Listen Now
Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: AudiobookHub Recommendation
Chapter 2: — The Boy at the Easy-Bake Oven
Chapter 3: — First Loves and Small Funerals
Chapter 4: — Alchemy in the Snow
Chapter 5: — Doors, Games, and Guns in the Ceiling
Chapter 6: — Snakes, Spirits, and the Cost of Care
Chapter 7: — Dragon Ball Lessons and the Day Everything Breaks
Chapter 8: — Cliffhanger: “Find Out Next Time…”
Chapter 9: — Kingdoms of Fur and Scale
Chapter 10: — Catch a Girl, Lose Yourself
Chapter 11: — One Punch and Its Aftershocks
Chapter 12: — Star Ocean and the Rules That Make Sense
Chapter 13: — Keisha’s Storm and Halloween Fangs
Chapter 14: — Monsters on Screen, Monsters at Home
Chapter 15: — Dotty’s Sink and New Rules
Chapter 16: — Box Cutters and Sirens
Chapter 17: — Faye’s Basement and the Sound of Consent
Chapter 18: — Dragonite, Dratini, and a Walk in the Dark
Chapter 19: — No Final Boss, Just Breath
Description
Sink: A Memoir is the raw, vivid story of Joey — a tall, timid kid on Paul Street in Philadelphia — trying to stitch together warmth inside a cold world. He sleeps near the kitchen, cooks on a pink toy oven, draws giant serpents eating boats, and writes names in a black notebook, daring to choose who would stop hurting the people he loves. His house has roaches and no real doors; his family has rules etched into fear, and his neighborhood makes softness feel like a liability. Still, Joey finds joy wherever he can: anime marathons, JRPG stories, stolen fangs on Halloween, and the tender chaos of raising snakes, a dog, and an alligator he names Rex.
The book follows Joey as he navigates hospital nights and school days that go wrong, older boys who test him, and adults whose pain spills over into him. He is raised by a grandfather who calls him names, a mother who flickers in and out of the apartment, and girls and women — Tia, Erica, and Dotty — whose presence complicates and saves him in turns. Through sudden humor and heartbreaking detail, Joseph Earl Thomas shows how a kid learns to manage a furnace of anger without letting it burn his soul. He makes an honest space for shame and desire, for music blasting late, for video games that feel like more than games, and for small kindnesses that land like life rafts.
Who Should Listen
- Readers who want a brave, tender memoir about childhood and survival
- People who grew up navigating addiction, poverty, or violent homes
- Educators, social workers, and youth advocates seeking honest portraits
- Fans of stories where games, music, and imagination become lifelines
- Listeners who value tough love, humor, and truth told without ornament