Book Summary and Reviews of God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas

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Ann_Beman

One extended shift in a trauma center, told in richly detailed stream-of-consciousness
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.