This book deals with a lot of tough topics, which was interesting but the stream of consciousness style of writing just wasn’t for me. I found it hard to keep track of all the characters and to figure out what was being discussed. Whether this was a feature or a bug, I’m not sure but it didn’t do it for me. However, I imagine others who really like this style would enjoy the book.

The cover of God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer shows a young Black man's face overlaying an institutional-looking building in the background. The lines of the drawing, specifically of the man's head, blur, as if his multicolored facets aren't yet able to sustain a stable image. It beautifully represents the gist of Joseph Earl Thomas's debut novel, which is told over the course of one hectic shift at a Philadelphia hospital. Joseph Thomas, who not coincidentally shares the author's name, is a med tech in the emergency department, where he knows every other patient, including his mother, presumed biological father, uncle, great-grandmother. 
"A boy who used to beat me up is here for STD testing."
"In the trauma bay there's a lanky girl I knew from middle school named Diamond."
I say that the setting is the hospital, but really it's Joey's mind. He weaves narration of his daily ER routine with flashbacks from gaming with his kids the night before, from his own impoverished childhood, from his tour in Iraq as an army medic, and so on. Throughout his stream-of-consciousness narration, he speaks of hunger and trauma and when is his bff Ray gonna show up with Joey's hoagie and Otis Spunkmeyer muffin?
Therein lies the hook. 
This book is phenomenal in how it captures the focus and distraction of both a mind and a trauma center in chaos. Its intense but intimate language is not easy to begin, but by about 15 percent in, I began to see the method in the seeming madness and I was drawn in, mesmerized by its genius. I was already a fan of Thomas's memoir Sink, but the two together make me an even more avid fan.
[Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

Joseph Who Was a soldier In T. H. E! LRAN. W. A r. He was trying to raise his Family. He Work in a hospital in Philadelphia. E M s. He's also going to school as well. Everybody thought he had money And his sister kept asking for money as well as his mother. His mother was addicted to crack So she could not help him with the children anymore. A man trying so hard to have a normal life and raise his children.To B e Standing.
Citizens. It shows how people can get their lives together if they focus. This book would be really good for people to show how you do things on your own and raise a family as well. Even if the ODS Against you. His friend He was close to. And the shared experience. From the war..

I didn’t really know what to expect while reading this book and though some of ten themes are heartbreaking it still was a very heartwarming book about identity finding ones place in the world and knowing where you come from. It tackles the tough relationship that people have with their parents and how that shapes them into the adults they’ll be and how they will then raise their own children. I really liked this books and would love to read more by this author.

I found this to be both heartfelt and humorous while remaining authentic as Otis learns that his gift of healing reaches beyond the physical.

This prose was jam-packed; I found myself starting paragraphs over to catch everything. I appreciated the distinct perspective of a black Philly man juggling life as a parent, graduate student, and medical assistant after serving in the military. It was funny at times, but mostly heavy, and it felt important to read.

I may change my star rating, but I’m still trying to process this book.

The author’s writing style is definitely unique - lyrical and poetic, switching timelines. It drew me in. But I had trouble keeping track of where we were in the story - past and present and who all the characters were. I read the author’s memoir earlier this year, and I could see some themes from his life in this book.

Overall, I think I give this 3/3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my gifted copy!

Unlike any book I have ever read, GOD BLESS YOU, OTIS SPUNKMEYER tells the story of Joseph Thomas, a man trying his best to make good decisions that will make his life and the lives of those he cares about better. Having already lived in many differing conditions, including those of an active duty military member, he has pushed himself forward a degree in medicine while working full time in a hospital emergency room and maintaining a family life. Life has stretched him thin while he struggles with the temptations any young man faces these days. Joseph Earl Thomas has done an excellent job of developing the characters and the communities in which they live. While fiction, this story could be true for many young men today.

This is a good read. I enjoyed the stream of consciousness approach, but I got fatigued from all of the run on sentences. This would be a great movie or tv show.

This book is so good, a true masterpiece. It was written unlike anything I've ever read and I couldn't put it down. It was heartbreaking, honest, beautiful, hilarious . . . just everything a person could ever want from a book. Read this book!!

