How Are You Going to Save Yourself

June 18, 2018
In Holmes’s crackling debut of interconnected stories, Dubs, Rolls, Rye, and Gio are four young black men growing up in Rhode Island. The main character is Gio, born to a one-time pro footballer father and an Italian mother, who is also the one who “makes it,” leaving for college at Cornell and befriending the kind of moneyed youth who “live like some fucking rappers,” in Dub’s words. Stand-
outs include the first story, “What’s Wrong with You? What’s Wrong with Me?,” in which a seemingly jocular question from Dub about how many white women they have all slept with leads to the confrontation of some uncomfortable truths for Rolls, and “Toll for the Passengers,” in which Gio is forced to make some difficult decisions when an RV full of drunk college students hits a car on his street and his cousin Isaac escalates the situation. For all his excellence, however, Holmes does not write female characters with the same nuance he affords his male characters, and readers will wish that characters like Gio’s little sister, Whit—who is excellent in “Outside Tacoma”—or Tayla, the high school girl Rolls meets in “Be Good to Me,” were given more page space. Nevertheless, Holmes proves his ability to navigate vulnerability, as well as his fearlessness in tackling tense situations head-on, all of which combines for a collection of superb stories.

June 15, 2018
As up-to-the-minute as a Kendrick Lamar track and as ruefully steeped in eternal truths as a Gogol tale, these stories of young working-class black men coming into their dubious inheritances mark the debut of an assured young talent in American storytelling.We'll start with Gio since his is the voice telling most of these interrelated stories of love, longing, and thwarted aspiration among men of color growing up in the hilly, blue-collar enclave of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He is the mixed-race son of a professional football player named Lonnie "The Lion" Campbell, whose career, along with his mind, declined in shockingly abrupt ways. Dub, one of Gio's childhood friends, dreamed of playing pro football though, as Gio recounts, he wasn't as good as their other friend, Rye, who as an adult answers to the dual calling of dealing drugs and fighting fires. Then there's Rolls, whose hard, street-coarsened manner belies a spirit romantic and inquisitive enough to become absorbed in photography. Each of these four young men, as different in temperament as they are similar in sensitivity, is enmeshed in struggles to break free of the constrictions imposed on his dreams by society and by himself. Gio, who has come into considerable money in part because of a settlement with the NFL over his dad's untimely deterioration and death, is shown squandering these funds on drugs and other diversions in New York City while flashing gifts as a free-style rap artist. At least he gets out of Pawtucket while his friends struggle with their respective demons--and with the wise and often too-forbearing women in their lives. The stories are by turns comedic, bawdy, heartbreaking, and grisly. What links them all is the heady style deployed throughout; language with the same taut rhythm and blunt imagery as the best hip-hop yet capable of intermittent surges of lyricism that F. Scott Fitzgerald in his own precocious stories of youthful romance and remorse could summon.The publisher says Holmes is working on his first novel. This collection makes you thirst for whatever's coming next.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2018
In interconnected short stories, Holmes' debut breathes life into a group of friends who are simultaneously trying to shake off their past and honor it. Dubs, Rolls, Rye, and Gio grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, doing normal teen things like trying to get with girls and finding their next high. It is also where they deal with broken families and bouts of violence, as both victims and perpetrators. Gio, who functions as the main character, struggles with his mixed race, as evidenced during a holiday cookout with his extended white family where he argues with his cop uncle about police brutality. But Gio's background also affords him opportunities unavailable to his three friends. Holmes' writing is fresh, and his dialogue rings true. He doesn't shy away from difficult subject matter or from showing his characters' flaws, which makes for some incredibly tough scenes to read, but also highlights the everyday travails of black men in America. Readers looking for timely, nuanced fiction about race and masculinity should definitely pick this up.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

March 15, 2018

In these linked stories, Holmes clarifies what it's like to be young, black, and male in America. Narrated by buddies Dub, Rolls, Rye, and Gio, with Gio set apart by his Ivy League aspirations and mixed-race identity. Holmes had a fellowship to the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2018

In these linked stories, Holmes clarifies what it's like to be young, black, and male in America. Narrated by buddies Dub, Rolls, Rye, and Gio, with Gio set apart by his Ivy League aspirations and mixed-race identity. Holmes had a fellowship to the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 15, 2018

This provocative story cycle follows a group of young black men--Gio, Rolls, Rye, and Dub--from a rundown area of Pawtucket, RI, as they grow into adulthood. Gio, who narrates many of the stories, is mixed race and has a father who played in the NFL. He has the best prospects of the four, despite his parents' divorce and his father having mostly exhausted his football money, as he is able to attend Cornell and earn a degree in English. Rolls, the son of a photography store owner, has some success as a painter, exhibiting in a number of galleries. Rye, with his own disappointed NFL dreams, eventually becomes a fireman and is severely injured fighting his first fire. Dub, meanwhile, has the most difficulty finding his way as he moves aimlessly from job to job, and by the end of "Dress Code," has been fired from a telemarketing position and faces feelings of envy and resentment as his girlfriend Simone achieves a degree of success. VERDICT These stories are as powerful and tough-minded as the realities of race, class, and identity the characters confront. Holmes depicts troubled lives with candor and compassion. A notable debut. [See Prepub Alert, 2/11/18.]--Lawrence Rungren, Andover, MA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.