Memorial (by Bryan Washington)
The Tournament of Books has begun! This year, I finished six books (Memorial, The Vanishing Half, Transcendent Kingdom, Breasts and Eggs, Luster, Interior Chinatown) and read parts of two others before abandoning them (Deacon King Kong, Shuggie Bain) and read enough about Tender Is the Flesh to know I never want to read it.
Memorial is a book told in alternating perspectives by two halves of a couple, Benson and Mike. Mike's estranged father is dying, and he flies to Japan to be with him; at the same time, Mike's mother stays with Ben in Houston.
I thought this would add up to more than it did. Ben and Mike seem to dislike each other; the author and even the other characters want you to root for these two crazy kids to make it, but why? The narrators aren't very distinct except Mike says "fuck" a lot and Ben doesn't. I enjoyed the two characters and their stories individually, but I expected more to happen between Ben and Mike's mom, or Ben and Mike, or overall for it to add up to something more than a big shrug at the end.
Breasts and Eggs is still my favorite of the ToB books; this was my least favorite. Hopefully in the next week I can finish Piranesi, which just came off library hold for me...
posted by mo pie at 1:59 PM
2 Comments:
I have Shuggie Bain and Deacon KK on hold at the library. Can you say anything about why you read a bit of each and stopped?
Shuggie Bain, I wasn't in the mood for when I started reading it. I got halfway through Deacon King Kong and it was just too... cartoonish or something. Like everyone is named Soup Can or Spicy Mustard or whatever, the main character is hapless and bumbling, and the "comedy" seemed forced. I thought a young adult novel, More Happy Than Not, did a better job of illuminating life in the projects because despite being speculative fiction, it felt more real.
I've enjoyed McBride a lot in the past but this one wasn't for me.
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