
Memorial
A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel)
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Narrated by:
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Bryan Washington
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Akie Kotabe
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By:
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Bryan Washington
About this listen
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 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 good-bye.
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.
“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)
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Story
In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado's engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing relationship with a charismatic but volatile woman, Machado struggles to make sense of how what happened to her shaped the person she was becoming. And it's that struggle that gives the book its original structure: each chapter is driven by its own narrative trope - the haunted house, erotica, the bildungsroman....
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Devastatingly Beautiful
- By SeattleBookLover on 02-04-20
What listeners say about Memorial
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Carolyn Vandagriff
- 03-18-25
Took a while to understand the back and forth style
Nothing compelling or especially interesting about any of the characters so it was hard to get into the story
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- SBB
- 11-15-20
I just couldn’t connect.
Did I hate this? No. I was interested in the story the whole time, but the characters are just so flat. Bryan Washington did his work a disservice because he sooooo painfully monotone on top of it. I am a queer man myself and I am in an interracial relationship so I thought I may be able to relate, but not very much. The constant f bombs were weird. It just didn’t seem real. If it was a characteristic of one person maybe, but from every main character. It just was awkward. I was mostly interested in both Tan and Omar rather than any of the other characters.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Natalie Britt
- 01-06-21
Great Read
Fresh story line showing a rarely shown dynamic between families, couple, children and parents set in Houston and Japan!
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1 person found this helpful
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- MyNameIsUsername
- 01-16-21
one narrator great, the other not so great
narrator for the first and last sections isn't great, every sentence ends with the tone shifting downward and it's pretty grating. middle narrator is much much better. the first part of the novel is a little too aimless, the second part is much stronger, and the third part doesn't resolve anything. I think that's the point, that the story is just a series of things that happen. but I read stories to get away from life, not mimic it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- HeyJude
- 10-29-21
Underwhelming with a little charm
Simple, uncomplicated story that meanders through the character’s world during a small window of their lives. Charming and sweet, frustratingly in their own way of a less complicated life, thought provoking, quiet. I was unclear why the author chose so frequently to repeatedly state “I said…” or “He said…” etc with the conversational parts of the story. It was overdone, unnecessary and distracting.
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- julimar
- 11-05-20
A bit bland
The narrator's voice was so monotoned I really struggled to enjoy the book. There were too many he said she said.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Patricia M Hart
- 02-04-22
Stream of consciousness
I didn’t appreciate the book particularly as an audible
The frequent he said she said was distracting
I am not sure why this book was so highly rated
Interesting to blend the Asian and Black culture but ultimately these two guys came from disfunctional families regardless of skin color
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- Marc Middlebrooks
- 12-20-20
I loved this!
I loved this story. I loved the characters. I loved the relationships. I loved the themes of family, as screwed up as they can be. I teared up once or twice, but I laughed at the frank truths within numerous times. I loved it. If you want something cookie cutter move on. If you want something honest, then do yourself a favor and read this. Amazing.
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- cindy
- 02-17-21
Some poignant moments
Bryan Washington is a gifted writer but his narration lacks emotion. This book contained too much dialogue and not enough movement too keep me completely engaged.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-18-20
Lots of love grounded in reality
It’s nice to hear a story about people who’s lives, love, and relationship aren’t the “norm”.
Immigration, love, privilege, sex, HIV status, monogamy, and food speak more about culture than many see on the daily.
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