And to write a story about comfort, where the characters were approaching one another from a place of affection and love. People express affection through cooking.īryan Washington: Yeah, for me a lot of it was trying to write a story about warmth. There are so many rich food descriptions.

So your novel was a way for me to blend my two loves: food and writing. Below are some highlights from the conversation check out our Instagram for the full interview.ĭawn Davis: My real and first love is books, and I just became editor in chief of Bon Appétit. Our first episode features editor in chief Dawn Davis and author Bryan Washington talking about his new novel, Memorial, and its unexpected main character: food. Is 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.In our new Instagram Live series, Book Report, BA editors sit down (virtually!) with cookbook authors and other food-obsessed writers. And just maybe they'll all be okay in the end. 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.īoth men will change in ways that will either make them stronger together, or fracture everything they've ever known. 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. In Japan he undergoes an extraordinary transformation, discovering the truth about his family and his past. There's the sex, sure, and the meals Mike cooks for Benson, and, well, they love each other.īut 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. 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. What happens when a love story collides with the limits of love-and everyone has an opinion?īenson and Mike are two young guys who live together in Houston. 'This book made me think about the nature of love, and family, and anger, and grief, and love again.'

'This book, in what feels like a new vision for the 21st century novel, made me happy.'

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