Punch Me Up to the Gods
Reviewed By Ian Banks February 1, 2022
Author Brian Broome,
Distributor: UQP
ISBN: 9780702265686
Publisher: University of Queensland Press (UQP) (2022)
Release Date: December 2021
Website: https://www.uqp.com.au
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In a stunningly heartfelt, quirky, often funny but unbearably sad memoir, Brian Broome shares what it is really like to be black, gay and an American, in his ‘coming of age’ work Punch Me Up to The Gods.
Born into a family where to be black and male meant you had to be tough, strong, able to stand your ground in a range of adverse conditions and social prejudice in a black neighbourhood, Brian Broome was born a gentle soul, who always like to play with his sister’s dolls, rather than rough it with the other neighbourhood boys.
His father, in a misguided attempt to ‘toughen him up’ bullied him, his friends at school did the same. He learned at a young age to be something other than what he was simply to survive. He invented a person that was him, but stood him up to ridicule once again.
The pathway to drugs called and he cheerfully walked down it still trying to understand who he was, what he was and why his life was such a tragedy. His pathway is reflective of so many disenfranchised young people as they try to find who they are.
It was not until he realised there was more to life than a drug saturated world, he began to really discover life as a man, a gay man and an intelligent black, gay man; to begin to accept who he was.
Eventually journeying overseas, he learns that racism is not just a prerogative of the American lifestyle, but is a world-wide concept that will judge you by your race, nationality and so many other pre-ordained concepts that are all too easy to accept. This was a very sobering moment and also a turning point in his life.
Brian Broomes’ words are gracious, sashaying backwards and forwards in time to offer a delicately balanced, very personal perspective of growing up in a world full of prejudice and managing, against many so odds to become a man of words, a man who has earned his respect, a man who has in his middle years, discovered who he is, learning along the way the art of understanding, forgiveness and acceptance.
Punch Me Up to The Gods is a memoir that is a must read for everyone who wants, or is trying to understand who they are, and how to succeed against what often appears to be insurmountable odds.