Review: Memorial

Memorial by Bryan Washington
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love a literary relationship novel full of nuance and Memorial is just that - Benson and Mike have been together a few years but it has started to stagnate. Then Mike's mother comes to stay just as he is leaving for Osaka to be with his father who is dying. The story is told first from Benson's perspective as he works his low-wage preschool type job (which he is impressively good at) and deals with Mitsuko in their small apartment; the story shifts to Mike in Osaka. Their backstory fills in along the way. I like how much of the internal narrative we are given, the placeness of both settings (Houston's Third Ward and Osaka), and the feeling of a relationship hanging in the balance.

This came out October 6th and I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss.

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