Since I Laid My Burden Down Brontez Purnell by Brontez Purnell 9781558614321, 155861432X instant download after payment.

“Since I Laid My Burden Down has a fearless (sometimes reckless) humour as Brontez Purnell interrogates what it means to be black, male, queer; a son, an uncle, a lover; Southern, punk, and human. An emotional tightrope walk of a book and an important American story rarely, if ever, told." —Michelle Tea, author of Black Wave

DeShawn lives a high, creative, and promiscuous life in San Francisco. But when he's called back to his cramped Alabama hometown for his uncle's funeral, he's hit by flashbacks of handsome, doomed neighbours and sweltering Sunday services. Amidst prickly reminders of his childhood, DeShawn ponders family, church, and the men in his life, prompting the question: Who deserves love? A raw, funny, and uninhibited stumble down memory lane, Brontez Purnell's debut novel explores how one man's early sexual and artistic escapades grow into a life.

“Performance artist Purnell beautifully captures a personality through introspection and memory in this slim novel . . . a compelling portrait of a particular disaffected kind of gay youth caught between religion, culture, and desire.”  —  Publishers Weekly 

“It’s a true novel, chaptered, and bound, that not only holds its own as queer literature, with its unapologetically misanthropic narrative but also expands upon it.”  —  San Francisco Chronicle