Memorial

Title:

Memorial

Author:

Washington, Bryan, 1993- author.

Personal Author:

Washington, Bryan, 1993- author.

ISBN:

9780593087275

Physical Description:

303 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Abstract:

"A rom-com novel about two young people at a crossroads in their relationship"-- Provided by publisher.

Mike is a Japanese American chef at a Mexican restaurant. Benson is a Black day care teacher. They've been together for a few years, but now they're not sure why they're still a couple. There's the sex, sure, and the meals Mike cooks for Benson, and, well, they love each other. When Mike finds out his estranged father is dying in Osaka just as his acerbic Japanese mother, Mitsuko, arrives in Houston for a visit, Mike picks up and flies across the world to say goodbye. In Japan he discovers the truth about his family and his past. Back home, Mitsuko and Benson are stuck living together, but their time together ends up meaning more than they ever could have predicted. As both men change, will it make them stronger together, or fracture everything they've ever known? -- adapted from jacket

Subject Term:

Gay couples -- Fiction.

Sexual minorities -- Fiction.

Japanese Americans -- Fiction.

Fathers and sons -- Fiction.

Mothers-in-law -- Fiction.

FICTION / Coming of Age.

Geographic Term:

Houston (Tex.) -- Fiction.

Osaka (Japan) -- Fiction.

Genre:

Humorous fiction.

Romance fiction.

Gay fiction.

Summary:

"A rom-com novel about two young people at a crossroads in their relationship"--

Holds:

Available:*

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Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post , TIME , NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, O, the Oprah Magazine , Esquire , Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar , Good Housekeeping , Refinery29, Real Simple, Kirkus Reviews, Electric Literature , and Lit Hub

"A masterpiece. " --NPR

"No other novel this year captures so gracefully the full palette of America. " -- The Washington Post

"Wryly funny, gently devastating." -- Entertainment Weekly

A funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability, becoming who you're supposed to be, and the limits of love.

Benson and Mike are 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, and they've been together for a few years--good years--but now they're not sure why they're still a couple. There's the sex, sure, and the meals Mike cooks for Benson, and, well, they love each other.

But when Mike finds out his estranged father is dying in Osaka just as his acerbic Japanese mother, Mitsuko, arrives in Texas for a visit, Mike picks up and flies across the world to say goodbye. In Japan he undergoes an extraordinary transformation, discovering the truth about his family and his past. Back home, Mitsuko and Benson are stuck living together as unconventional roommates, an absurd domestic situation that ends up meaning more to each of them than they ever could have predicted. Without Mike's immediate pull, Benson begins to push outwards, realizing he might just know what he wants out of life and have the goods to get it.

Both men will change in ways that will either make them stronger together, or fracture everything they've ever known. And just maybe they'll all be okay in the end.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

Benson and Mike, a mixed-race couple in Houston, search for the truth about themselves, each other, and their families. This debut novel from Washington--author of the award-winning story collection Lot (2019)--is split into three vividly written sections. The first and third are narrated by Benson, an African American man living in Houston with his boyfriend, Mike, who narrates the middle section. Benson and Mike are on the verge of breaking up, but their passion for each other keeps them from being able to fully pull away. Both men have families they feel distant from: Benson's father is an alcoholic who never fully accepted his son's homosexuality, and Mike's divorced parents have both left Houston for their native Japan. At the start of the novel, Mike's mother, Mitsuko, flies to Houston to visit him at the same time that his father, Eiju, falls seriously ill back in Osaka. Mike picks Mitsuko up from the airport, leaves her with Benson, then flies across the ocean to visit Eiju, whom he hasn't seen in years. Neither Benson nor Mitsuko is happy about being stuck with each other, but they slowly develop a relationship that's not quite friendship and not quite family. They both love the same man, and that's enough to help them understand each other. In Osaka, Mike cares for his sick, grumpy father and helps him run his bar though their relationship is strained. Mike isn't rushing to forgive his homophobic father for leaving the family in Houston, and Eiju is cold and distant. Both Mike and Benson fall into relationships with other men while they're apart, and ultimately, both have to decide how to forgive the people closest to them. Washington's novel is richly layered and thrives in the quiet moments between lovers and family members. Benson and Mike know they could hurt each other, hurt their families, hurt themselves, or they could say words to heal and bring people together. As Mike says, "How did everything come to such a turning point between us? Quietly, I guess. The big moments are never big when they're actually fucking happening." There is passion in this novel--fight scenes, sex scenes, screaming matches, and tears--but it reaches a deep poetic realism when Washington explores the space between characters. When so much is left unsaid, that's when this novel speaks the loudest. A subtle and moving exploration of love, family, race, and the long, frustrating search for home. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.