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3.5 stars
Unfortunately, I haven't been active here (or anywhere else for that matter) as I'd like to be, meaning that I'm losing connection and missing interactions with those whose thoughts and ideas on literature and life I respect. I also haven't been reading as much as I'd like to anymore, as I've been too involved with work and school recently. But I've finally managed to finish this book, and it was good. It came highly recommended by two different friends I love, and it is the story of Ben and Mike, a couple living in Houston, Texas, and the people they love and know. When Mike learns that his father is sick he has to travel to Osaka, Japan, leaving Ben with unanswered questions about the state of their relationship and Mitsuka who is Mike's mother. During this period of separation both Ben and Mike reflect on their relationships and pasts, arriving at a place of better understanding of themselves and the world(s) around them.
This was a wholesome book. Wholesome meaning sweet, bearing an overall sense of goodness and compassion for the characters of the book. Reminiscent of Kent Haruf, which might be too facile a comparison, and the closest and strongest my mind found as I was reading, both writers portray their characters with a level of empathy. Unlike some of the contemporary American fiction I've encountered recently, despite this book tackling some serious socio-political issues, Memorial doesn't simply ask its reader to be witness to unending trauma dumped on its characters. Bryan Washington understands that pain and suffering is a part of life, that it doesn't define a life in and of itself, and while this book’s characters navigate their own share of pain and suffering, it gives a fuller view of people and the world which I missed from some of Washington's peers. While the story might have been too saccharine for my taste at points, what Washington does in showing how relationships form and dissolve was wonderfully done.
Unfortunately, I haven't been active here (or anywhere else for that matter) as I'd like to be, meaning that I'm losing connection and missing interactions with those whose thoughts and ideas on literature and life I respect. I also haven't been reading as much as I'd like to anymore, as I've been too involved with work and school recently. But I've finally managed to finish this book, and it was good. It came highly recommended by two different friends I love, and it is the story of Ben and Mike, a couple living in Houston, Texas, and the people they love and know. When Mike learns that his father is sick he has to travel to Osaka, Japan, leaving Ben with unanswered questions about the state of their relationship and Mitsuka who is Mike's mother. During this period of separation both Ben and Mike reflect on their relationships and pasts, arriving at a place of better understanding of themselves and the world(s) around them.
This was a wholesome book. Wholesome meaning sweet, bearing an overall sense of goodness and compassion for the characters of the book. Reminiscent of Kent Haruf, which might be too facile a comparison, and the closest and strongest my mind found as I was reading, both writers portray their characters with a level of empathy. Unlike some of the contemporary American fiction I've encountered recently, despite this book tackling some serious socio-political issues, Memorial doesn't simply ask its reader to be witness to unending trauma dumped on its characters. Bryan Washington understands that pain and suffering is a part of life, that it doesn't define a life in and of itself, and while this book’s characters navigate their own share of pain and suffering, it gives a fuller view of people and the world which I missed from some of Washington's peers. While the story might have been too saccharine for my taste at points, what Washington does in showing how relationships form and dissolve was wonderfully done.