Family Meal
A Novel
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4.0 • 53 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
"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
An irresistible, intimate novel about how those know us longest—even when they hurt us most—can also set the benchmark for love, from the National Book Award finalist and bestselling author of Memorial and Lot
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Tragedy, healing, and really tasty baked goods heal a man’s grief in this dynamic, moving novel. After the death of his longtime partner and soulmate, Kai, Cam returns to his hometown of Houston, where he works as a bartender and dulls his pain with drugs and sex. Haunted by visits from Kai’s spirit, Cam tries to reconnect with his former best friend, TJ, who’s feeling abandoned. We were awestruck by the raw power of Bryan Washington’s unfiltered portrait of grief. Once Cam takes a job at TJ’s family bakery, the story begins to shift as the shared pleasure of good food helps the friends heal their bond. As with his wonderful debut novel, Memorial, Washington writes in a style that’s daring, original, and very readable. Family Meal is an emotionally intelligent tribute to love in its many forms.
Customer Reviews
Life.
Life. do. be. lifing. Even for queer folks.
Left Louisiana for Cali too. Houston I liked. Would go back and visit Louisiana in the early years. But I got tired of going back in time. It REFUSED to evolve anything other than new ways to hate. I felt I owed myself more.
It is a bit reductive to keep calling monogamy heteronormative when straight folks have a long history of polygamy in parts of the world. It also means nothing if queer folks are unwilling to define homonormativity. Love for the poz character was also nice to see. And the ability to keep starting over and trying again. Choices.
Like these characters, it’s funny how we can travel the world, experience so much variety, and still plop right back down in the most restrictive place possible. Like the saying goes, if we were meant to stay in one place we would’ve been given roots, not feet. 🤎
absofruitly filthy
wishing they had cooked with some peas too
Couldn’t make it past page 79.
Disgusting promiscuity.