Memorial: A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)
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.
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I wish I could give this 4 1/2 stars....
Memorial by Bryan Washington
303 pages
What’s it about?
Mike and Benson are a couple living together in Houston and trying to make their relationship work. Mike is a Japanese American working as a chef- and Benson is a Black, daycare teacher. Mike discovers that his estranged father is dying in Osaka, just as his mother arrives to visit from Japan. No one is happy when Mike decides to leave his mother with Benson (whom she has never met) and go care for his father. Mike's decision to go leaves both men wondering what is happening to their relationship.
What did it make me think about?
This story is a slice of America. It is also about love, about family, and about redemption.
Should I read it?
This book has gotten so much hype that I hate to pile on- but this book was really good- so I am piling on! What a love story. Bryan Washington has a gift for dialogue. What isn't said, is just as illuminating as the conversation itself. Be prepared for a gay love story and all the sex that comes with it. In the end you will be rooting for both Mike and Benson- no matter what the outcome.
Quote-
"That loving a person means letting them change when they need to. And letting them go when they need to. And that doesn't make them any less of a home. Just maybe not one for you. Or only for a season or two. But that doesn't diminish the love. It just changes forms."
If you liked this try-
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones
On Earth We're Breifly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
I wish I could give this 4 1/2 stars....
Memorial by Bryan Washington
303 pages
What’s it about?
Mike and Benson are a couple living together in Houston and trying to make their relationship work. Mike is a Japanese American working as a chef- and Benson is a Black, daycare teacher. Mike discovers that his estranged father is dying in Osaka, just as his mother arrives to visit from Japan. No one is happy when Mike decides to leave his mother with Benson (whom she has never met) and go care for his father. Mike's decision to go leaves both men wondering what is happening to their relationship.
What did it make me think about?
This story is a slice of America. It is also about love, about family, and about redemption.
Should I read it?
This book has gotten so much hype that I hate to pile on- but this book was really good- so I am piling on! What a love story. Bryan Washington has a gift for dialogue. What isn't said, is just as illuminating as the conversation itself. Be prepared for a gay love story and all the sex that comes with it. In the end you will be rooting for both Mike and Benson- no matter what the outcome.
Quote-
"That loving a person means letting them change when they need to. And letting them go when they need to. And that doesn't make them any less of a home. Just maybe not one for you. Or only for a season or two. But that doesn't diminish the love. It just changes forms."
If you liked this try-
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones
On Earth We're Breifly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
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