Reviews - Lot: Stories | The StoryGraph

872 reviews for:

Lot: Stories

Bryan Washington

3.8 AVERAGE

dialecticalnicho's review

3.25

emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Blunt storytelling that’s similar in tone to much of Memorial, which is to say ultimately it fell flat for me, and part of that is to blame on such a monotone audiobook reading from Washington. I just think I’m not the core audience for these stories. Although, I can appreciate the connections and community building from his writing.

nath_triff's review against another edition

5.0

Incredible. What a powerhouse writer, Bryan Washington is. Such a great book.

_gnocchi's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 50%

i went into a horrible slump... i will pick this up again!

djmarin's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

lezreadalot's review against another edition

3.5

reflective

You bring yourself wherever you go. You are the one thing you can never run out on.

REREAD 2025. 3.5 stars. So, rereading this right after I finished it didn't actually do much for me, except help me cement how I felt about it. Which was largely positive! I did, of course, pick up on a few more details in a lot of the stories, and some parts of it hit harder the second time around, and while it's still a 3.5, it's a 3.5 that's closer to a 4. I do think I liked Washington's writing better in Family Meal, and I'm not sure how well his style translated to short stories. I mean, I did really like how this was interconnected, how we zeroed in on a particular community, and how we revisited a certain character and his family at various points in his life. There was a chorus aspect that I wish had come into play more often, just because I really like that style of writing. Since most of these stories were so interconnected, I didn't really bother to take notes after finishing each one, which I regret now. Because they really were distinct, even though they were connected by places and themes. We've got queer stories, immigrant stories, familial relationships, some romantic connections. The stories are often tough, raw, ugly, and powerful. "Waugh", about a group of sex workers living together in a small apartment with their friend/leader/sorta-pimp, really bowled me over. "Bayou", about a couple friends who find a chupacabra, was a wonderful blend of friendship and folklore and messy relationships and a hint of magic. The characters we revisit most often are from a mixed family with a black mother and a Hispanic father, through the eyes of the youngest son. We see the way their dynamic changes as the character grows up, realises things about himself, as the family changes, breaks apart, comes together. I loved the story of him visiting his father's mistress, and the one where he teaches a white boy Spanish. The writing in all of the stories is simple, but really... cutting, I guess might be the right word. Showing a lot of the beauty inherent in people, as well as the uglier sides. There were a few stories where the meaning felt a little too abstract, or perhaps just sailed over my head, but I still really enjoyed them.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Dion Graham, JD Jackson, Bahni Turpin and the author, and I did enjoy it. Graham especially is one of my favourite narrators. I have to admit, I didn't really like Washington's narration. Authors narrating their own work can be pretty hit or miss, especially fiction writers. I remember I liked his narration fine in Family Meal, but here, it was just a little too stilted and dry. And since he narrated the stories where we kept coming back to that one family, it felt like he did the bulk of the narration. I disliked it so much that I tried to switch to the ebook, but that's when I remembered that Washington does that writing thing where he doesn't use quotation marks for dialogue, which I really don't like and have a lot of trouble reading. So I begrudgingly went back to the audiobook. I do wonder if the lack of quotation marks is why Washington (perhaps purposefully) sounds so deadpan and flat in his narration. Oh well. In any case, it didn't affect my enjoyment TOO much. I still want to read Washington's other novels; I love how he writes and how he explores his chosen themes.

Content warnings:

homophobia, racism, slurs, death, fatphobic language, drug use

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3.5 stars. I finished this today, but before I write my review, I think I actually want to restart it and reread it immediately. I didn't LOVE this, but I do think I want to give it a chance to sink in a bit deeper. RTC.