Sink
A Memoir by Joseph Earl Thomas
"Joseph Earl Thomas has created a narrative that reads like a request and loving demand. Sink is a new kind of memoir, remixing the best parts of the genre. Thomas uses the act and politics of oration to move us within the silences of desire. It is criminal and absolutely delicious that Sink is a literary debut." —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
Stranded within a family’s desperate, but volatile attempts to love and demeaned daily for his perceived weakness, Joseph Earl Thomas felt like he was under constant threat. Roaches fell, indifferently, from ceiling to cereal bowl as if taunting him for complaining about the fact that he was hungry. In a series of exacting and fierce vignettes, Thomas explores how a cycle of hostility permeated his environment, while illuminating the vital reprieve into geek culture. From the depths of isolation Thomas carves out unexpected moments of joy, from the broad freedom taken in long summers to the first hints of community on his road to become a Pokémon master. In these arresting scenes, Sink follows Thomas’ coming-of-age toward an understanding of what it means to lose the desire to fit in—with immediate peers, family, or the world —and how good it feels to build community, love, and the work of salvation on your own terms.
Lists, Reviews, Roundups
“Debutiful,”
*The New York Times, “100 Notable Books of 2023”
*Spectrum Culture, “Sink: By Joseph Earl Thomas”
*The Sunlight Press, “A Conversation with Author Joseph Earl Thomas”
*The Philadelphia Citizen, “From There, Still Here”
*Pop Matters, “Sink: A Memoir Shuns Respectability Politics”
*The Offing, “Q&A with Joseph Earl Thomas, Author of Sink: A Memoir”
*Sacramento Observer, “Unclogging His Past”
*Literary Hub, “Joseph Thomas Earl on Finding Safety and Comfort in the Hosptial”
*Literary Hub, “Five Books You Need to Read This Week”
*Poets & Writers, “Joseph Thomas Earl in Conversation with Elias Rodriguez”
*New York Times, “Nine Books We Recommend This Week”
*WNYC, “All of It With Allison Stewart”
*New York Times, “An Extraordinary Memoir of a Black American Boyhood”
*Poets & Writers, “Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin”
* NPR/WBUR’s “Here & Now,” “For Black History Month, Pick Up A Book By One of These Debut Authors”
*New York Magazine, “Excerpt”
*New York Times, “13 New Books Coming in February”
*Washington Post, “10 Noteworthy Books for February”
*The Philadelphia Inquirer,“The Best New Books for February”
*Amazon Books, “Best Biography and Memoir of February”
*Vulture, "31 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Winter"
*Publishers Weekly, "Sink: A Memoir by Joseph Earl Thomas"
*Kirkus, “Sink: A Memoir by Joseph Earl Thomas”
*Publishers Marketplace, “Buzz Books Fall 2022 Pick”
*Goodreads, “Readers’ Most Anticipated Books of 2023”
*Debutiful, “The Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2023, So Far”
*SheReads, “The Stacks Most Anticipated Books of 2023”
*Publishers Weekly, “Top Ten Most Anticipated Memoirs”
*The Week, “8 Must Read Books in early 2023”
Critical Praise
“In championing the quotidian, with its everyday absence of exemplariness, Thomas really does accomplish the extraordinary...Thomas has constructed a sort of alchemy on the page, but one born of experience, from skill and from a trust about what will end up on the other side; a meticulous, careful construction...[Perhaps] one of
the biggest boons of “Sink” is its insistence that care is, above all, shared. It is everyone’s prerogative. In this way, Thomas has earned a deep bow.” –Bryan Washington, The New York Times, Editor’s Choice
“A brilliant coming-of-age story.” –The New York Times, “13 New Books Coming in February”
“For the reader, third-person narration creates a buffer to a brutal coming of age, and perhaps allows Thomas enough distance from his trauma to bravely expose the vulnerability and resilience of his youth.” –Washington Post
“Thomas is a skilled prose stylist, and Sink is loaded with arresting imagery and insights into the eerie space between claustrophobia and freedom unique to childhood.”
–Vulture
“In his wrenching debut, Thomas recounts his foray into nerd culture while coming of age amid squalor and abuse in 1990s Philadelphia... Thomas’s prose delivers an emotional gut punch, as when watching a group of older boys, he realized, “You want to be them, but you also want to be dead.” The result is a lyrical exploration of identity and survival.”
–Publishers Weekly
“It takes rare courage to tell a story this harsh and unredeemed. Thank God for video games.” –Kirkus
“A fearless debut that will change your life.” –Debutiful
“A crucial, incomparable act of creation and undefeated imagination.”