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bilbobookins 's review for:
Memorial
by Bryan Washington
3.5/5 Stars
Opening Line: Mike’s taking off for Osaka, but his mother’s flying into Houston.
Capping off the month with another “it’s not you, it’s me” book. I think this novel was incredibly well-executed. The characters felt real and flawed and interesting. Their emotions were tangible and sympathetic.
Even so, I think I’m just not wired in a way to feel like Benson and Mike’s relationship is worth saving. They were, in their own telling, terrible to each other, awful FOR each other. As poignant as it is to tell a story that says you can possibly recoup a relationship that has fallen into a rut, I don’t think you should recoup a relationship that involved physical violence (mutual though it may have been) and verbal cruelty. I think… love can still exist between two people who treat each other that way, but other factors have made such a relationship unsustainable, unhealthy, unwise.
But then again maybe I took the wrong message from the slightly ambiguous (and in many ways utterly beautiful) ending.
Opening Line: Mike’s taking off for Osaka, but his mother’s flying into Houston.
Capping off the month with another “it’s not you, it’s me” book. I think this novel was incredibly well-executed. The characters felt real and flawed and interesting. Their emotions were tangible and sympathetic.
But then again maybe I took the wrong message from the slightly ambiguous (and in many ways utterly beautiful) ending.