The broken king A memoir

Novelist Thomas (Man Gone Down) makes his nonfiction debut with a haunting and poetic profile of the men in his family. In an effort to untangle his identity as "a hard man" prone to depression, anger, and intolerance, Thomas considers his own life in relationship to that of his distant father, Dave; his older brother, David; and his two sons, Alex and Miles. He drifts from memories of Red Sox fandom and racist microaggressions while growing up Black in the Boston suburbs to reflections on his own parenting style, admitting that his hubristic obsession with language and aesthetics--inherited from his father--have made him "at best a brooding malcontent" who "may have made for an interesting dinner guest," but was "a lousy father." David emerges as a particularly fascinating figure, a charismatic "combination of the Jello Pudding Bill Cosby and Satan," who floats in and out of Thomas's life, struggling with addiction and sometimes stealing from his younger brother after his cons and faulty business ideas go awry. Gradually, Thomas's memories and reflections accumulate into a poignant and potent mosaic, chronicling his attempts to overcome family dysfunction and fumble his way toward stability. It's a stirring achievement. Agent: Maria Massie, Massie & McQuilkin Literary. (Aug.)

Tracing the men of his family across 150 broken and bloody years, International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award winner Thomas steeps this memoir in dreams deferred ("does it dry up.?") as much as he does history. A powerful statement about race, inheritance, and trauma. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A prize-winning writer's anguish. Thomas bravely recounts the pain he suffered as a young victim of violent crime and the "madness" that befell him after the publication of his first novel. He was 7 when he was raped near his Boston home. He burned the clothes he was wearing, then shouldered the emotional scars in secret, cutting himself "to feel and to bleed." As a literature professor, words are his tools, but being raped is "something I can neither interpret nor render. There's nothing metaphorical. It is real: sweat, semen, and blood." Without self-pity, he recounts his "self-medication" and alcoholism and recalls being targeted by racist police, his arms damaged by "violent handcuffings: walking while Black, driving while Black." (Thomas now regards his debutMan Gone Down, about a Black man beset by bad fortune, as a sort of "suicide note.") After it received the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2009 and earned him "quasi-celebrity," Thomas, grieving his father's death and managing a fraught relationship with a brother he'd bailed out of jail, felt "confused" and "helpless." He retreated from the world, spending two weeks in a "dark, cramped" crawl space in his Brooklyn house and later seeking help at a psychiatric hospital. In a masterfully understated scene, an encounter with a stranger in need proves crucial: "I knew I had to live." Elsewhere in this gutsy book, Thomas uses Fenway Park as a backdrop for a discussion of bigotry in Boston in the 1970s and '80s. "My country wants me dead," but our racial problems are much deeper. "Most American notions" about race "are insane." Thomas believes that one way to keep "from falling into darkness" is to try "to make something beautiful." This book hits the mark. A powerful memoir of childhood trauma, literary success, and mental illness. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Excerpted from The Broken King by Michael Thomas All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.