“Brontez Purnell’s 100 Boyfriends is a symphony of sex, trouble, and wisdom—as if the composer had sex with each member of the orchestra by way of getting it right. In this electric, prismatic, genre-defying punk literary flight, Purnell is twirling—I loved every page.”
—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
“Brontez Purnell has such seemingly casual genius that at times you forget you’re reading a book and are transported to some couch/bus/basement where the drugs are really good and your friend is really funny, maybe your weird closeted cousin is on HarlemHookups in the corner, and all of a sudden your friend says some fucking Sappho-ass, weird-ass, brilliant-ass bullshit. I love this slut of a book, it’s a slut-ass maker. 100 Boyfriends or no new boyfriends at all, Purnell’s autofiction / memoir / whatever the hell this marvelously sad and intoxicating book is shook me up good with its honesty and blunt-to-face endings, the jokes and stories I didn’t know we were allowed to tell outside of circles of faggots and misfits. But this book is in those circles, makes you tea, and steals for you; it invites us in, but would we mind shutting the hell up ’cause it’s a little hungover? The light is coming through the windows so clear.”
—Danez Smith, author of Homie
“Each story in 100 Boyfriends is a minor eclipse: stunning in scope, technically blinding, and entirely miraculous. I laughed and I cried and I laughed until I cried—Brontez Purnell is a marvel.”
—Bryan Washington, author of Memorial
“In the vast history of the universe there is only one Brontez Purnell, and thank god we get him. From cruising to crushes, cumming to closure, 100 Boyfriends is a mandatory read for the funny-sexy lit freaks among us—a candy box of Euro boys and Daddies, blue pills and satanic exes—all told in an addictively delicious voice by a writer who is somehow both wildly cool and self-deprecatingly humble at the same time.”
—Melissa Broder, author of The Pisces
“No one writes like Brontez Purnell. It’s not just that he is hilariously irreverent, which he is, but that he reserves reverence for that which is deserving. 100 Boyfriends is like a good lover, by turns vulgar and vulnerable, dirty and desperate, and always grinding toward magic.”
—Justin Torres, author of We the Animals
“Scathingly lucid, filthily pure, this is the most astute, witty, acid-tongued, and emotionally generous book about relationships—from one-night stands to internet no-no’s to ill-conceived crushes to long-term loves, requited and otherwise—I’ve read. Painfully knowing yet never jaded, 100 Boyfriends dissects, explodes, lambastes, and revels in the ugly beauty of imperfect intimacies with prose that consistently puts its finger on the bleeding pulse of contemporary desire. An unforgettable ode to the heart that beats inside every longing body.”
—Maryse Meijer, author of The Seventh Mansion and Rag
“The stories in 100 Boyfriends took me on a journey: They made me laugh. They made me gasp. They made me feel. Brontez Purnell is a vibrant literary voice you won’t soon forget. I love this book.”
—De’Shawn Charles Winslow, author of In West Mills