All Friends Are Necessary: A Novel

by Tomas Moniz

Overview

In this “tender and open-hearted novel," (Nina LaCour, author of Yerba Buena) Tomas Moniz—a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway and Lambda Literary awards—delivers a commanding new story about the power of friendship, community, and the families we create for ourselves.

Efren “Chino” Flores has just moved back to the Bay Area from Seattle, jumping from sublet to sublet. In Washington, he was an adored middle school biology teacher with a loving wife, and a child on the way—that is, until a stunning loss upended his life. Now he’s working temp jobs, terrified of commitment, and struggling to put himself back out into the world.

But there to nurture Chino is a coterie of new and old friends and lovers who form a protective web around him. Closest to him are Metal Matt, a red-haired metalhead with a soft spot for Courtney Love and a rangy dog named Sabbath, and Mike and Kay, a couple whose literary edge is matched only by the success of their secret OnlyFans account. As Chino begins to date more men and women—and to open himself up again to love—his bonds with those around him grow both rich and profound. Like a fern blooming in the wake of a forest fire, new life comes after even the most devastating upheaval.

With gorgeous, heartrending detail and a seemingly infinite catalogue of tender, unexpected interactions, Tomas Moniz has created a striking mosaic of desire and belonging. An anthem to both queer and platonic love, All Friends Are Necessary evinces the wonder of friendship and the joy of giving yourself up to the essential force of community.

"Vibrant, alive, and absolutely devastating in its beauty, All Friends Are Necessary is like a late-night phone call with your best friend—exuberant, confessional, and above all, honest."—Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot and Madwoman

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643755816
Publisher:	Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	199,618
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Tomas Moniz is a Latinx writer living in Oakland, CA. His debut novel, Big Familia, was a finalist for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway, the LAMBDA, and the Foreward Indies Awards. He edited the popular Rad Dad and Rad Families anthologies. He is the recipient of the prestigious SF Literary Arts Foundation’s 2016 Award and the 2020 Artist Affiliate for Headlands Center for Arts. He currently teaches at Berkeley City College and the Antioch MFA program. 

Editorial Reviews

04/29/2024

In the bighearted and introspective latest from Moniz (Big Familia), a 30-something Latinx bisexual man puts his life back together in Northern California after his first baby is stillborn and his marriage falls apart. Efren “Chino” Flores, a high school biology teacher, returns from Seattle to his roots in San Francisco to recover from his grief. The narrative spans several years, beginning with Chino renting a sublet, reconnecting with friends, finding new lovers, and getting sober. He then spends a year in a Sonoma County cabin. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he forms a pod in Oakland with Metal Matt, who takes him to a nude beach for a bracing dip in the bay; Metal Matt’s girlfriend; and a mixed-race couple who offer food and hugs and dish on their secret OnlyFans account. He also reflects on the sexual encounters he’s had with men and women since separating from his wife and tries to find a way to love again despite the longing he feels for her. Moniz’s thoughtful narrative demonstrates the reparative power of friendship, and how it can even transcend the bonds of love. Readers will be entranced. Agent: Eleanor Jackson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for All Friends Are Necessary:

"Vibrant, alive, and absolutely devastating in its beauty, All Friends Are Necessary is like a late-night phone call with your best friend—exuberant, confessional, and above all, honest. Cutting to the heart of grief in all its multitudes, one man finds his way back to a new version of self after deep loss. Sexy and subversive, I tore through this book, inhaling line after surprising line, feeling myself want to reach into the pages and be saved too."—Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot and Madwoman

"All Friends Are Necessary brings much needed tenderness, beauty, and hope into the world. This splendid and rejuvenating novel will make you feel so full and alive, held and comforted. Tomas Moniz has created joyous companions and a book to cherish for ages. I love these characters and will miss them endlessly."—Joseph Han, author of Nuclear Family

