Memorial
Memorial by Bryan Washington
Reviewed by Jess
📙📙📙📙
We meet Benson and Mike at a turning point in their relationship. Living together in Houston somewhat tumultuously, Mike decides to go to Osaka to be with his dying father, at the exact same time as his mother shows up from Tokyo at his place. Benson is left living with this strange woman whilst Mike is gone, with no return date set and their relationship up in the air. This book follows their paths. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what a breath of fresh air it is to read about a relationship that isn’t cis, white, stereotyped and cliched. I’m writing this review right after finishing the book so these are pretty raw thoughts!
This book is a creeper, slowly but surely making its way into your brain with every turn of the page. For starters, Benson and Mike are just so insanely well written, two beautiful protagonists whose voices are so distinct and different, which helped them to just fly off the page as these fully fleshed characters. Everything they’ve been through to get to this point in their lives and their backstories unravel perfectly as we get to know them. This lends a really intimate feel to the book, and even though the dialogue between the two guys is limited, it’s such a perfect explainer of the type of relationship they have and the stage they’re at together after all these years.
I thought it was an amazing way to dissect a relationship, by having the two partners lead such separate lives for 80% of the book but still feeling each other’s presence, forcing them to ask the tough questions they need to to evaluate their feelings. The ending left me stuck though - resolutions aren’t easy, but I felt a little confused here, like I’d missed a beat with Benson towards the end somewhere and that things were moving on without me realising! If you’re reading this Bryan Washington, I have so many questions and I need to know more! I’m not a fan of unnecessary sequels though, and I don’t think that’s needed here; maybe it’s just me and my need to have everything concluded somehow. But I appreciated the window into this time in Benson and Mike’s life and I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
