a Black gay man living in the US.
Broome takes us through his childhood where he is belittled and abused by toxic masculinity. Not only must he be a tough man because he’s a male, but because he’s a Black male, and his surroundings have tried to indoctrinate him to be the tough male. He takes us through an attempt with a girl as his friends watch on to ensure he’s tough. We go through the humiliation and realization his school friends aren’t really his friends as they go to a club and he dances. Once it’s time to go, none of his white friends will allow him a ride home. It’s just one broken tragedy after another for someone just trying to be accepted.
We also go through Broome’s adulthood with coping, uncertainty, then acceptance, and finally just.. healing. It was such a transformation to listen to someone so unsure, upset and alone thinking they were some abomination because they couldn’t be who others wanted them to be to then hear of this person sure of themselves and the avenues they now cross. While the future may be unclear, at least he’s sure of one thing: himself.
This was absolutely beautifully written and I really enjoyed the audio. You know I love an author reading their own work. I did get confused on some of the stories as it would take me a minute to realize what timeline we were dealing with. Some had dates and others didn’t, so I got thrown off. But, when am I not confused, right?
Overall, absolutely heartbreaking and incredibly well written. I highly recommend Punch Me Up to the Gods.
Y’all need to know, this is heavy. This hits hard. Broome does not spare us the niceties and gets to the real trauma they have endured, and will continue to endure as a Black gay man living in the US.
Broome takes us through his childhood where he is belittled and abused by toxic masculinity. Not only must he be a tough man because he’s a male, but because he’s a Black male, and his surroundings have tried to indoctrinate him to be the tough male. He takes us through an attempt with a girl as his friends watch on to ensure he’s tough. We go through the humiliation and realization his school friends aren’t really his friends as they go to a club and he dances. Once it’s time to go, none of his white friends will allow him a ride home. It’s just one broken tragedy after another for someone just trying to be accepted.
We also go through Broome’s adulthood with coping, uncertainty, then acceptance, and finally just.. healing. It was such a transformation to listen to someone so unsure, upset and alone thinking they were some abomination because they couldn’t be who others wanted them to be to then hear of this person sure of themselves and the avenues they now cross. While the future may be unclear, at least he’s sure of one thing: himself.
This was absolutely beautifully written and I really enjoyed the audio. You know I love an author reading their own work. I did get confused on some of the stories as it would take me a minute to realize what timeline we were dealing with. Some had dates and others didn’t, so I got thrown off. But, when am I not confused, right?
Overall, absolutely heartbreaking and incredibly well written. I highly recommend Punch Me Up to the Gods.