Minor Black Figures

Praise for Minor Black Figures

“One of the most perfect books I’ve ever read.” —NPR

“Taylor’s most accomplished novel — a sustained, idiosyncratic portrait of an artist.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A meditative, illuminating portrait of friendship and competition, belief systems and the connections between us all.”—People

“Brandon Taylor is a literary superstar … Taylor’s third novel [is] a smart and soulful exploration set in the world of art (both contemporary and historical). The book deftly explores race and sexuality, religion and community, and the way love can change a life.”—The Boston Globe

“There is a reason every new Brandon Taylor book is a major literary occasion. . . Taylor tackles politics, love, religion, and the New York City art world with a depth of complication that still feels incisive. . .[He] forges perhaps the most compelling story of life under the weight of opinion and perception that I’ve read.”—The Chicago Review of Books

“Dazzling. . . a poetic meditation on Black art, friendship, young love and intimacy.”—USA Today

“A sharp, resonant novel about a young Black gay painter adrift in New York who spends one life-changing summer grappling with questions of faith, desire, and creative purpose.”—Bustle

“Brandon Taylor is always a must-read, and his newest, Minor Black Figures, is another masterpiece… It’s a moving, thoughtful take on friendship, love, and art.”—Town & Country

“What I most enjoyed while reading this book was the sense of connection and quietude in my mind as I read. Everything was deliberate, crafted with great care, and infused with life.”— The Chicago Tribune

“A brilliant and bold study of racial conflict within art, the white gaze and the Black body, and the messy, traumatic ways people sacrifice for art and life.”—Library Journal, STARRED review

“Mesmerizingly detailed. . .this novel of ideas about art, selfhood, and faith is also a romance, a friendship story, and an enjoyable slice of one hazy Manhattan summer.”—Booklist, STARRED review

“Contemplative and sensuous [with]… the shape of a romance… Taylor is onto something rich and appealing—a story unafraid to foreground love and lust, and that treats emotional ambiguity as a starting point, not as the fuzzy ending common in literary fiction. A piercing, precise, and affecting tale of young love and high art.”—Kirkus, STARRED review

“Brandon Taylor is without a doubt our laureate of hyper-intelligent yearning—nobody does it better.”—LitHub

“There’s much to admire in this portrait of an artist in flux.”—Publishers Weekly


Praise for The Late Americans

“Exquisitely sensitive . . . with flashes of beauty.” —The New York Times

“Startlingly original.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A delicious read.” —NPR

“The best writer on work in America today.” —Garth Greenwell

“Compelling in its determination to capture the tenderness of aspiring artists, their desperate ambition and crushing uncertainty. . . . The Late Americans is remarkable. If you’re going to write about art, the folly of pursuing it and the irrefutable power of it, you should probably do it well. Taylor does it truthfully and beautifully.” —Financial Times

“This book assures and deepens Taylor’s position as one of the most accomplished, important novelists of his generation. He is undoubtedly on to something expansively new in his sense of what the contemporary novel can do.” —The Guardian

“Brandon Taylor’s best book so far. . . . For all their disagreements and misunderstandings and incompatibilities, [his characters are] all attempting to make peace with the cosmic bêtise of existence, to figure out how to live without compromising everything they value. It’s beautiful and wrenching to watch them try.” —The Boston Globe

“Erudite, intimate, hilarious, poignant . . . A gorgeously written novel of youth’s promise, of the quest to find one’s tribe and one’s calling.” —Oprah Daily

“The most dazzling example of [Taylor’s] sharp pen and keen observations of human nature yet. . . . Taylor develops his characters so precisely, they feel like close friends: recognizable, sometimes infuriating, and always worth following to the book’s last page.”—Harper’s Bazaar