'A beautifully expansive novel about race and classFranklins emotional and intellectual range is vast. An exceptional debut.' -- Katie Kitamura, author of Audition and Intimacies 'Its thrilling to see any author today aiming for the big stuff all at once: death, race, sex, class, addiction. Its beyond thrillingincandescent, evenwhen a writer like Rob Franklin comes along with the formal virtuosity to carry those lofty conceptual ambitions. Franklins prose is eminently readable, frequently laugh-out-loud funny, and full of sentences I want to cut out and glue to my forehead. This book is so smart, so moving, so earned; as soon as I finished, I started reading it again.' -- Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author of Martyr! 'The precision and ecstasy of Rob Franklin's prose had me entranced. Great Black Hope marks the arrival of a breathtakingly talented writer.' -- Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning 'What a marvel to discover a voice so authentic, urgent, and undeniable. GREAT BLACK HOPE is a rare thing: a coming-of-age novel that examines the individual as well as the complex systems that shape his life. An intensely intimate yet expansive work of art.' -- Tania James, author of Loot 'Rob Franklins prose is rich, mesmerizing, and utterly gorgeous. Through each remarkable sentence, Franklin takes you through a meditation on one Black queer man's struggle with the confinement of his choices under the magnifying glass of wealthy America.' -- Leila Mottley, author of Nightcrawling 'Great Black Hope indeed! Rob Franklins brilliant storytelling explores and explodes every fact and fiction of those charged words; likewise, the intricacies and treacheries of privilege. Those categories we parse so confidently class, race, gender sexuality are shaped into nuanced individual stories. His prose is elegant and searching, his pace flawless from start to finish.' -- Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland 'The music of Rob Franklins writing is so seductive, you wont even notice the shiv until its too late.' -- Saeed Jones, author of Alive at the End of the World 'Great Black Hope is at once a novel of crimewith a gripping pace, propelled by a question that needs answeringand a timeless coming of age story.' -- Rumaan Alam, author of Entitlement 'Rob Franklins debut novel, Great Black Hope, is a masterpiece at once fresh and original while delighting the reader with hints of Franzen, McInerney, Baldwin. The specificity of the language is like fine lacework, a beauty to behold. This novel a whodunit, a coming-of-age, a New York novel heralds the arrival of a rarefied talent. Wow wow wow.' -- Elin Hilderbrand, author of Swan Song
'If Tom Wolfe, Jay McInerney, and Margo Jefferson somehow collaborated, this might have been the delightful result.' -- Boris Kachka * Atlantic *
