A Lucky Man

Urgent, intimate narratives, framed as confessions and quests, and edged with quickening threat. Everything that is good can be ruptured with as little as a single accidental touch ... not only heralds the arrival of a fully formed, entirely distinctive new voice but reinvigorating the short story itself. In the end, there's no doubt who the lucky ones are: we, the readers. * Observer *
Wonderful ... Brinkley's characters and their actions probe the questions at the heart of masculinity * LA Review of Books *
Full of subtle poignancy ... each story is a trenchant exploration of race and class, vividly conveying the tension between social codes of masculinity and the vulnerable, volatile self * New Yorker *
This is the rare debut that introduces not a promising talent but a major writer, fully formed. Jamel Brinkley is brilliant, the real thing, a revelation -- Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You
Sensuous, sensual, sharply observed stories. A really striking debut. -- Adam O'Riordan
One of the many striking qualities in Brinkley's stories is how precarious his male characters tend to be ... extraordinary * Paris Review *
Through pages of peerless prose and startlingly sharp sentences, what emerges is a constantly reframed argument about the role and power of masculinity * L.A. Times *
Not only a standout debut for the year, but also a testament to what can be achieved in a short story. * Chicago Review of Books *
With equal parts precision and poetry, these nine audacious stories step into the minefields awaiting boys of color as they approach manhood in Brooklyn and the Bronx - testing the limits of relationships, social norms and their own definitions of masculinity. * O: THE OPRAH MAGAZINE *
Brinkley's depictions of love's many varieties are subtle and deeply observant ... With this observant book, Brinkley demonstrates an enviable capacity for narrative compression. In the space of 25 pages, he's capable of creating complex and memorable emotional worlds. This is a very hard thing to do, but in A Lucky Man he pulls it off in one story after the next. * Minneapolis Star Tribune *
A stunning debut ... Set in Brooklyn and the Bronx, in poor neighborhoods and on school campuses, these tales are imbued with pathos, sexuality, and moments of violence and tenderness. With this memorable collection, Brinkley emerges as a gifted and empathetic new writer * Booklist (starred review) *
An assured debut collection of stories about men and women, young and old, living and loving along the margins in Brooklyn and the Bronx ... It's difficult to single out any story as most outstanding since they are each distinguished by Brinkley's lyrical invention, precise descriptions of both emotional and physical terrain and a prevailing compassion toward people as bemused by travail as they are taken aback by whatever epiphanies blossom before them. A major talent * Kirkus (starred review) *
Jamel Brinkley's stories tell of absence and abandonment, always edged with pain and beauty ... a magnificent debut -- Laila Lalami
An extraordinary short story collection -- George Pelecanos
In these nine memorable stories Brinkley shakes each of his main characters in turn, and we, as we read, are shaken too ... both subtle and striking -- Chris Power * White Review *
Beautifully written and movingly insightful. -- Curtis Sittenfield