Sink: A Memoir

Thomas’s gut-wrenching debut memoir, written in the third person, details the author’s quest to find familial love and acceptance despite a turbulent upbringing. Joey, a poor Black boy growing up in Philadelphia, was regularly abandoned at his “grandparents” house because of his mother’s crack addiction. He was forced to mature early and make space for himself in a household filled with toxic masculinity, hunger, drugs, and sexual activity. Roaches invaded every conceivable area; the fridge was consistently nearly empty, and physical and emotional abuse was ever-present. Amid the chaos, Joey retreated into the worlds of anime and video games, desperately trying to make sense of his life through fantasy. The memoir comprises a series of poignant vignettes, each more unsettling and upsetting than the next. Thomas’s brutal, violent childhood may shock many listeners, yet there is hope and humor in the book as well. The author himself sensitively narrates this painful but necessary audio.