And I'll Take Out Your Eyes

“A searing portrait … The early sections astound with their vivid depictions of [Christian’s] childhood struggles. The prismatic nature of the narrative will please fans of Tomas Rivera’s classic novel y no se lo trago la tierra.”–Publishers Weekly“And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes, a blazing novelistic debut from queer Chicano writer A.M. Sosa, takes on the protagonist’s youthful struggles on the hardscrabble streets of Stockton–difficulties made incalculably worse by a curse laid on him at the age of seven. Sosa dissects problems of class, race, and gender with passion and merciless, no-bullshit humor.”–Alta“Nightmarish and mesmerizing, And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes deftly tempers the bloodthirst of youth with the gravitas of trauma, plunging us into all the grim chasms of becoming. By exhuming the borders between family and selfhood, nations and heritage, superstitions and raw perseverance, A.M. Sosa has leveled a beacon of urgent, unflinching light on the experience–and casualties–of estrangement. No more looking away. This novel entranced me, broke me, and has haunted me since.”–Jakob Guanzon, author of Abundance“And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes introduces an urgent new voice that fearlessly captures a coming-of-age shaped by fury and fear. At once brutal, funny, harrowing, and tender, A.M. Sosa’s searing debut reminds us why fiction still matters, why it can be lifesaving.”–Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Likes and Madeleine Is Sleeping“And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes is a kaleidoscopic wonder of a debut. Never boring, A.M. Sosa seems somehow capable of pulling off any form or point of view. Any sentence might be as explosive, as tender, as breathless, as surprising as life. And there is so much life in this book. If nothing else, it is rare to find a novel as alive as this one. Sosa has arrived with a cannon shot.”–Matthew Salesses, author of Craft in the Real World and The Sense of Wonder“Poetic, defiant, and unflinching, And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes is incendiary from the opening paragraph, and never relents. A.M. Sosa is a young writer to watch.”–Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy and The Heart of Winter“An insultingly good debut from a writer I’ll follow forever. And I’ll Take Out Your Eyes is a poetic gut punch that heals just as much as it haunts.” –Ruth Madievsky, author of All-Night PharmacyA Publishers Lunch Buzz Book

A. M. Sosa (they/them) is a queer Mexican-American writer from Stockton, CA, and a recent graduate of UC Irvine’s MFA Programs in Writing where they were awarded the 2022 Henfield Prize. In 2023, they were named a Tin House scholar. Their fiction has been published in Zyzzyva and the Santa Monica Review.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.