
Family Meal
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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André Santana
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Bryan Washington
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Jake Choi
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By:
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Bryan Washington
About this listen
"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.
©2023 Bryan Washington (P)2023 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
Publishers Weekly Top 10 Books of Fall
NAMED A MUST READ FOR THE FALL BY TIME ● LOS ANGELES TIMES ● SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE ● TOWN & COUNTRY ● LITHUB ● KIRKUS
“What makes Washington’s writing about family so refreshing and complex is how he shows the ways people attempt to demonstrate the emotions they otherwise have trouble expressing to the ones they hold dear.... Family Meal juggles a lot—Cam and TJ are both dealing with their present situations and with the phantoms of opportunities ignored and hard choices enacted—but Washington lays it all out with the control and artistry of a ballet choreographer. Each story line gives the other strength."—New York Times Book Review
“For anyone who’s read Washington’s multiple-award-winning first novel, Memorial, you know he has a knack for measured storytelling that builds momentum and gradually fills in holes before culminating in a finale that washes over you like a giant torrent of meaning and consequences that leave you gasping for air (in a good way).... Washington’s other gift is creating viscerally vulnerable characters and allowing their refreshingly open conversations to flow, showing just how hard—but ultimately rewarding—facing difficult issues head-on can be.... Ultimately, the power of Family Meal is that it shows us how to hold space for each other, through life’s highest highs and lowest lows.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Bryan Washington is already high on the list of our most exciting young authors, and with his latest release Family Meal he once again shows why our anticipation is well-deserved. … Family Meal travels the world to settings including LA, Houston, and Osaka, but Washington never loses sight of the prevailing sense of intimacy and vulnerability that makes this novel truly great.”—Chicago Review of Books
Editorial Review
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- A Novel
- By: Johnny Compton
- Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money—it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.
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FINALLY! A True literary horror/ghost story
- By KristiW594 on 03-20-23
By: Johnny Compton
Where’s the depth
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Cam and TJ, friends always
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Fantastic.
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Others haven’t commented that they noticed this, so that could just be me
Just okay
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I read some respected reviews that were quite negative. I did not know if I could read this book. Then I listened. The readers infused so much feeling into these words. My heart hurt for these people. The pain they felt throughout this story. Bottom line though was how much love and care they gave to eachother. Bryan Washington’s Memorial gave me the same feelings of connection of people to eachother. Stunning.
It’s never easy, letting you
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Downloaded by Accident
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Bad Knockoff of A Little Life
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