Bryan Washington

'Such a joy' Ocean Vuong'It'll break and remake your heart' Andrew Sean Greer'A gorgeous book' RO KwonIn Tokyo, the son works as an English tutor, drinking his nights away with friends at a gay bar. He's entangled in a sexual relationship with a married man, and while he has built a chosen family in Japan, he is estranged from his family in America, particularly his mother, whose preference for the son's troubled homophobic brother pushed him to leave home. Then, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, ten years since they've last seen each other, the mother arrives uninvited on his doorstep.Separated only by the son's cat, the two of them bristle against each other immediately. The mother, wrestling with memories of her youth in Jamaica and her own complicated brother, works to reconcile her good intentions with her missteps. The son struggles to forgive. But as life begins to steer them in unexpected directions - the mother to a tentative friendship with a local bistro owner, and the son to cautiously getting to know a new patron of the bar - the two of them begin to see each other more clearly. Sharing meals and conversations and an eventful trip to Nara, both mother and son try the best they can to define where 'home' really is - and whether they can find it even in each other.

A life-affirming novel of family, mending, and how we learn to love, from the award-winning Bryan Washington. In Tokyo, the son works as an English tutor, drinking his nights away with friends at a gay bar. He's entangled in a sexual relationship with a married man, and while he has built a chosen family in Japan, he is estranged from his family in Houston, particularly his mother, whose preference for the son's oft-troubled homophobic brother, Chris, pushed him to leave home. Then, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, ten years since they've last seen each other, the mother arrives uninvited on his doorstep. Separated only by the son's cat, Taro, the two of them bristle against each other immediately. The mother, wrestling with memories of her youth in Jamaica and her own complicated brother, works to reconcile her good intentions with her missteps. The son struggles to forgive. But as life begins to steer them in unexpected directions-- the mother to a tentative friendship with a local bistro owner, and the son to cautiously getting to know a new patron of the bar--the two of them begin to see each other more clearly. Sharing meals and conversations and an eventful trip to Nara, both mother and son try the best they can to define where "home" really is--and whether they can find it even in each other. Written with understated humor and an open heart, moving through past and present and across Houston, Jamaica, and Japan, Bryan Washington's Palaver is an intricate story of family, love, and the beauty of a life among others.

From the bestselling, Dylan Thomas Prize-winning author of Memorial and Lot, a novel about two young men who grew up together, fell away from each other, and then collide again after a crisis...

Intiimi romaani, jossa ystävät satuttavat ja vastustajat antavat paidan päältään. Täydellinen annos hellyyttä ja kipua.Cam menettää traagisesti rakkaansa ja lakkaa syömästä. Hän käyttää huumeita ja etsii pakonomaisesti seuraa netistä. Vanhoilla kulmillaan Houstonissa Cam törmää TJ:hin, jonka perheen korealaisessa leipomossa hän vietti lapsuutensa. TJ näkee Camin ahdistuksen, mutta miten auttaa, kun vanhan ystävän tilalla on kylmä itsetuhoinen mies, joka ei päästä lähelleen. Voiko ruoka olla rakkauden teko silloin kun sanat vain kirvelevät?Sydän lautasella näyttää, kuinka meidät kauimmin tunteneet pystyvät satuttamaan kipeimmin. Mutta he myös asettavat rakkauden riman korkealle.

Growing up , TJ was Cam's boy next door. When Cam needed a home, TJ's parents - Mae and Jin - took him in. Their family bakery became Cam's safe place. Until he left, and it wasn't anymore.Years later, Cam's world is falling apart. The love of his life, Kai, is gone: but his ghost keeps haunting Cam, and won't let go. And Cam's not sure he wants to let go, not sure he's ready. When he has a chance to return to his home town, to work in a gay bar clinging on in a changing city landscape, he takes it. Back in the same place as TJ, they circle each other warily, their banter electric with an undercurrent of betrayal, drawn together despite past and current drama. Family is family. But TJ is no longer the same person Cam left behind; he's had his own struggles. The quiet, low-key, queer kid, the one who stayed home, TJ's not sure how to navigate Cam - utterly cool, completely devastated and self-destructing - crashing back into his world.When things said - or left unsaid - become so insurmountable that they devour us from within, hope and sustenance and friendship can come from the most unlikely source. Nourishment has many forms: eating croissants, sitting together at a table with bowls of curry, sharing history, confronting demons, growing flowers, showing up. This is a story about how the people who know us the longest can hurt us the most, but how they also set the standard for love, and by their necessary presence, create a family.

