Hannah’s Pick of the Week: Palaver by Bryan Washington

“Let’s be serious, said Taku. Just for a second. You said she’s getting older, right? Does she need help?

Ha, said the son. Not from me.

What makes you say that?

Please. I’ve never met anyone more self-sufficient.

Then it’s obvious, said Taku. She must care for you.”

Bryan Washington, Palaver, pg. 17

By the time this blog post goes live, Bryan Washington’s Palaver will have just started hitting shelves. I needed to look this up, but palaver, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, can mean “a long parley, usually between persons of different cultures or levels of sophistication.”

The son, as he is known in the book, is dealt a surprise visit from his estranged mother as she lands into his carefully curated life in Tokyo. There are many words to be shared between the son and his mother—words unspoken, rehashed, and internalized that have built the bedrock of their relationship. But as each protagonist explores new relationships and the bustling streets of Japan’s capital, we see their past and present in snapshots, taken in a city that’s weeks away from Christmas festivities. They talk at each other but rarely to each other, grasping at pieces of connection that shine like diamonds in the sand. 

Palaver gives us an intimate portrayal of a family relationship in need of repair. I almost had to look away from the text for fear that I would be spotted peeking through their blinds. The prose is relatable, the relationships are realistic. The book is a love letter to Tokyo and all the wonders the city holds. There’s humor in the son’s thriving found family in the Tokyo gay bar scene, and a tenderness in the desire to be known as well as the desire to be loved. If you enjoyed the resonant writing in the author’s 2020 title Memorial, or the complex relationships in Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett, then Palaver is the next read for you.