#gabrielbump

Yes! It’s Friday Afternoon not the Sunday Spotlight, but I had to shout this one out early because it was an experience and so nice I’ll probably post it twice! Please please please have this experience with Gabriel Bump! My thoughts 👉🏿 I often analogize books to music, particularly jazz, and this book is a perfect example of why that analogy is so comme il faut. I breezed through the book and after ten pages or so; I thought about Pharoah Sanders and his frenetic, violent saxophone. This novel is so different in terms of construction and veers far away from convention, but it is brilliantly executed by Gabriel Bump signaling a bright and promising future for this novelist. The beginning of Claude McKay Love’s story reads almost like a series of short stories. It takes some time for the work to congeal into a novel, but that is the non-conventional aspect of the book. Having said that, it is still easy to tease out the story of Claude, who we learn early on, is trying to be somewhere, trying somehow to fit into something, but he keeps finding that everywhere he doesn’t belong. Parents who took flight initiate the trauma of Claude’s childhood. Claude’s raising is left to his grandmother who embraces and envelops him with a tough love. Claude works through the strain and sadness of his childhood to eventually make something of himself. So the down parts of this novel are infused with so much comedic writing, it rarely touches the emotions. This book can’t really be properly reviewed, it has to be experienced, so take the plunge and enjoy the ride. #everywhereyoudontbelong #ownvoicesreviews #gabrielbump #bookpusher #pushingbooksainteasy #goodblackreads #goodreads #readmorebooks #readersofinstagram #bookreviewer #bibliophile #bookstagram #readingislife #houstonreads #bookschangelives (at Houston, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/COBdITYr9Mg/?igshid=xoxmmu9thut8

Coming of age story. Claude McKay Love is being raised by his grandmother and her gay male friend Paul, after his parents abandon him at the age of 5. We learn about the South Shore in Chicago, Claude’s friends, and how he copes with the abandonment of his parents, being raised by his grandmother and Paul, navigating the pressures in his life, going to college, and figuring out life in general. Gabriel Bump introduces so many issues that are really timely and necessary. - Racism - Abandonment - Atypical childhood - Black Neighborhoods - Black Trauma - Socioeconomic issues - Coming-of-age - Adulting - Gang violence Many parts of this book read like a collection of short stories, and not a cohesive novel, but eventually it all came together for me at the end. Although I really enjoyed the prose-like narrative, I kept trying to figure out what kind of novel this was developing into. The first half of the book read with such power and dark wit, that I loved it. The second half of the book where Claude grows up more seemed much more serious and showing how he was all about trying to be a good, righteous, successful, assimilated, cultured, and lovable person, and pursue his dreams as an adult. In the end though, we see Claude realize what’s the same and what’s different. The way in which he should go, and what’s at stake, Claude has to make some tough and decisive decisions. Overall, this book is spectacular and highly recommend to the YA community. I highly suggest that you keep an open mind and think outside of the box with this book. Don’t let the beginning get you snagged. The entire book is worth its weight in gold! Thank you to Algonquin books and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book for a fair and honest review. Definitely excited to be apart of the blog tour celebrating the release of Everywhere You Don’t Belong by Gabriel Bump. #everywhereyoudontbelong #booktour @algonquinbooks and @bumperg #algonquinbooks #gabrielbump #netgalley https://www.instagram.com/p/CKJ2v-hA69H/?igshid=wxan7brhpg0l

Coming of age story. Claude McKay Love is being raised by his grandmother and her gay male friend Paul, after his parents abandon him at the age of 5. We learn about the South Shore in Chicago, Claude’s friends, and how he copes with the abandonment of his parents, being raised by his grandmother and Paul, navigating the pressures in his life, going to college, and figuring out life in general. Gabriel Bump introduces so many issues that are really timely and necessary. - Racism - Abandonment - Atypical childhood - Black Neighborhoods - Black Trauma - Socioeconomic issues - Coming-of-age - Adulting - Gang violence Many parts of this book read like a collection of short stories, and not a cohesive novel, but eventually it all came together for me at the end. Although I really enjoyed the prose-like narrative, I kept trying to figure out what kind of novel this was developing into. The first half of the book read with such power and dark wit, that I loved it. The second half of the book where Claude grows up more seemed much more serious and showing how he was all about trying to be a good, righteous, successful, assimilated, cultured, and lovable person, and pursue his dreams as an adult. In the end though, we see Claude realize what’s the same and what’s different. The way in which he should go, and what’s at stake, Claude has to make some tough and decisive decisions. Overall, this book is spectacular and highly recommend to the YA community. I highly suggest that you keep an open mind and think outside of the box with this book. Don’t let the beginning get you snagged. The entire book is worth its weight in gold! Thank you to Algonquin books and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book for a fair and honest review. Definitely excited to be apart of the blog tour celebrating the release of Everywhere You Don’t Belong by Gabriel Bump. #everywhereyoudontbelong #booktour @algonquinbooks and @bumperg #algonquinbooks #gabrielbump #netgalley https://www.instagram.com/p/CKJ2qvmB2F2IloWybBk2XduaWVJ-guiXnwD-qQ0/?igshid=ed3zxailwtkx