Maxwell Suzuki
  • Home
  • Books
  • Writing / Art
  • Reviews / Blog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Books
  • Writing / Art
  • Reviews / Blog
  • Contact

Reviews / Blog

Review of ​Memorial by Bryan Washington

5/2/2024

0 Comments

 
​Memorial by Bryan Washington is a novel about two men, Mike and Benson, navigating their strained relationship in Texas. After Mike’s mom, Mitsuko, arrives for a trip from Japan and tells him that his father is ill and dying, Mike immediately flies out to see if he can be of any help. This leaves Benson and Mitsuko to live together at Mike’s place for an undetermined amount of time. Mitsuko is initially cold with Benson as he goes about his weeks working at a day care. Benson then gets a call from his sister that their father is always drunk and likely will run himself into the ground. Though, Benson dislikes the idea of going to his father because he had kicked Benson out once he found out he had HIV. One day, the brother of one of the kids Benson daycares for, Omar, begins to take a liking to him. They go on a few dates, which they don’t call dates, and in fact Omar calls Benson over to help calm his younger brother down. At the goading of his sister, Benson goes to his father’s place where he sees the state his father lives in. Then, at a coworker’s wedding, Benson gets the call that his father had fallen down, and Omar rushes with him to care for his father. The whole time, Mitsuko and Benson’s relationship starts to warm up where they cook together. Then, Mike returns home after his father dies.
 
Meanwhile in Japan, Mike returns to his father’s place where he is coldly welcomed. His father, Eiju, runs a bar mainly filled with locals and is helped out by a clumsy young man, Kunihiko. As his father refuses treatment for his illness, Mike begins to see the deterioration before him. One of the customers that comes in, Tan, takes a liking to Mike where they begin to have an undefined relationship. Mike has a difficult time trying to understand his father, and why he had left their family years ago. Though, Mike also sees Eiju has started to act like a father to Kunihiko in ways that Mike couldn’t experience. Then, one night Eiju passes away in his sleep and the future of the bar is left undetermined. Eiju had given the choice to Mike on running the bar or on giving it to Kunihiko. Though, Mike decides to return to Texas and come back once he is able to figure things out with Benson.
 
Upon Mike’s return, Mike and Mitsuko begin making arrangements and Mike and Benson’s relationship is pulled into focus with the contrast of the relationships they started when Mike was gone. Eventually, it all comes to a head when Benson’s family arrives at Mike’s door with his father planning to apologize for how terrible he was about the fact that Benson is gay. Though, Mike and Mitsuko also arrive at the house a little later with groceries where Mike and Benson cook a large meal for both families. Mitsuko then decides to return to Japan, and Mike plans to follow her, leaving Benson back in Texas. Mitsuko pushes back, telling Benson essentially that going back to Japan is not the right decision for her son and that she thinks Mike staying with Benson is. The night before Mitsuko leaves, they go and spread Eiju’s ashes at a park and go to a restaurant where Mitsuko gets quite drunk. Yet, she tells them through a story of how her and Eiju met that Eiju was cowardly to leave the family and tries to say that Benson needs to convince Mike to stay. The novel ends with Mitsuko at the airport, with Mike intending to leave a few weeks later.
 
The book is structured in a way that pulls the reader very close to the two main characters. First, we get to see what it’s like for Benson when Mike goes to Japan, then from Mike’s perspective in Japan, and finally from Benson when Mike returns. It’s a novel about fathers being terrible to their sons and how those sons deal with the trauma they received. One instance of a father kicking his son out, another of the father leaving his family. I was floored at how well the interactions between the characters are rendered, and the tension riding between their conversations. And while the novel leaves us with a question of whether Benson convinces Mike to stay or not, it shows the depth and nuances of their relationship. A sometimes humorous and witty novel that has left me breathless.
 
Final Rating: 5/5
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Maxwell Suzuki is a writer, poet, and photographer based in Los Angeles.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021

    Categories

    All
    1/5
    1.5/5
    2/5
    2.5/5
    3/5
    3.5/5
    4/5
    4.5/5
    5/5
    Ada Limón
    Ada Zhang
    Adrie Rose
    AI
    Aldous Huxley
    Alexander Chee
    Ali Araghi
    Andrés N. Ordorcia
    Anne Lamott
    Anne Sexton
    Anthony Veasna So
    Augusto Higa Oshiro
    Austin Kleon
    Benjamin Cavell
    Blog
    Bob Kan
    Book Reviews
    Brandon Taylor
    Brett Biebel
    Brit Bennett
    Bryan Washington
    Caleb Femi
    Carlos Fonseca
    Cathy Park Hong
    Charles Jensen
    Chen Chen
    Chris Santiago
    Christine Angot
    Clara Drummond
    Cleo Qian
    Colson Whitehead
    Comic
    Cormac McCarthy
    Dang Thuy Tram
    David Martinez
    David St. John
    Delia Owens
    Devon Capizzi
    Dianne Suess
    Douglas Stuart
    Édouard Louis
    Elie Wiesel
    Elizabeth Genovise
    Esteban Rodriguez
    Ethan Chua
    Faith Shearin
    Fiction
    Frank O'Hara
    Gabrielle Zevin
    Garth Greenwell
    George Saunders
    George Watsky
    Hanya Yanagihara
    Haruki Murakami
    Hiroko Oyamada
    Interview
    James Baldwin
    Jane Austen
    Jay Aquinas Thompson
    Jean Kwok
    Jen Michalski
    Jinwoo Chong
    John Green
    John Steinbeck
    Jonathan Escoffery
    Jose Hernandez Diaz
    Joy Kogawa
    Juhea Kim
    Julie Otsuka
    June Jordan
    Justin Torres
    Katsu Kokichi
    Kaveh Akbar
    Kenzaburō Ōe
    Kiese Laymon
    Kiley McLaughlin
    K-Ming Chang
    Kobo Abe
    Kurt Vonnegut
    Lafcadio Hearn
    L.A. Johnson
    Lan Samantha Chang
    Laura Van Den Berg
    Lawrence Matsuda
    Ling Ma
    Madeline Miller
    Magazine
    Maggie Nelson
    Marc Lamont Hill
    Masaki Fujihata
    Matt Broaddus
    Matthew Salesses
    Melissa Broder
    Michael B. Tager
    Michelle Zauner
    Mike Fu
    Morgan Talty
    Nardine Taleb
    Natalie Diaz
    Natsuo Kirino
    Nick Flynn
    Non Fiction
    Ocean Vuong
    Osamu Dazai
    Oscar Wilde
    Percival Everett
    Philip Smith
    Photography
    Poetry
    Prageeta Sharma
    Prince Shakur
    Rafael Zepeda
    Reading
    Richard Phillips
    Richie Hofmann
    Rooja Mohassessy
    Ryunosuke Akutagawa
    Sally Rooney
    Sarah Fawn Montgomery
    Sean Enfield
    Sequoia Nagamatsu
    Sherman Alexie
    Stephan Talty
    Stephen King
    Steven Pressfield
    Ted Chiang
    Thomas Grattan
    Toni Morrison
    Tony Tulathimutte
    Torrey Peters
    Tracy K. Smith
    Translation
    Truman Capote
    Vanessa Chan
    Victoria Chang
    Viet Thanh Nguyen
    Virginia Woolf
    William Faulkner
    William Maxwell
    Writing
    Yoko Ogawa
    Yoshiko Uchida
    Yukio Mishima

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly