Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Memorial

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Memorial by Bryan Washington

57 reviews

lainemill's review against another edition

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reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

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menomica's review against another edition

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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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logan_groen's review

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emotional inspiring reflective slow-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? N/A

4.75

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lena_and_her_books's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

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

4.0

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lttlemzsmok2mchweeeeed's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

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236girls's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

this is one of those books that gets better after finishing it and just. sitting on it. it's not for everyone, for sure, but there's so much to unpack here. this book is complex and the characters feel, well, real.

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readswithnatalieb's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

I really liked a lot about this book, but there were also parts that were pretty meh for me.

The story itself? I loved it. I took away so much about how difficult relationships are at any given point in life. Some relationships work, others don’t, but navigating through life while balancing other friendships and situations can make relationships so unique. I found the story to be so raw in that regard.

The diverse representation, an LGBTQIA+ romance, with HIV+ mention created a lot of topics that provoked thoughts. And the story wasn’t tragic or coming out wasn’t a part of it, it was just life (which more stories need to be this way). It was very much a slice of life type of read, which I also enjoyed.

Because it was a slice, I didn’t find there to be much plot. Which some readers love that style! But for me, it was just okay. Because of the lack of plot, the story seemed to slow down in sections when other parts were quick. While reading, the back and forth communication between characters seemed flat. While I read in my head, I give the characters voices and infliction, but I couldn’t with this story.

Warning! There are no quotation marks.

Overall, I can see why the book was popular so and I would suggest checking it out. I will absolutely pick up other work by Washington!

Content Warnings: cancer, infidelity, homophobia, death, alcoholism, abuse

Another bonus? TV adaptation! I could see it being successful onscreen so I will definitely watch.

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