A review by beblackbeloved
Since I Laid My Burden Down by Brontez Purnell

4.0

‘Since I Laid My Burdens Down’ was interesting. It’s one of those books that doesn’t completely satisfy. It leaves you wanting more. A Black, Southern, un-filtered, gay-as-hell, sexual return-to-home type of novel, performance artist DeShawn is forced to confront a past full of losses, flings, abuse, and the constant search for escape — by any means necessary. I wouldn’t call his life tragic, but it’s far from triumphant. ‘Since I Laid My Burdens Down’ was raw, and unique, in the way that all stories of the queer experience should be. The novel ends with a breakthrough, but what happens next in the life of Deshawn?