Reviews tagging 'Death'

Memorial by Bryan Washington

39 reviews

kappafrog's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

This book just didn't do it for me. Even though the book is written in first person, something about its style made me feel disconnected from the characters, especially Benson and Mitsuko. I almost gave up in Benson's portion because I found Benson such a blah character and the relationship that drove the novel seemed to have nothing going for it. Once we switched to Mike's perspective though, things picked up. I was surprised to find Mike such a sympathetic character after my apathy towards both him and Benson in the first section. Even Benson became more likeable from Mike's perspective some of the time (though at other times he was really awful).

Unusually for a book, the final section was definitely the best. So often authors lose steam at that point, but here I thought that Washington got me to care way more than I had about Benson and his father, while still keeping up the emotional momentum on Mike. Before the final section, I had spent most of my time reading resigned to finishing but with no enthusiasm for the book or its characters. The end brought together a lot of the threads of the book. Even though the ending is

open-ended, I still felt satisfied with it.

I have some other issues with the book though. A lot of the characters don't feel like real people in the way they talked - particularly the women, Ximena, Lydia and Mitsuko. They dispensed cryptic wisdom or made pithy remarks but never felt like real people. What I've seen described as the book's "staccato" pace meant that there were way too many emotional punchlines. So many passages tried to be profound in an understated way that I just got bored.

And finally, I don't think that Eiju's domestic abuse of Mitsuko was reckoned with enough (or for that matter, Mike and Benson's domestic abuse of each other). But it felt especially annoying in such a male-focused book that so much of the book's emotional core is about a reconciliation between a boy and the father who beat his mother, in which said father never once apologizes for that abuse, and a twist is made to make us think for a second that Mitsuko was the bad guy all along. The book's best emotional bits were about Eiju and Mike, but I never felt like Mitsuko got her emotional due even though the book ended with a focus on her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

maybeimali's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

Benson saved it. Mike ruined it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

philippmk's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

nilescrane's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? It's complicated

2.75

I'm not sure Washington and I are compatible as author/reader, and that is a shame because his prose is lush. If you're a fan of Sally Rooney's writing you'd probably love this. I didnt dislike it, it clearly moved me a lot because I felt the sadness that was woven into the text but it's not one I'm going to reread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Death of parent

karlo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

this was very good and somehow wholesome. the ending was slightly unsatisfying to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

spookyaz's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

laurataylor's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

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