[Duncan's] Ponyboy grows increasingly empathetic, while his sometimes melancholy story, like his habit, in the end proves to be addictive. A first novelist to watch very closely.--Michael Cart "Booklist (starred review)"

Eliot Duncan's melancholic transboy swagger sparkles in this classic story of a dissolute bookish Midwesterner who crashes through Europe, falling in and out of love and stargazing from the gutter. An astonishing first novel.--Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Ponyboy reads like one of those unforgettable nights in your twenties. Duncan captures the optimism that accompanies the allure of Paris, the high of substances, and the sense that anything can happen when the sun falls. Read this book to remember that, no matter how bad the hangover will be, the best is yet to come.--Elias Rodriques, author of All the Water I've Seen Is Running

A vivid portrayal of the lure of self-abandonment. Eliot Duncan shows us what is found in pursuit of it--and what is left in its wake.--Hil Malatino, author of Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad

Ponyboy is a novel about self-immolation and rising from your own ashes with a spent match between your teeth. It's also one of the best books I've read about expat dirtbaggery, and it ferociously portrays the velvety allure of oblivion and the terror, eroticism, and bright urgency of coming home to yourself.--Rebecca Rukeyser, author of The Seaplane on Final Descent

A troubled protagonist deals with addiction and his own becoming in this expressive, semiautobiographical bildungsroman...[Duncan] allows his protagonist to emerge as real and true--and alive.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

[A] gutting and glittery three-act coming of age story...The final act takes Ponyboy to rehab, where he unravels his identity, addiction, and recovery -- leading his splintered parts to become all that much more himself.--Sophie June "Nylon"

[Ponyboy] moves breathlessly through space and time...Through a deft command of language, Duncan is able to create a uniquely trans story that fights for the right to be seen.--Sam Moore "Dazed"

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Pub date: 2023-06-13

Length: 240 pages