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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
Anything that makes me feel even slightly like [b:On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous|41880609|On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous|Ocean Vuong|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1615580168l/41880609._SX50_.jpg|61665003] and there is something about Washington's style and tone that impacts me in a similar way to Vuong. It's hard to say if I would recommend this in print or audio. In print you get the images but in audio you get Washington's voice reading his words. Maybe read it twice.
Genre: LGBTQIA fiction; Literary fiction; Multiple perspectives
Themes: Coping with death; Love on the rocks
Character: Complex; Culturally diverse; LGBTQIA
Storyline: Character-driven; Intricately plotted; Own voices
Pace: Fast-paced
Tone: Moving; Reflective; Sardonic; Strong sense of place
Writing Style: Engaging; Stylistically complex; Thoughtful; Well-crafted dialogue
Genre: LGBTQIA fiction; Literary fiction; Multiple perspectives
Themes: Coping with death; Love on the rocks
Character: Complex; Culturally diverse; LGBTQIA
Storyline: Character-driven; Intricately plotted; Own voices
Pace: Fast-paced
Tone: Moving; Reflective; Sardonic; Strong sense of place
Writing Style: Engaging; Stylistically complex; Thoughtful; Well-crafted dialogue
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Like that between its characters, my relationship to this book is complicated.
Sometimes I admire books even if the characters are annoying. This is because real people are annoying, and I find that disagreeing vehemently with characters’ choices or thoughts can add a layer of realism to the book (Xochitl Gonzalez’s Olga Dies Dreaming was a great example of this for me). Other times, though, the characters irritate me in a way that’s difficult to get behind. Unfortunately, this was often the case with Memorial.
I am someone who gets especially annoyed with things I’m supposed to be annoyed by. In this case, I so desperately wanted the two main characters, Mike and Benson, to break up. Which, of course, is the point. That doesn’t mean I have to like it, though! It’s extremely clear that this relationship, or iteration of it, has run its course. But by the last section, by which point Mike and Benson have both met new people and undergone familial transformations, I did find myself wondering, maybe even hoping, that there were more than just scraps to their relationship that could be salvaged.
There were some aesthetic choices that I didn’t much care for: a lack of quotation marks, for instance, the inclusion of the occasional photo. I don’t know if either one of these elements added much to my reading experience. I was also caught off guard by the switch in POV in the middle of the book – though now I cannot imagine not having Mike’s perspective while in Osaka.
However, there were moments where I did find the prose to be delightful. For instance, a kiss is described as sounding like an oyster being shucked. Eiju’s lists – of his sounds he loves or things he doesn’t believe in – were quaint and much needed insight into that mean ass old man.
There were two major twists, involving Benson and Mike’s mother, Mitsuko, that I did not see coming and was pleasantly surprised by. In this way, the characters felt as restrained/alienated to the reader as they do to one another – which I think speaks to the skill of Washington’s writing and character construction.
Something else I greatly admire about the book, is its ability to acknowledge that change isn’t necessarily one big event. It’s a force that is ever present and effecting. This is especially true for Mike’s relationship with his father. Of course, the move from Japan to the US is huge. But that’s not when Eiju becomes an embittered alcoholic or his marriage falls apart. These precise moments are indiscernible. It just happened. Yet Mike’s narrative is riddled with brief asides of the love he and his father once shared. I found myself wondering at what point do we begin to disappoint our parents? At what point do they begin to disappoint us? Which happens first?
It is so clear that Benson and Mike are bringing the trauma they’ve each inherited from their families to their relationship. I’m no psychologist, but I’ve heard that this is often the case. I think this is what makes the closing section work so well. Each of these families, who have created these aching and spiteful men, urge them to stay together. It does read as an apologetic gesture – but a meaningful one nonetheless.
All in all, I don’t think this will be a favorite mine, but there was a lot to admire! Thank you, Kayla, for the recommendation.
This book has a lot of levels. I think I've been reading a lot of quick romances lately because I forgot what it's like to read a novel that's more 'literary fiction.'
first of all, can we all just agree we aren't gonna let any more books be published without quotation marks? It is not always clear who is talking unless you go back to the last 'he said' and count every other line or whatever. Just minor nuisance, please stop.
but B of all, it is kind of nice and kind of unsatisfying to read a regular novel after a bunch of happy-ever-afters because of the lack of closure on so many loose ends. loose ends don't seem to be an issue in literature, and of course, why would they be? but i imagined myself so many happy endings anyway. and a couple of bittersweet ones because think about who we're dealing with here. The main characters are Benson and Michael who equally share that (stereotypically male?) trait of never expressing or being able to articulate what they're thinking or feeling.
A special award goes to the character of Mitsuko, Michael's mom who lives with Benson for the bulk of the story. For myriad reasons. She knows why.
first of all, can we all just agree we aren't gonna let any more books be published without quotation marks? It is not always clear who is talking unless you go back to the last 'he said' and count every other line or whatever. Just minor nuisance, please stop.
but B of all, it is kind of nice and kind of unsatisfying to read a regular novel after a bunch of happy-ever-afters because of the lack of closure on so many loose ends. loose ends don't seem to be an issue in literature, and of course, why would they be? but i imagined myself so many happy endings anyway. and a couple of bittersweet ones because think about who we're dealing with here. The main characters are Benson and Michael who equally share that (stereotypically male?) trait of never expressing or being able to articulate what they're thinking or feeling.
