Family Meal

A Novel

By: Bryan Washington

Narrated by: André Santana, Bryan Washington, Jake Choi

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

“A stunning look at what it really means to be family.”—Michael Schaub, NPR

From the bestselling, award-winning author of Memorial and Lot, an irresistible, intimate novel about two young men, once best friends, whose lives collide again after a loss.

Cam is living in Los Angeles and falling apart after the love of his life has died. Kai's ghost won't leave Cam alone; his spectral visits wild, tender, and unexpected. When Cam returns to his hometown of Houston, he crashes back into the orbit of his former best friend, TJ, and TJ's family bakery. TJ's not sure how to navigate this changed Cam, impenetrably cool and self-destructing, or their charged estrangement. Can they find a way past all that has been said - and left unsaid - to save each other? Could they find a way back to being okay again, or maybe for the first time?

When secrets and wounds become so insurmountable that they devour us from within, hope and sustenance and friendship can come from the most unlikely source. Spanning Los Angeles, Houston, and Osaka, Family Meal is a story about how the people who know us the longest can hurt us the most, but how they also set the standard for love. With his signature generosity and eye for food, sex, love, and the moments that make us the most human, Bryan Washington returns with a brilliant new novel.

©2023 Bryan Washington (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Publishers Weekly Top 10 Books of Fall

NAMED A MUST READ FOR THE FALL BY TIME ● LOS ANGELES TIMES ● SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE ● TOWN & COUNTRY ● LITHUB ● KIRKUS

“What makes Washington’s writing about family so refreshing and complex is how he shows the ways people attempt to demonstrate the emotions they otherwise have trouble expressing to the ones they hold dear.... Family Meal juggles a lot—Cam and TJ are both dealing with their present situations and with the phantoms of opportunities ignored and hard choices enacted—but Washington lays it all out with the control and artistry of a ballet choreographer. Each story line gives the other strength."—New York Times Book Review

“For anyone who’s read Washington’s multiple-award-winning first novel, Memorial, you know he has a knack for measured storytelling that builds momentum and gradually fills in holes before culminating in a finale that washes over you like a giant torrent of meaning and consequences that leave you gasping for air (in a good way).... Washington’s other gift is creating viscerally vulnerable characters and allowing their refreshingly open conversations to flow, showing just how hard—but ultimately rewarding—facing difficult issues head-on can be.... Ultimately, the power of Family Meal is that it shows us how to hold space for each other, through life’s highest highs and lowest lows.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Bryan Washington is already high on the list of our most exciting young authors, and with his latest release Family Meal he once again shows why our anticipation is well-deserved. … Family Meal travels the world to settings including LA, Houston, and Osaka, but Washington never loses sight of the prevailing sense of intimacy and vulnerability that makes this novel truly great.”—Chicago Review of Books

Where’s the depth

The story was missing more depth for me, mainly since there was a warning about self-harm, addiction, and disordered eating. I felt these issues could have been more hammered out for me to feel for the characters. The story reads with a lot of “I said, Cam said, TJ said, etc.” Overall, it is a straightforward plot to follow. I just wish more emotion was written to pull me in and to feel for the characters rather than feeling I just listened to them.

Fantastic.

Bryan Washington is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I devoured this book just as I did with Memorial.

Cam and TJ, friends always

3.5 Stars. TJ and Cam, childhood friends who navigate life, loss and friendship. *** very graphic sex is a deep part of the story ***

Just okay

There’s tenderness there and more, but since this is audible, the halted way it’s forced to be listened to was not enjoyable at all.
Others haven’t commented that they noticed this, so that could just be me

It’s never easy, letting you

I read some respected reviews that were quite negative. I did not know if I could read this book. Then I listened. The readers infused so much feeling into these words. My heart hurt for these people. The pain they felt throughout this story. Bottom line though was how much love and care they gave to eachother. Bryan Washington’s Memorial gave me the same feelings of connection of people to eachother. Stunning.

Downloaded by Accident

Storyline didn't match up to the description. Word Word Word Word Word Word Word word.

Bad Knockoff of A Little Life

The story felt like a bad knockoff of A Little Life. And the inconsistent reading of the name Noel was incredibly distracting.