I absolutely loved this book, and I give it my highest recommendation. God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer comes out next week on June 18, 2024, you can purchase HERE.

Of all the level 1 trauma centers in one young though very old nation, it's this one, on the north side of a northeastern middling city where we wear teal scrubs stained with shit which, in this context, helps signify the unbearability of true pleasure in the world. Pleasures in feeling purposeful and needed and useful without forcing the disambiguation. The waiting room is full.

I had a hard time with this one. The writing is very stream of consciousness which was sometimes a plus but often took away from enjoyment and understanding of the book. Which was also kind of fitting considering that this wasn't meant to be a light read. It was disturbing at times.

There's definitely a lot going on here and I feel like this is the kind of book that could be analyzed in college classrooms. It was interesting to get a different perspective on the world. It just wasn't an easy read in terms of prose and material.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

Joseph, a Black army veteran and father from Philadelphia, is working in a hospital as a tech while attending grad school. The style of writing of this book made it hard to get into - it felt like stream of consciousness or journal writing. Once I got used to the writing and the gritty content, I was taken by Joseph's life. A unique, fairly disturbing look at what it means to be a Black man from meager means trying to make his life better while helping family and friends around him.

Unfortunately, because of the odd grammar and spelling, I had to abandon this book. I enjoy the stories of health care workers and how they put their lives on the line for the health and welfare of others, and I was excited to dive into this book, but I was a little confused from the beginning. And I was not really able to follow a story line. Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me a try at this ARC.

2.0. Did not finish the book. Found the subject uninteresting and the language off putting. I rarely do not finish a book, but I did not think that completing the story was a good use of my time. Unfortunate.

Vivid and alive. The density of the paragraphs mimics the feeling of traumatic overwhelm. Thomas really takes us into the experience, and the dialogue too, keeps it alive - you really hear the characters and where they are coming from. Beautiful writing on difficult stuff. Thanks for the ARC!

The stream of consciousness writing and run-on sentences make this difficult to track, but effectively speak to intergenerational trauma and systemic harms of our society.

It was a good book but it was not for me. The language and writing style made it difficult for me to read. The long paragraphs made it more like a journal versus a novel

I really wanted to like this book and get more into it, but the short synopsis is the writing doesn’t work for me. It reads, at least to me, like one long sentence that starts in one place and ends in another without anything to make it cohesive. There are clearly important points about race, poverty, and more, but I found it hard to follow and bizarre. If the style works for you, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First, I want to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC. I needed a good book for a trip I was taking, and when I read the summary for this, I felt like it would be a good vacation read for all the different forms of transit I was taking. This was my first time reading the work of Joseph Earl Thomas; I had heard about Sink, but hadn't had the chance to read it yet.

Let's get to the nitty gritty: I give this a 3.5/5 (rounding up to 4), mainly driven by the fact that the story continued to pull me in every time I thought about taking a break. Thomas' writing style is unique and proselike. I sometimes found it hard to not get lost in the lines, but I ultimately felt that it gave the book an intimate feeling of being told a story in real time. Sometimes it's linear, sometimes you get lost on a tangent; but no matter what, it's real. I think my biggest difficulty was trying to keep all the of the side characters and their storylines straight while remembering where we were in the main plot. Some of the asides amplified the shock factor, peppering in salacious and or traumatic tidbits in otherwise standard paragraphs. I loved the continuous thread of Otis Spunkmeyer muffins; I think it perfect captured the idea that some of the most impactful joys in life can be the simplest (in this case, just your standard vending machine type muffin), and those same joys will be present at the most mundane and most traumatic moments in our lives. The ending was one that I had to re-read a couple of times to truly take in everything that was happening, but I felt that it wrapped the story up aptly.

In general, I think this should definitely be on your summer TBR list, and I look forward to more people becoming familiar with Joseph Earl Thomas' work. I'll be checking out Sink as soon as my library lets me!

Beautiful prose set in my home city. The main characters struggle is so unique but the themes of what we sacrifice for our families is somewhat universal. I loved the timeline jumps