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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-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
This was more beautiful as it went on, and while I hate couples that clearly need to be apart, by the end I didn't feel so sure of that.
Would compare this to Martyr and Mongrel.
Would compare this to Martyr and Mongrel.
It is really hard to find good representation as a gay man. Most authors make out the homosexual experience as being either this absolutely fabulous, witty, sassy, remarkable thing that would want to make even the most notorious homophobe want to jump aboard, or they portray it as a constant onslaught of misery and abuse. So to see an author perfectly pen, what is to me, the most accurate portrayal of, not only homosexuality, but also a gay relationship is both refreshing and enlightening. It’s so exciting to see that representation, to see that I’m not alone. To see that I don’t have sashay down a runway or get beaten in a dark alleyway in order to have lived the true gay experience. That isn’t to say that people don’t have those experiences, they are certainly real, but not true of every gay person. Mike and Benson felt real because most of the novel they discussed topics and did things that I have done before and felt either incredibly stupid and naive, or wanted to shout to everyone but would have felt alone. Homosexuality is neither ugly or beautiful, it just exists.
But what pulled me into the novel even more is how complex it is, with seemingly no effort. The book breezes along with quick dialogue, as well as short, choppy, indifferent sentences that pack on more emotion than you are led to believe. There is so much to unpack here, and Washington handles it all expertly. Consider me a huge fan, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us next.
But what pulled me into the novel even more is how complex it is, with seemingly no effort. The book breezes along with quick dialogue, as well as short, choppy, indifferent sentences that pack on more emotion than you are led to believe. There is so much to unpack here, and Washington handles it all expertly. Consider me a huge fan, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us next.
focus is on family relationships with a layer of love relationship
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
I am grateful to have read this book.
I picked it up because of the Trip Fiction website https://www.tripfiction.com/find-a-book/ This book takes place in Houston, TX, USA and Osaka, Japan. I will be spending a few days in Osaka shortly and that's why I found this book to read. I checked it out of the library, then immediately had a waitlist, so I sent it back while I read other books. However, at an 8 hour listen on "normal" (I listened on 1.25x), it wasn't too long and I read it when it next came up for me.
This book isn't a book I would normally pick up. It isn't "out of my genres" because I don't stick within genre with a couple of exceptions. (No mysteries for me.)
This story is about the relationship between two men, told in iterative sequences from each of their point-of-view, the past mixed with the present, as they work through family issues, specifically having terrible relationships with their fathers. I'm always here for "bad dad" stories. (Asunder, which I finshed last, also had a couple who both had bad dads.) The craft of the way the story is woven with the two POVs and the past and present is well-done. It's a lesson in how to do it right. My critique is that the writing itself is not quite literary, or not what I expect when I read literary. There were parts where I could tell someone told Washington not to use "walk" and so he used "step" and it's awkward. I allowed it one POV because I figured it was maybe a voice choice - but it showed up in both. That's my critique here.
It is always a gift to hear an author narrate their own work. You should get all the emotion they are trying to get across and you hear them tell the story as they envisioned it. However, Washington's delivery is a little flat. For the first section, it works, but there are moments when the flatness of the delivery does not match what is being relayed through the text.
Overall, I'm still giving this 5-stars despite my two minor critiques because the story itself, of these relationships, is so well done.
I picked it up because of the Trip Fiction website https://www.tripfiction.com/find-a-book/ This book takes place in Houston, TX, USA and Osaka, Japan. I will be spending a few days in Osaka shortly and that's why I found this book to read. I checked it out of the library, then immediately had a waitlist, so I sent it back while I read other books. However, at an 8 hour listen on "normal" (I listened on 1.25x), it wasn't too long and I read it when it next came up for me.
This book isn't a book I would normally pick up. It isn't "out of my genres" because I don't stick within genre with a couple of exceptions. (No mysteries for me.)
