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A review by dhrish
Memorial by Bryan Washington
5.0
C/W: Talks of parental neglect
This was unlike any family centred story I had listened. While the audiobook is exquisitely put together I definitely I'm going to try to pick up a physical copy to reread.
I loved that it talked about parents, the effects of parental decisions, relationships with people and the role culture and upbringing has in shaping a person. While I have read quite a few books this year along the literary fiction vein, this is the first time where I can honestly say that there is no villain in this story. "Memorial" talks about characters through mundane moments and therefore draws the readers attention to their humanity before giving the reader permission to pass judgement.
The writing is in the present tense, makes use of incredibly short sentences and can come across as monotone to some. Mike and Ben have a very dysfunctional relationship, this is what carries the story. While a good chunk of the novel is told from Ben's perspective, the ideas and themes really only start coming together when Mike's perspective is shown too.
Overall, this was a slower reading experience than usual which picked up speed after the Osaka chapters.
This was unlike any family centred story I had listened. While the audiobook is exquisitely put together I definitely I'm going to try to pick up a physical copy to reread.
I loved that it talked about parents, the effects of parental decisions, relationships with people and the role culture and upbringing has in shaping a person. While I have read quite a few books this year along the literary fiction vein, this is the first time where I can honestly say that there is no villain in this story. "Memorial" talks about characters through mundane moments and therefore draws the readers attention to their humanity before giving the reader permission to pass judgement.
The writing is in the present tense, makes use of incredibly short sentences and can come across as monotone to some. Mike and Ben have a very dysfunctional relationship, this is what carries the story. While a good chunk of the novel is told from Ben's perspective, the ideas and themes really only start coming together when Mike's perspective is shown too.
Overall, this was a slower reading experience than usual which picked up speed after the Osaka chapters.