Blog Tour: Everywhere You Don't Belong

Welcome, friends! I’m thrilled to be part of the blog tour highlighting Everywhere You Don’t Belong, by Gabriel Bump, a phenomenal coming of age story:

“Like most aspiring African-American writers, I was frustrated with the dearth of literature that reflected my upbringing and surroundings,” Bump says. “The South Side of Chicago has a deep and beautiful history. My favorite best books about the South Side, however, were written decades ago by towering figures like Wright and Brooks and Major. In college, I fell in love with Stuart Dybek’s work. I decided that I would try and write Dybek stories about young black kids. Those stories and characters … turned into EVERYWHERE YOU DON’T BELONG. My goal was to write a book that black people from Chicago would read and recognize as a true reflection of the South Side’s soul.”

Here’s the synopsis:

“Claude just wants a place where he can fit. As a young black man born on the South Side of Chicago, he is raised by his civil rights–era grandmother, who tries to shape him into a principled actor for change; yet when riots consume his neighborhood, he hesitates to take sides, unwilling to let race define his life. He decides to escape Chicago for another place, to go to college, to find a new identity, to leave the pressure cooker of his hometown behind. But as he discovers, he cannot; there is no safe haven for a young black man in this time and place called America.”

Within this story Bump explains and explores the very real and very tricky steps of growing up and feeling like you don’t belong anywhere, but wanting to fit in somewhere. He describes so well and with such charm and devastating precision the situation that young Black men face in our country. Some of the content is heavy, but not unnecessarily so. In fact, this book surprised me that at several points I found myself chuckling at the unexpected humor I found and many more times I was in awe of the sentences that were able to convey so much of character, comic mastery, and description. Bump balances this humor so well with the heavier plot points and dark yet realistic observations and truths.

This story is written so well. It has that particular weird charm that I adore reading. I loved being surprised by that unexpected intricacy that gave an extra spark to the story. Bump is doing something special in this debut and it deserves more attention. I can’t wait to see what he writes next.

We have read enough stories about white men and their coming of age experiences. I am delighted to have this book and hope we can soon see more like it. What we need now is to read this book. We need stories like this book. We need to read these coming of age novels by authors of color that share these experiences. I’m so impressed, delighted, and inspired by this book. I really hope you pick it up and read it. You’ll remember Claude and his friends and family for a long time to come.

Everywhere You Don’t Belong, by Gabriel Bump is out now and can be found at your local bookstore, on Amazon, or from your library. I do hope you go check it out. It’s well worth your time and attention.

*Thank you to Algonquin for the digital review copy - all opinions are my own.