“Vivid and compelling, All Friends Are Necessary is a celebration of love in all its forms. In the wake of devastating losses and amid the isolation of the pandemic, Efren “Chino” Flores struggles for meaning and connection. In a pitch-perfect portrayal of the Bay Area and beyond, the indelible Flores welcomes us into his circle of friends. A tender, frank, and funny narrative.”—Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City

“Tomas Moniz returns with a beautiful, searching novel. All Friends Are Necessary combines the rugged tenderness of Denis Johnson, the poetic geographies of Jimmy Santiago Baca, the frank sexual desire of Garth Greenwell, and the playful joy of Sandra Cisneros into a novel equally heartbreaking and hopeful. This is one of the best books of the year.”—Christian Kiefer, author of The Heart of It All

Praise for Big Familia:

"A standout debut . . . Moniz tells a story that is simultaneously timeless and quite timely . . . Characters deal with and talk about racism and homophobia, gentrification and police brutality. These are some of the challenges they endure as they navigate universally human experiences like connection, community, birth, and death."
 —Kirkus (starred review)

"For readers in search of a tautly streamlined, deeply resonating, contemporary family story, Big Familia by Tomas Moniz won't disappoint . . . Without ignoring societal ills—racially charged police violence, incarceration bias, aggressive gentrification, generation gaps—Moniz creates a broadly diverse cast on the verge of transformation. Testing options, pushing past comfort zones and welcoming new bonds result in a big familia well worth getting to know."
 —Library Journal

"A sharply observed exploration of empty nesting, gentrification, and intercultural intimacy . . . Big Familia captures the joys and uncertainties of family life in modern-day Berkeley . . . [the novel] doesn't dish out big, steaming heaps of drama. Rather, it recounts the smaller moments where a few ill-chosen words can have far-reaching repercussions."
 —East Bay Express

"Big Familia is about so many American families—intercultural, gay, straight, divorced but still loving each other with imperfect ferocity."—Michelle Cruz Gonzales, author of The Spitboy Rule

"This long-awaited debut novel is everything fans have come to love in his work and more. Set in the gentrifying Bay Area, Big Familia is deeply personal and lyrical, at once exploring shame, the politic of care, and the meaning of belonging. These characters are people we know—awkward and bursting with all the hurt and love of being fully human. If you’ve never read Moniz before, you’ll be an instant fan. If you’re a longtime reader, you’ll be so happy to come home to this novel."
 —Ariel Gore, author of The Wayward Writer and We Were Witches

From the Publisher

2024-05-04
An intimate look into the bonds that rebuild us after tragedy.

Thirty-seven-year-old Efren “Chino” Flores has just moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from Seattle. In Seattle, Chino lived with his wife, Luna, and taught middle school biology. But when Luna got pregnant and then had a miscarriage, the grief ripped them apart. Now, Chino must navigate a new beginning, relying on the support of his closest friends, Metal Matt and Mike and Kay, along with the romantic and sexual partners—both men and women—that he meets. Often the borders between sexual and platonic are not clear—for Chino, friendship toes the line of eroticism. Spanning the years 2018 to 2022 and the Covid-19 pandemic, the book follows Chino as he moves from San Francisco up to Guerneville and then to Oakland, teaching after-school classes about local wildlife to middle schoolers and eventually starting his own nature-based educational institution. Interwoven in the plot are vignettes of his childhood, teachings on ferns and other native plants, and meditations on ever-changing and ever-present grief: “There is something about grief that holds on to you. Or maybe it’s you holding on to it. Like itching a scab, like stroking a scar. A reminder.” Chino’s voice is quirky and refreshingly frank: With a new lease on life, he’s exploring what he likes and doesn’t like, reflecting on the gifts and frustrations of friendship, sex, and loneliness. But there are moments in this story that feel thematically underdeveloped: At one point, Chino and his friends go to a spin class before heading out to protest a Nazi gathering; during the spin class, they all enthusiastically cheer “Fuck Nazis,” a scene that feels both out of touch and a little overwrought.

A thoughtful, tender, if somewhat earnest tribute to the joyful minutiae that sustain us.

Kirkus Reviews