Palaver
About the book
Author: Bryan Washington
Publisher: FSG
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print or ebook) | Libro.fm (audio)
My review
I’ve always meant to read Bryan Washington, but each of his past books has just snuck by me. So when Palaver was longlisted (and then shortlisted) for the National Book Award for Fiction, I was extremely glad for the push. It’s easy to see why he’s made a name for himself in literary fiction, even if this book didn’t totally blow me away.
Today the word “palaver” means long-winded, meaningless talk, but historically, it seems to have referred to a conference between groups without a shared background or culture. It is, admittedly, a brilliant title for a book about an estraged mother and son finding common ground again — especially as she’s visiting him in Tokyo, but when he was younger they lived in Houston, and the mother herself is from Jamaica. Also, the son is queer.
Overall I can definitely see the merits of this book and had a fine time reading it, but it didn’t leave a super strong impression on me. To be fair to the book, I wasn’t really in the mood for it (or any literary fiction) after having read all nine other NBA longlisted books first. I was also frustrated by a few central threads left hanging. But even so, I think this is one of those books that may not say or do much that feels new, but it does do its thing beautifully and with resonance. The sense of place (Tokyo) is really something here, too.
Finally, It’s worth noting that I listened to this book on audio, which on the one had was a perfectly good experience (I found it easy to follow and the narration good), but on the other hand may also have done the book a disservice because there are photographs in the print edition. I flipped through them later, but I’m sure they would have added more to the experience had I gotten to see them precisely when Washington intended me to.
Content and trigger warnings
Suicidal thoughts / attempt
Homophobia
Child abuse (alluded to)