A special award goes to the character of Mitsuko, Michael's mom who lives with Benson for the bulk of the story. For myriad reasons. She knows why.
"rich kids playing at poverty"
There are these promising sections of dialogue that start to get me hooked - primarily funny comments like "the porch is oversaturated with white people" - but then it usually falls flat. Finished 34% of the book.
There are these promising sections of dialogue that start to get me hooked - primarily funny comments like "the porch is oversaturated with white people" - but then it usually falls flat. Finished 34% of the book.
WHOO, this book.
This book is sneaky. It's sparse. Deceptively subdued. And then, it just sucker punches you right in the damn heart.
Much of this story is told in the gaps between conversations and what the characters are willing to reveal about themselves and their relationships to others. Very little is blatantly spelled out, which sometimes made me feel a bit lost - like I was missing something important that the characters were trying to tell me. Communication really isn't the strong suit of Ben or Mike or most of the people in their lives - something which often infuriates me in storytelling, but in this case I think is so true to how people (especially people who love each other) often handle interaction in real life. What we feel is often not in what we say out loud, but in the gaps between those words, and the actions that accompany them.
Ben and Mike have been together for 4 years. As the book starts, Mike's mother has just flown in from Japan to visit. It is the first time she is meeting Ben. The next day, Mike is flying out to Japan to be with his dying father, leaving his mother and his boyfriend alone in their small Texas apartment for an undetermined amount of time. The reader gets to follow Ben as he navigates sharing a living space (and to some extent life) with his boyfriend's mother, a stranger to him. And then later, Mike as he spends time with a father that has been out of his life for the better part of two decades, and who will soon be gone.
When Mike leaves for Japan, he and Ben aren't in a great place, something we learn about more as the story progresses. Their fate when Mike returns is as uncertain as the length of his time in Japan.
I had heard this book was an emotional one. And I'll be honest - 2/3 of the way through, while I felt for the characters, I didn't feel that emotional tug that I know is going to lead me to tears. I questioned if it was my mood or just the style of the book. And then, out of nowhere, with NO warning, I found myself reading, tears streaming down my face. It caught me entirely off guard, and I think speaks to Washington's brilliance as a writer. He slowly, quietly, dropped little parcels along the way. Let us see Mike and Ben from their own eyes, and left gaps for us to fill or ponder. And then there's this moment where it just all comes together in this remarkable, inexplicable, powerful way.
I loved this book. I loved its flawed characters and its grit and the way it is both heartbreaking and heart-healing. Books like this affirm the power of literature, and the truths it reveals about life. Beautiful.
This book is sneaky. It's sparse. Deceptively subdued. And then, it just sucker punches you right in the damn heart.
Much of this story is told in the gaps between conversations and what the characters are willing to reveal about themselves and their relationships to others. Very little is blatantly spelled out, which sometimes made me feel a bit lost - like I was missing something important that the characters were trying to tell me. Communication really isn't the strong suit of Ben or Mike or most of the people in their lives - something which often infuriates me in storytelling, but in this case I think is so true to how people (especially people who love each other) often handle interaction in real life. What we feel is often not in what we say out loud, but in the gaps between those words, and the actions that accompany them.
Ben and Mike have been together for 4 years. As the book starts, Mike's mother has just flown in from Japan to visit. It is the first time she is meeting Ben. The next day, Mike is flying out to Japan to be with his dying father, leaving his mother and his boyfriend alone in their small Texas apartment for an undetermined amount of time. The reader gets to follow Ben as he navigates sharing a living space (and to some extent life) with his boyfriend's mother, a stranger to him. And then later, Mike as he spends time with a father that has been out of his life for the better part of two decades, and who will soon be gone.
When Mike leaves for Japan, he and Ben aren't in a great place, something we learn about more as the story progresses. Their fate when Mike returns is as uncertain as the length of his time in Japan.
I had heard this book was an emotional one. And I'll be honest - 2/3 of the way through, while I felt for the characters, I didn't feel that emotional tug that I know is going to lead me to tears. I questioned if it was my mood or just the style of the book. And then, out of nowhere, with NO warning, I found myself reading, tears streaming down my face. It caught me entirely off guard, and I think speaks to Washington's brilliance as a writer. He slowly, quietly, dropped little parcels along the way. Let us see Mike and Ben from their own eyes, and left gaps for us to fill or ponder. And then there's this moment where it just all comes together in this remarkable, inexplicable, powerful way.
I loved this book. I loved its flawed characters and its grit and the way it is both heartbreaking and heart-healing. Books like this affirm the power of literature, and the truths it reveals about life. Beautiful.
emotional
tense
slow-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
I enjoyed Bryan Washington's short story collection 'Lot' and was happy to see he already had another book published--this time a novel.
A heartfelt story about a gay couple (college students Benson and Mike) living in Houston and Mike's decision to go to Japan to see his dying father right as his mother arrives in the states to stay with him. Thus Benson is alone to host a woman he doesn't know at all and who is righteously annoyed her son took off to see her ex-husband. There's more, but this is an often funny, definitely poignant story about relationships.
A heartfelt story about a gay couple (college students Benson and Mike) living in Houston and Mike's decision to go to Japan to see his dying father right as his mother arrives in the states to stay with him. Thus Benson is alone to host a woman he doesn't know at all and who is righteously annoyed her son took off to see her ex-husband. There's more, but this is an often funny, definitely poignant story about relationships.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced