Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Memorial by Bryan Washington

17 reviews

madisophi's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I get why some people would really like this book, but it simply was not my cup of tea. The characters were so bad for each other and themselves, that it was kind of baffling that they had survived for so long. However, the writing style was beautiful and was what kept me hooked throughout the book. Overall, I feel like this book tried to say something, but I don’t really know what. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

himangi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Sexual content, Dysphoria, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

whatannikareads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this one started out not rough, but a little choppy for me, but from the end of Benson's first part until the end of the novel it really picked up for me. i found i needed time to adjust to the absence in detail from Benson's perspective, but in hindsight I can see it's how Benson process information as direct result of his upbringing/trauma. when the exposition picks up with Mike, i really started to enjoy the quiet unraveling of these individual character's and their family members' lives. it's not a pretty, squeaky clean relationship and it does get abusive at times. i'm not saying that that's a good thing to read about, but it does offer a nuanced perspective on a queer relationship. also, i love that the novel so authentically speaks to Washington's own upbringing; only he could have written this novel with the appreciation of the cultures involved and that intersection of houston and osaka. the characters have flaws and have raw reactions to the conflicts presented to them, which i think is why this novel was so enjoyable--because it's testament to the human experience. i think it'd be a great hbo max show.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Vomit, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Medical content, and Abandonment

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

One hand I thought the fact this cast is basically entirely people of color (and at least all the characters of note are not white) and their problems don’t stem from racism was very refreshing. However the emotional repression and emotionally stunt aspects of the characters and just how miserable they are (though the writing is very good) both made the book very refreshing in some aspects while frustrating in others. 

Also one hand the two men the book is in the perspective of grew up in hostile environments and the main cast is their families so it could just be what they would find normalized but it was difficult to tell of the novel took domestic violence seriously especially violence involving throwing things? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Racism, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Death, Cursing, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Classism, Body shaming, and Abandonment

hmbk's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Sexual content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Torture, Body shaming, Grief, and Violence

sorcha's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Grief, Homophobia, and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit, Physical abuse, Drug use, and Cursing

tenstef's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

gladiolus17's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Awesome book with stylistic prose. Both main characters are flawed, yet lovable, and there’s a ton of funny interactions with other characters in the book. I cried at the end.

I’d recommend this book if you want to read a story about two people finding their way in life. 

Some specific things I liked:

-Getting lost on the trains in Japan is a mood. 
-I liked the line “fuck around with” the rear view mirror. Great verb. 
-Great descriptions of food, and parallels with cooking and getting to know Mitsuko.

One thing that took me out of the story is that Japan doesn’t have a tipping culture, so Mike’s dad threatening to take the money out of the Kunihiko’s tips wouldn’t be possible. This wasn’t enough to make me dissatisfied with the story as a whole, though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Minor: Racism, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse

sloanefg's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Abandonment and Toxic relationship

Minor: Physical abuse

menomica's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

Ok, I will say, the writing of this book was very good. It’s what kept me coming back. It was very simplistic, which I liked. It got the point across. 
I feel like the book wanted to do things, but never really delivered. The book itself suffers from not having a proper ending, like much of the storylines in it. I think the most obvious example is with Tam. He’s introduced, as if he’s going to a huge player and very influential, but then he fucks off for 20 pages, and only comes back for three lines before Mike ditches him. 
Other things/themes I felt like this book pointed at but never actually took the time to elaborate on:

• Racism: Besides the “racist jokes” and that instance with the racist waiter, the biggest moment of this for me was with the Workers at the play center and how they interacted with Ahmad/Benson was giving very much let’s antagonize the black kid cause it’s easiest to do. Also, even though it was a joke, them referring to Ahmad as Ben’s because they’re the only black people in the center felt… racially motivated. But it was never really elaborated beyond that. The theme of race itself was prominent throughout the book, and I think that was done well because it was obviously from an observational lense, and not with the intent of making commentary, but sometimes it felt like they’d touch on racism and then drop it like a hot potato
• Tam. Wtf. What was the reason for him being there. For Mike to have a potential love interest?? Nothing developed between them, and yet he was introduced as someone who was going to be super big and important for Mike. THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE SEX They exchange very minimal conversion and it just felt like there was supposed to be development there but it just never happened. And then Mike just left (like his dad did with him)!

Speaking of Mike. Ew. This is very much a Mike hate account. He’s very immature and inconsiderate. He can’t figure out his shit and leaves others to deal with the fall out for that. The biggest example of this, besides the failure that is his relationship with Ben, is that he invited his mother over to the states just to leave to go to Japan. He’s a bit selfish. And also, he literally said a fucking slur??? There was no way he was going to be good with that joke he said at the end of the first chapter. He also invalidates Ben a lot, if not with the fact that they grew up differently economically, then just his emotions in general. He never respects the boundaries that Ben places (the monogamy, letting his mother stay at their place while he was in Japan). So yeah, throughout this book I was very much rooting for Ben to pack his shit and leave him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Infidelity

Minor: Bullying, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Racial slurs