100 Boyfriends

Books | Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Gay

(235)

Brontez Purnell

Winner of the 2022 Lambda Literary Award in Gay Fiction. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Longlisted for the 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award and the 2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize. One of Buzzfeed's Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2021, NBC's 10 Most Notable LGBTQ Books of 2021, and Pink News' Best LGBTQ Books of 2021. "This hurricane of delirious, lonely, lewd tales is a taxonomy and grand unified theory of the boyfriend, in every tense." —Parul Sehgal, The New York Times"I loved this book—raunchy, irreverent, deliberate, sexy, angry, and tender, in its own way." —Roxane GayAn irrerverent, sensitive, and inimitable look at gay dysfunction through the eyes of a cult heroTransgressive, foulmouthed, and brutally funny, Brontez Purnell’s 100 Boyfriends is a revelatory spiral into the imperfect lives of queer men desperately fighting the urge to self-sabotage. As they tiptoe through minefields of romantic, substance-fueled misadventure—from dirty warehouses and gentrified bars in Oakland to desolate farm towns in Alabama—Purnell’s characters strive for belonging in a world that dismisses them for being Black, broke, and queer. In spite of it—or perhaps because of it—they shine.Armed with a deadpan wit, Purnell finds humor in even the darkest of nadirs with the peerless zeal, insight, and horniness of a gay punk messiah. Together, the slice-of-life tales that writhe within 100 Boyfriends are an inimitable tour of an unexposed queer underbelly. Holding them together is the vision of an iconoclastic storyteller, as fearless as he is human.

Lgbtq+

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Author

Brontez Purnell

Pages

192

Publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published Date

2021-02-02

ISBN

0374722471 9780374722470

Community ReviewsSee all

"#lgbtqia #lgbtq what a house of cards this one is. Go pick this one up worth the read ❤️🏳️‍🌈"

"Dark, funny, dysfunctional, and charming"

CaitVD

"I was introduced to Brontez Purnell’s work by my dear friend Michelle, and I’m so glad she turned me on to this *****-chasing, pen-wielding, punk rock powerhouse. In 100 Boyfriends, I thoroughly enjoyed Purnell’s anecdotes of sex with a dorky D & D Satanist whose condoms were even a tribute to the dark lord, work life that includes furtive wanks at his office desk, and domestic life with a whiny borderline white boy roommate whose heartbreak histrionics entail psych wards and hilarious demands that someone call the local news for being “held against [his] will” — though ultimately, what resonated most for me are the moments of tenderness to be found in this compendium of hook-ups and high-octane faggotry. "

Clint Catalyst

"Whoa! This truly had me laughing. It's frank, graphic, and quick to read. The book reads more as a series of vignettes of the narrator's sexual exploits than a linear story and narrative. Not all of these tales are heavy on sex and drugs/alcohol. There's the story of Mickey, Ed, and Cortez, which bordered on sentimental and touching. Boyfriend #19 / The White Boy with Dreadlocks: though it did have sex and drugs (a campfire with acid), this almost had a sweetness to it. But the irreverent and hedonistic tone to most of the other chapters and vignettes kept the book moving right along. I'd have to point to Letter of Resignation as being one of the funniest vignettes of the bunch. Our anti-hero is making his way through a workday, ogling coworkers, masturbating at his desk, and having trysts with another maligned lunch buddy coworker and his husband. This whole deal is even too much for our protagonist to endure while on the payroll of a non-profit. So, he ultimately decides to resign. I sampled the audio on this one and found it a better read than listen, in case you choose to pick this up and you're trying to decide book or audio: pick the book. It doesn't really culminate in any real kind of ending. Rather, the vignettes just kind of end with no further word on the fate of our narrator. Like his sexual exploits, this book is mostly fun while you're lost in the crazy of it, but when it's all said and done, you're left with, "Well that was that!""

P G

Paul Garcia