From the bestselling author of Memorial, a novel that will 'break your heart twice over, with sadness, sure, but more unexpectedly, with joy.' Rumaan AlamGrowing up , TJ was Cam's boy next door. When Cam needed a home, TJ's parents - Mae and Jin - took him in. Their family bakery became Cam's safe place. Until he left, and it wasn't anymore.Years later, Cam's world is falling apart. The love of his life, Kai, is gone: but his ghost keeps haunting Cam, and won't let go. And Cam's not sure he wants to let go, not sure he's ready. When he has a chance to return to his home town, to work in a gay bar clinging on in a changing city landscape, he takes it. Back in the same place as TJ, they circle each other warily, their banter electric with an undercurrent of betrayal, drawn together despite past and current drama. Family is family. But TJ is no longer the same person Cam left behind; he's had his own struggles. The quiet, low-key, queer kid, the one who stayed home, TJ's not sure how to navigate Cam - utterly cool, completely devastated and self-destructing - crashing back into his world.When things said - or left unsaid - become so insurmountable that they devour us from within, hope and sustenance and friendship can come from the most unlikely source. Nourishment has many forms: eating croissants, sitting together at a table with bowls of curry, sharing history, confronting demons, growing flowers, showing up. This is a story about how the people who know us the longest can hurt us the most, but how they also set the standard for love, and by their necessary presence, create a family.

Tender and poignant, Washingtons latest hits the spot. PEOPLE Magazine From the bestselling, award-winning author of Memorial and Lot, an irresistible, intimate novel about two young men, once best friends, whose lives collide again after a loss.Cam is living in Los Angeles and falling apart after the love of his life has died. Kai's ghost won't leave Cam alone; his spectral visits wild, tender, and unexpected. When Cam returns to his hometown of Houston, he crashes back into the orbit of his former best friend, TJ, and TJ's family bakery. TJ's not sure how to navigate this changed Cam, impenetrably cool and self-destructing, or their charged estrangement. Can they find a way past all that has been said - and left unsaid - to save each other? Could they find a way back to being okay again, or maybe for the first time?When secrets and wounds become so insurmountable that they devour us from within, hope and sustenance and friendship can come from the most unlikely source. Spanning Los Angeles, Houston, and Osaka, Family Meal is a story about how the people who know us the longest can hurt us the most, but how they also set the standard for love. With his signature generosity and eye for food, sex, love, and the moments that make us the most human, Bryan Washington returns with a brilliant new novel.

"Achingly and beautifully etched. . . Washington is a generous and gentle writer, with a profound capacity to face the cruelty and pain of contemporary American life while simultaneously offering his characters--and readers--an expansive space for self-forgiveness, hope, and nourishment."--The Washington Post The ghost of Kai, the love of Cam's life, won't leave Cam alone. He follows Cam from LA back home to Houston, his visits wild, tender, and unpredictable. But Cam has changed, and when he reenters the orbit of his childhood best friend TJ and his family's bakery, neither Cam nor TJ is sure how to navigate their charged estrangement. Searching for a way past all the wounds and secrets--a way to be okay together, maybe for the first time-- the pair find hope and sustenance from the most unlikely source. From the bestselling, award-winning author Memorial and Lot, an irresistible, intimate novel about how those know us longest--even when they hurt us most--can also set the benchmark for love.

Anmelderost og prisbelønnet debutroman om kærlighed og familie, intimitet og maskulinitet i det 21. århundrede fra en af amerikansk litteraturs nye, store stemmer. Mike og Benson er i 20’erne, de har været sammen et par år, men står ved et vadested i deres forhold. Mike er kok med japanske rødder, og Benson arbejder i en børnehave. Da Mike finder ud af, at hans far, der forlod familien for mange år siden og nu bor i Osaka, ligger for døden, pakker han sine ting og rejser til Japan på ubestemt tid. Samtidig melder Mikes kølige mor sin ankomst, og Benson lades alene tilbage i lejligheden med Mikes mor, som han aldrig før har mødt. Anmelderne skrev: „En øm og rørende fortælling om, hvad der binder os sammen med dem, vi elsker, til tider mod bedre vidende og mod vores vilje.“ The Telegraph „Ingen anden fanger hele USA’s spændvidde så elegant.“ The Washington Post „Memorial slår fast, at Washington er en forfatter, som man ikke bare skal holde øje med, men læse nu.“ The Times „En forfriskende, levende kærlighedshistorie, der sammenvæver race, queerness, tilhørsforhold, familie og intimitet medimponerende fortællemæssig lethed.“ Vouge „Dialogen er perfekt ramt, men det er i mellemrummene mellem snakken – de akavede tavsheder, spørgsmålene, derikke besvares – at karaktererne afslører sig selv. Det er svært at gennemføre, men Washington gør det mesterligt ...“ NPR „En masterclass i empati.“ The Guardian

