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A review by baoluong
Memorial by Bryan Washington
4.0
one of the most normal relationships i've ever read, maybe that says more about me
As I become older I’ve learned that sometimes relationships end due to very boring reasons. Like you two want to live in different cities. Maybe kids are non-negotiable. Or you just don’t love each other like you used to.
Benson and Mike seem like a stable couple who know each other very throughly. Although, this may be their downfall as they don’t exactly know why they are together anymore. At the start, it was a relationship out of necessity and even passion. But now Mike finds a calling to go back to Japan and confront his abusive father who’s dying of cancer. Benson doesn’t resist and placidly goes along left behind in Texas with Mike’s mother as his new roommate to help cover the rent. The two hardly contact each other throughout and you sometimes forget that this is their journey.
You start to root for Benson to make a stand and finally figure out what he wants in life instead of having other people decide for him. As for Mike, you resent his father but now seeing this old man, you start to forgive him and ultimately forgive yourself for your own anger. It’s a slow decline and the ending is equally anti-climatic. No matter what the two decide, you understand that this is what they think is right because you’ve been inside their heads this whole time. You know their insecurities and what makes them irritated. They’re very fleshed out and complicated.
I personally like their subtle talk about race being that Benson is black and Mike is Japanese. Mike thinks Benson had it slightly easier being born into a middle class family as opposed to being raised by a single mother with an absentee father. Benson thinks Mike had it slightly easier being Asian and not having to deal with as much racial violence in the US. It’s real conversations people have with each other without the pontification and it’s done so well that you feel like you’re eavesdropping on a private conversation. I recommend this book for people who want to slow down.
As I become older I’ve learned that sometimes relationships end due to very boring reasons. Like you two want to live in different cities. Maybe kids are non-negotiable. Or you just don’t love each other like you used to.
Benson and Mike seem like a stable couple who know each other very throughly. Although, this may be their downfall as they don’t exactly know why they are together anymore. At the start, it was a relationship out of necessity and even passion. But now Mike finds a calling to go back to Japan and confront his abusive father who’s dying of cancer. Benson doesn’t resist and placidly goes along left behind in Texas with Mike’s mother as his new roommate to help cover the rent. The two hardly contact each other throughout and you sometimes forget that this is their journey.
You start to root for Benson to make a stand and finally figure out what he wants in life instead of having other people decide for him. As for Mike, you resent his father but now seeing this old man, you start to forgive him and ultimately forgive yourself for your own anger. It’s a slow decline and the ending is equally anti-climatic. No matter what the two decide, you understand that this is what they think is right because you’ve been inside their heads this whole time. You know their insecurities and what makes them irritated. They’re very fleshed out and complicated.
I personally like their subtle talk about race being that Benson is black and Mike is Japanese. Mike thinks Benson had it slightly easier being born into a middle class family as opposed to being raised by a single mother with an absentee father. Benson thinks Mike had it slightly easier being Asian and not having to deal with as much racial violence in the US. It’s real conversations people have with each other without the pontification and it’s done so well that you feel like you’re eavesdropping on a private conversation. I recommend this book for people who want to slow down.