A review by gsroney
Memorial by Bryan Washington
4.0
I wavered between three and four stars for this book. At times it felt like it pretended to be more profound than it actually was. However, it presented an authentic look at a modern gay relationship and a believable impression of the damaging effects that unhealthy family dynamics create when it comes to forming those relationships.
“It’s hard to head home without succumbing to nostalgia, standing where so many versions of yourself once stood, one of a suburb’s magical properties.”
“But I guess that's the thing: we take our memories wherever we go, and what’s left are the ones that stick around, and that’s how we make a life.”
“We watch [the ashes] dissolve in the air. They move through the sky, all at once. And bits of them sift, until they melt away so small that the eye can’t see, caught in the bridge’s wooden slats or in the river or into nothingness altogether, until we’re the only ones who’ll take the fact of their ever existing at all on with us, until we end up losing those memories, too, although even then they’ll still probably be around somewhere. It isn’t very beautiful.
Mitsuko takes off her shades. I turned to Mike, and he shuts his eyes. His mother grasps the bridges railing, standing on her toes, and then she says, with her entire body, FUCK.”
“It’s hard to head home without succumbing to nostalgia, standing where so many versions of yourself once stood, one of a suburb’s magical properties.”
“But I guess that's the thing: we take our memories wherever we go, and what’s left are the ones that stick around, and that’s how we make a life.”
“We watch [the ashes] dissolve in the air. They move through the sky, all at once. And bits of them sift, until they melt away so small that the eye can’t see, caught in the bridge’s wooden slats or in the river or into nothingness altogether, until we’re the only ones who’ll take the fact of their ever existing at all on with us, until we end up losing those memories, too, although even then they’ll still probably be around somewhere. It isn’t very beautiful.
Mitsuko takes off her shades. I turned to Mike, and he shuts his eyes. His mother grasps the bridges railing, standing on her toes, and then she says, with her entire body, FUCK.”