Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Memorial by Bryan Washington

12 reviews

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this was very good and somehow wholesome. the ending was slightly unsatisfying to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Classism, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Medical content, Alcohol, Addiction, Infidelity, Cursing, Alcoholism, and Grief

laurataylor's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Grief, Medical content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, and Homophobia

himangi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

sakisreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I LOVED this book. There are definitely some content warnings required (which I’ll put down below), but overall I loved Memorial deeply.

The Japanese food made throughout the story was a real comfort to me ✨ I also adored how Benito and Mitsuko started to cook together as their relationship progressed 🥰

What really made me fall in love with this book though was probably everyone’s ‘humanness’. Everyone had their flaws, everyone sometimes skirted around their flaws, everyone felt their flaws, etc. It was an insight into everyday human life and how we could push away the people we love, whether intentional or not. I felt Benito try to numb his flaws through conversations about work and about Ximena, whereas I felt Mike try to numb his flaws through escapism (going to see Eiju or Tan). 

There was no ‘happy ending’ per se, but I was surprised at how okay I was with this. I really appreciated Benito and Mike’s okayness at the end, even with Omar and Tan in the picture 🥲

All in all, a fantastic book. I can’t wait to recommend it to more people 🏳️‍🌈

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

whatannikareads's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this one started out not rough, but a little choppy for me, but from the end of Benson's first part until the end of the novel it really picked up for me. i found i needed time to adjust to the absence in detail from Benson's perspective, but in hindsight I can see it's how Benson process information as direct result of his upbringing/trauma. when the exposition picks up with Mike, i really started to enjoy the quiet unraveling of these individual character's and their family members' lives. it's not a pretty, squeaky clean relationship and it does get abusive at times. i'm not saying that that's a good thing to read about, but it does offer a nuanced perspective on a queer relationship. also, i love that the novel so authentically speaks to Washington's own upbringing; only he could have written this novel with the appreciation of the cultures involved and that intersection of houston and osaka. the characters have flaws and have raw reactions to the conflicts presented to them, which i think is why this novel was so enjoyable--because it's testament to the human experience. i think it'd be a great hbo max show.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Vomit, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Medical content, and Abandonment

alonadadonut's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a book about people who are really bad at expressing love. Like, *so* bad at it. I wanted to yell at the protagonists at least 20 times throughout the book. It was cruel and raw and deceptively dry and I couldn't look away. Loved Mitsuko, what an icon. Would recommend to anyone who likes it when books tears their heart out and stomps on it. 
Not 5 stars because the book ends on a sort of cliffhanger and I would prefer to know what ends up happening. On the one hand I understand why we don't get told what happens and on the other hand I desperately require closure.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, and Racial slurs

kaii's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this book made me sob on not one, but two, german trains

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Cancer, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Fatphobia, Grief, and Body shaming

greatu's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Grief, Racism, Sexual content, Cancer, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

gabbygarcia's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Racism

menomica's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

Ok, I will say, the writing of this book was very good. It’s what kept me coming back. It was very simplistic, which I liked. It got the point across. 
I feel like the book wanted to do things, but never really delivered. The book itself suffers from not having a proper ending, like much of the storylines in it. I think the most obvious example is with Tam. He’s introduced, as if he’s going to a huge player and very influential, but then he fucks off for 20 pages, and only comes back for three lines before Mike ditches him. 
Other things/themes I felt like this book pointed at but never actually took the time to elaborate on:

• Racism: Besides the “racist jokes” and that instance with the racist waiter, the biggest moment of this for me was with the Workers at the play center and how they interacted with Ahmad/Benson was giving very much let’s antagonize the black kid cause it’s easiest to do. Also, even though it was a joke, them referring to Ahmad as Ben’s because they’re the only black people in the center felt… racially motivated. But it was never really elaborated beyond that. The theme of race itself was prominent throughout the book, and I think that was done well because it was obviously from an observational lense, and not with the intent of making commentary, but sometimes it felt like they’d touch on racism and then drop it like a hot potato
• Tam. Wtf. What was the reason for him being there. For Mike to have a potential love interest?? Nothing developed between them, and yet he was introduced as someone who was going to be super big and important for Mike. THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE SEX They exchange very minimal conversion and it just felt like there was supposed to be development there but it just never happened. And then Mike just left (like his dad did with him)!

Speaking of Mike. Ew. This is very much a Mike hate account. He’s very immature and inconsiderate. He can’t figure out his shit and leaves others to deal with the fall out for that. The biggest example of this, besides the failure that is his relationship with Ben, is that he invited his mother over to the states just to leave to go to Japan. He’s a bit selfish. And also, he literally said a fucking slur??? There was no way he was going to be good with that joke he said at the end of the first chapter. He also invalidates Ben a lot, if not with the fact that they grew up differently economically, then just his emotions in general. He never respects the boundaries that Ben places (the monogamy, letting his mother stay at their place while he was in Japan). So yeah, throughout this book I was very much rooting for Ben to pack his shit and leave him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Infidelity

Minor: Bullying, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Racial slurs