Memorial
by Bryan Washington
Atlantic
Right from the beginning, Bryan Washington throws the reader into the middle of a multi-cultural mix. Japanese-American chef Mike works in a Mexican Restaurant and African American Ben (short for Benson) works in a children’s day care centre. The couple lives in the Third Ward of Houston which is historically a Black neighbourhood that has been invaded by college students and become gentrified. After a few years together, they are left with fights that lead to sex, but little else.
The day after Mike flies out to Osaka to be with his dying father Eiju, his mother Mitsuko arrives from Japan to stay in their one bedroom apartment with Ben, as she was unaware of her son’s plans. The first part of the novel is from Ben’s point of view as he tries to make an effort towards the sarcastic Mitsuko, as well as reflecting on the past. In the second part, Mike tells of his time in Osaka before the narrative returns to Ben and life in Houston.
Washington’s prose is written as the characters speak, in short phrases. Like in life, one thing happens, and then another without much thought as to where it is all heading. As Ben drives Mitsuko to the FedEx building to collect ingredients she has mailed herself from Japan, he turns right at a stoplight under the bridge, “a disheveled guy in a Rockets sweater sips from a paper bag. He’s seen better days, but the sweater is brand-new. It’s got the tags and everything. He nods our way. I nod back. Then the light changes, and we both turn back to our lives.”
The question as to the future of their relationship hangs in the air. Mike struggles to help the father that he has been estranged from for 16 years and Ben, who has been estranged from his family since he revealed his HIV-positive status, manages to take on board some of Mitsuko’s wisdom. This mix of humour and heart-ache also covers the wide range of emotions in between.
Lezly Herbert
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