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'This feels like a vision for the 21st-century novel... It made me happy' Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We're Briefly GorgeousBenson and Mike are two young guys who have 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 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, while 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...Funny and profound, Memorial is about family in all its strange forms, becoming who you're supposed to be and the outer limits of love.NAMED A BOOK TO WATCH IN 2021 BY:SUNDAY TIMES | THE TIMES | DAILY MAIL | THE TELEGRAPH | RADIO 4 | IRISH TIMES

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, O, the Oprah Magazine, Esquire, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Refinery29, Real Simple, Kirkus Reviews, Electric Literature, and Lit Hub "A masterpiece." --NPR "No other novel this year captures so gracefully the full palette of America." --The Washington Post "Wryly funny, gently devastating." --Entertainment Weekly A funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability, becoming who you're supposed to be, and the limits of love. 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.

Hämta bokcirkelfrågor till Memorial här >> Benson och Mike bor tillsammans i Memorial, Houston. Mike är en kock med rötter i Japan, Benson är svart och jobbar på en förskola. Efter att ha varit ett par i flera år är de nu inte längre säkra på vad som finns kvar av relationen. Situationen försvåras när Mike får reda på att hans pappa, som bor i Osaka och övergav familjen för många år sedan, är döende. Samtidigt som Mikes mamma anländer till Houston för ett besök bestämmer sig Mike för att resa till sin pappa och försöka att lära känna honom. Kvar hemma i lägenheten lämnas Benson med Mikes mamma, som han aldrig tidigare har träffat. Såväl Mikes vistelse i Japan som Bensons tid med Mikes mamma förändrar båda männen i grunden i takt med att de upptäcker nya sanningar om sig själva.Memorial är en finstämd roman om kärlek och om att bli den man är menad att vara från en av de mest spännande nya rösterna i amerikansk litteratur.

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'This feels like a vision for the 21st-century novel... It made me happy' Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We're Briefly GorgeousBenson and Mike are two young guys who have 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 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, while 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...Funny and profound, Memorial is about family in all its strange forms, becoming who you're supposed to be and the outer limits of love.NAMED A BOOK TO WATCH IN 2021 BY:SUNDAY TIMES | THE TIMES | DAILY MAIL | THE TELEGRAPH | RADIO 4 | IRISH TIMES

Hauska ja syvällinen perhedraama on empatian mestarikurssi.Texasilaiset Mike ja Ben ovat eron partaalla, kun Mike joutuu äkisti matkustamaan Japaniin. Miken isä hylkäsi perheensä vuosia sitten, mutta on nyt menehtymässä syöpään, ja Mike haluaa tavata hänet vielä kerran. Samaan aikaan Miken persoonallinen äiti yllättää matkustamalla Japanista Benin vaivoiksi Texasiin... Ihmisiä suhteensa risteyskohdissa ja rakkauden rajoilla kuvaava romaani kerrotaan vuorotellen Miken ja Benin näkökulmasta. Kodin etsimistä, seksuaalisuutta ja valittuja perheitä lämmöllä tarkasteleva romaani itkettää mutta ei masenna vaan koukuttaa ja pakottaa ahmimaan eteenpäin.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, O, the Oprah Magazine, Esquire, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Refinery29, Real Simple, Kirkus Reviews, Electric Literature, and Lit Hub "A masterpiece." --NPR "No other novel this year captures so gracefully the full palette of America." --The Washington Post "Wryly funny, gently devastating." --Entertainment Weekly A funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability, becoming who you're supposed to be, and the limits of love. 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.