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A review by zlaza
Memorial by Bryan Washington
3.0
I wish I was as blown away by 'Memorial' as some people, but for some reason it didn't quite click with me which was a bit disappointing.
'Memorial', written by Bryan Washington, is about Mike and Benson, two queer guys in a dysfunctional relationship who live together in Houston.
Mike is a Japanese American chef, and Benson is an African-American, HIV positive daycare worker.
They've been together for 5 years and seem to be struggling in all areas of their relationship. To say their relationship is rocky would be an understatement, they're not even sure why they're still together.
Mike's mother, Mitsuko, comes to Heuston for a visit. Mike finds out that his estranged father is terminally ill so he decides to fly to Japan to mend their strained relationship, leaving Benson alone in their apartment with his mother who arrived that same day from Japan.
'Memorial' is a story about boundaries of love - romantic and familial. It's about things left unsaid to people we care about. It's also about becoming who you're supposed to be.
There were parts of Memorial that I found engaging, but for the most part the story felt disjointed and I couldn't connect to the characters.
As someone who has lost a parent to cancer at a young age I should have related to Mike's story the most, but the lack of character development made the story feel very superficial and uninteresting.
I thought Bryan Washington’s debut short story collection 'Lot' was brilliant so I had high hopes for this one.
I don't know if it was the novel, my high expectations, or my reading mood at the time that made me feel so indifferent.
I wonder if I would have liked it more if I picked it up at a different time, or maybe I would have preferred 'Memorial' as a short story instead.
It's very frustrating when you come across a novel that sounds like your kind of read, and it ticks all the boxes, yet ends up falling flat.
'Memorial', written by Bryan Washington, is about Mike and Benson, two queer guys in a dysfunctional relationship who live together in Houston.
Mike is a Japanese American chef, and Benson is an African-American, HIV positive daycare worker.
They've been together for 5 years and seem to be struggling in all areas of their relationship. To say their relationship is rocky would be an understatement, they're not even sure why they're still together.
Mike's mother, Mitsuko, comes to Heuston for a visit. Mike finds out that his estranged father is terminally ill so he decides to fly to Japan to mend their strained relationship, leaving Benson alone in their apartment with his mother who arrived that same day from Japan.
'Memorial' is a story about boundaries of love - romantic and familial. It's about things left unsaid to people we care about. It's also about becoming who you're supposed to be.
There were parts of Memorial that I found engaging, but for the most part the story felt disjointed and I couldn't connect to the characters.
As someone who has lost a parent to cancer at a young age I should have related to Mike's story the most, but the lack of character development made the story feel very superficial and uninteresting.
I thought Bryan Washington’s debut short story collection 'Lot' was brilliant so I had high hopes for this one.
I don't know if it was the novel, my high expectations, or my reading mood at the time that made me feel so indifferent.
I wonder if I would have liked it more if I picked it up at a different time, or maybe I would have preferred 'Memorial' as a short story instead.
It's very frustrating when you come across a novel that sounds like your kind of read, and it ticks all the boxes, yet ends up falling flat.