Memorial

Miserable people acting miserably towards one another. I think I just needed there to be something redeeming in the book.

“Memorial” was very sweet, despite unfolding in a mostly melancholy mode. Effortlessly contemporary in its depiction of romantic entanglements — imagine Sally Rooney, but less heteronormative and white.

Some of the emotions in this one hit me weird, but I may have just read too many romance novels in a row. Sad, sexy, gay as hell. Good stuff.

2.5/5

While the book offers queer BIPOC representation and interesting plot elements, such as strained relationships, accepting change, and parent/child dynamics, the author fails to really expand on such elements. Instead, the book feels like a meandering narrative, following underdeveloped characters without much plot. The second section is more enjoyable than the first and third, if only for the fact that it feels more active in its direction. But there's not much else to take away from the story. The formatting also does not offer anything creatively; It arguably hinders the story more than helps it. Under a different writer or direction, there's a story to tell here. But in this case, there's much left to be desired.

Memorial is the latest novel from award-winning Texas writer Bryan Washington, a dramedy about two young guys who live together in Houston. Mike is a Japanese American chef at a Mexican restaurant and Benson's a Black day care teacher. They've been together for a while, but now they're not sure why they're still a couple. When Mike's mother arrives from Japan and tells him his father is dying from cancer, Mike bolts for Japan, leaving reluctant Benson to live in an odd-couple situation with Mike's acerbic mother, Mitsuko. Benson and Mitsuko learn to tolerate each other while Mike learns more about his father than he ever thought he could while helping him run his bar in Osaka.

This entertaining and heartfelt novel is told in three parts: a first-person section told by Benson, another first-person section told by Mike, and a final section told by Benson again. Both characters give funny and insightful takes about their families and their relationship to each other as well as the other partners that come into their lives while they are apart. Mike and Benson both come from damaged families and that damage is what keeps them from communicating to the fullest extent with each other, each still protecting their own hearts even after a few years of being together. Mike's part about going to Japan to be with his dying father was especially affecting, their relationship examined and kneaded into something resembling forgiveness, truths mined from feelings hardened through the loss of time. When Mike and Benson's two stories come back together in the end, there is at least a hopeful possibility that their love for each other will continue while their families attempt to mend their damaged lives.

This being said, this novel is not perfect. There are a couple of stylistic quirks that were annoying. First, this novel incorporates a recent literary trend to abandon quotation marks. Some authors use this better than others and, in this book's case, it's just slightly annoying. But the second quirk is more egregious: carriage returns within spoken dialog. Here's an example:

Then she said, That isn't your home.

Ma said, We're here now. This is your home.

This was... interesting. At first I found the narrative style jarring but then realized it was definitely used as a literary device to show a bit about our main character. This novel tackled a lot and parts were hard to read. I think it was just a short book for how much it bit off but it definitely kept me interested.

Not a lot really happens in this, per se - the big argument/conflict between Mike and Ben is before the novel starts, and is only referenced in flashback. Even Mike's section in Japan is still pretty slow/meditative. This isn't bad, it's just a change for me, since I don't read a lot of literary fiction. I did have quite a bit of feeling “oh my god, you two, just break up,” but this is so much more about character than plot, and I enjoyed the time spent really getting into each character's head. I also liked how this was about two working-class gay men of color in Houston, instead of my (kind of mean) impression of literary fiction all being about white male lit professors in New York who want to sleep with their students. I'd like to read this again to get a clearer opinion of it, and also because the writing is just beautiful.

I just love Washington's storytelling. I don't think I would have described Memorial as a “funny, sexy dramedy” like the book description does. It's not comic nor particularly titillating, nor do I think it's really trying to be either of those; it's a quiet story of two people who have been intertwined for a long time and are not sure why they remain that way, and who both need things that have been hard to verbalize — particularly due to the complicated relations that both Mike and Ben feel to their families. There's no neat ending, but that's okay because little about their relationship is neat, and it provides hope that one day, with or without each other, each of these men could be happy. A lovely book.

This is an example of a book I was going to give up on, but hung in there and ended up really, really appreciating. That doesn't happen to me too often. Also, I read this at a bad time-a really bad time. I woke up on November 3rd and, for the first time in my life, could not read a word. I tried 6 different books. I ended up reading the same sentences over and over again. This continued until the 9th.

Now, about Memorial, and a little less about me. Wait. I have to say this. I hate infidelity. Like, really hate it. I put novels down all of the time if that is the plot. So my early thoughts about Memorial were: fights so bad that someone gets a black eye? Cheating! Benson is a cold fish.
But I hung in there for one reason, Mitsuko. I was fascinated by her. I kept thinking, what the hell would I do in this situation? Then I came to love Lydia and the crew at the daycare center and then Mike took us to Japan and I realized this book was EVERYTHING I LOVE ABOUT REAL LITERATURE:
it was taking me to a place I have never been, with people who have a different lifestyle than my own, and allowing me into their heads. This book became an exploration of What is a family? What does a family look like? Also: what is a community? What is a person's role in that community? What does a citizen OWE their community?
And Washington's writing is so, so beautiful. It's real and raw and hits you with waves of emotion. He's so perceptive. Fantastic.
So, Memorial for the win for getting me out of my reading slump.

I absolutely devoured this. Wow. This man can write.

I really wanted to like this book much more than I ended up actually enjoying it. The author has so much potential and I loved the main characters especially Mike, Benson and Mike's Mother. But the plot lacked focus and felt too flimsy. I know this author is more well known for his poetry and maybe this book was just the authors' way of working out the kinks in his writing style while he was adapting from poetry to narrative form.

I will certainly read anything else this author writes as his character development was fantastic. But the slow nature of the relationship between Benson and Mike was too frustrating for me and they spent most of the novel apart in separate countries which meant we spent more time with filler narratives than their own on/off romance.

Thanks to Atlantic Books, Bryan Washington the author and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I purchased and read this book of my own accord on release date. At a later date in early 2021, Riverhead approved an old NetGalley request I had made for a digital advanced reader copy, so I'm updating this review to reflect that.

This contemporary fiction novel is quiet and internal, but it lacks the emotional resonance of Washington's short story collection, Lot. Mostly I walked away not really caring for either Mike or Benson; I neither hated them nor loved them, and I was minimally interested in their relationship ending or continuing. Where I think Washington wanted to be spare and beautiful with his character writing, this story lacked heart.