This story is about the relationship between two men, told in iterative sequences from each of their point-of-view, the past mixed with the present, as they work through family issues, specifically having terrible relationships with their fathers. I'm always here for "bad dad" stories. (Asunder, which I finshed last, also had a couple who both had bad dads.) The craft of the way the story is woven with the two POVs and the past and present is well-done. It's a lesson in how to do it right. My critique is that the writing itself is not quite literary, or not what I expect when I read literary. There were parts where I could tell someone told Washington not to use "walk" and so he used "step" and it's awkward. I allowed it one POV because I figured it was maybe a voice choice - but it showed up in both. That's my critique here.
It is always a gift to hear an author narrate their own work. You should get all the emotion they are trying to get across and you hear them tell the story as they envisioned it. However, Washington's delivery is a little flat. For the first section, it works, but there are moments when the flatness of the delivery does not match what is being relayed through the text.
Overall, I'm still giving this 5-stars despite my two minor critiques because the story itself, of these relationships, is so well done.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Disappointing. Started off strong, loved the first half from Benson's POV. Mike's portion felt overly long, it was more or less the same thing again and again. By the time it got back to Benson's POV the book had run out of steam.
I love hospice books so much.
This is a novel about two people who are monstrously toxic together. It's also about parents and children, the ways or traumas break and remake us, identity, loss, belonging.
Halfway through the book, I thought it was well-written and well-characterized but not exactly riveting. Finishing the Mike section, with the expected death, I was ready to cry with how meaningful and impactful and real it was.
The writing is wonderful, rhythmic and compelling. The differentiation between Ben and Mike, from chapter structure to text styles, is really nicely done. The ending is what it is, which is to say: messy and unfinished and very real.
Not a life-changing book, but a life-affirming one.
This is a novel about two people who are monstrously toxic together. It's also about parents and children, the ways or traumas break and remake us, identity, loss, belonging.
Halfway through the book, I thought it was well-written and well-characterized but not exactly riveting. Finishing the Mike section, with the expected death, I was ready to cry with how meaningful and impactful and real it was.
The writing is wonderful, rhythmic and compelling. The differentiation between Ben and Mike, from chapter structure to text styles, is really nicely done. The ending is what it is, which is to say: messy and unfinished and very real.
Not a life-changing book, but a life-affirming one.
I always say it's good to read stories that are not at all like your life. It's good to study characters who are different than the people you encounter. This book is where the rubber meets the road for me and, while I can't say that I loved it (because much of it is sad and focused on the sameness of life), I can say that it gave me an opportunity to consider the world from a much different perspective. I think it has given me insight into Japanese culture, queer culture, and Black culture, in a way that isn't possible by reading a non-fiction book.
This is a story of a disintegrating relationship told from the perspective of both parties in the interracial gay couple. As both partners grapple with heavy things like parent illness, adult relationships with family who did not accept them when they first came out, divorced parents, work, and what the future holds, the story of how they got to this point is expertly woven in between snippets from the present. Mike's mother makes plans to visit Houston (from Japan) just as he makes plans to rush to Japan to be with his dying estranged father. Mike's mother ends up staying with her son's boyfriend Benson in their 1 BR apartment for several weeks while Mike attends to his father's final days and the relationships that all of them develop in this period are surprising and compelling. This was completely different than what I expected based on the book description and I really loved it - the storytelling is subtle and a lot is packed into each person's perspective. I haven't been in the mood for literary fiction lately, but this sucked me in quickly and I will be thinking about Mike and Benson for a while.
African-American, Benson and Japanese-American, Mike have been seeing each other for four years, but it seems like the end of their relationship is approaching. As the novel opens Mike decides to travel to Japan to find his ill father, at the same time as Mike's Japanese mother comes to the US to visit. Benson is left to look after her in the one-bedroom apartment the men share together. The novel looks at how these men have to deal with race and racism and navigate their families who haven't accepted their queerness. I enjoyed the parallels that Washington set up: Mike with his father in his tiny Japanese apartment and Benson with Mike's mother in theirs; the two families accepting their sons are queer (although this felt a little too easy); the cooking that Mike does in his father's bar and the cooking that his mother teaches Benson back in Houston. But I liked the Mike / Japan sections more, and both men's dialogue was a little too similar.
3.5 stars rounded up.
3.5 stars rounded up.
