In Family Meal, Bryan has written a page-turner about love, grief, and built families, with deep social and cultural insights about race and queer identity. As we’ve come to expect from Washington, he’s tackling intimate relationships and also big headline-news subjects like addiction, police violence, gentrification.

I read this in a day. It's a book about grief and self-destruction and the ways we love people when we can't say what we mean. Which is to say, there were parts of this book that were hard to read, that made me uncomfortable. But I couldn't look away. I wanted to know what happened. And there were moments of great tenderness -- usually around food -- that felt just perfect. Not overdone. Just, life.

The story is told from three perspectives: Cam, Kai, and TJ. Cam is first, and after I got out of his perspective and into Kai's and then TJ's I wondered if Washington hadn't structured the story wrong. Cam is struggling. His story is bleak. He's self-destructive and closed off and even as a reader, with first-person narration, it felt hard to get close to him. I wondered if maybe it would be easier for readers to connect with Kai or TJ before asking them to be confronted with Cam's anger and disaffection. But I think the story has to be this way. Cam's self-destruction propels the book forward and also, by comparison, makes Kai and TJ more sympathetic. Seeing each character through the eyes of another -- and seeing how hard each of them is on themselves -- makes each more nuanced.

The last line was exactly right.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

I was completely engrossed in the style of Family Meal for the first 40% or so. Watching Cam on his slow, relatable, understandable downward spiral was fascinating, sad, and strangely riveting. Cam is a complex character, and the way Washington colored him in gradually and thoughtfully made for great reading

Then the POV switched, and I lost a bit of interest. Kai's perspective didn't seem entirely necessary to me, and I didn't relate to TJ (or find him interesting) in the same ways I did with Cam. So the story, or what little of it there was in such an introspective novel, came to halt in the second half and crawled a bit as the end approached.

Some beautiful, evocative writing; a heartfelt, memorable protagonist; but little plot or development to hold onto.

Washington does it again! I love that he continues to return to the same ideas while never coming off as stale or repetitive. Queer poz love, the bounds and bonds of family, the connective power of food, the unbearable weight of depression. FAMILY MEAL is another beautiful, fast read from a rising master of the form -- and my god the food writing! Someday, he's going to write a cookbook for all these recipes he's teasing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the Advanced Readers Copy of Family Meal by Bryan Washington!

Cam and TJ were best friends for years, working together in TJ’s parents’ bakery and living together as teens after Cam’s parents passed away. They grew up together, maturing and exploring their sexuality with one another. Years later, Cam is living in LA and he and TJ are estranged. But when Cam returns home after the death of his boyfriend and must face their past amid his own crippling grief. Their friendship will be put to the test as they try to heal their wounds, both old and new.

Family Meal opens in the middle of Cam and TJ’s story, when childhood friends re-meet as adults. I felt a bit thrown in the deep end, as these characters clearly have a long and complex history. It took me a little while to sort out who’s who as details are slowly filled in. Additionally, this book opens with a message from the author noting various sensitive topics that are covered-- rightfully so as much of the content was intense and heavy. Once acclimated to the characters, I was invested in their stories and where their paths would lead.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the advance copy of this book.

I was given an advanced reader copy of this title by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I love this author and have a lot of respect for his work, but I found this title difficult to fully immerse myself in. The character development fell a little short for me.

This book got under my skin and lodged itself deep in my chest. It’s very much a part of me. Grief, love, joy, pain and the messiness of it all ricocheting off each other made this novel jump off the page! I love the way Washington writes dialogue. Each sentence is loaded with bittersweet. Domestic fiction at its finest ❤️

I find Washington to be an intriguing writer - definitely a show don't tell kind of book. Even though I don't know the places described here, I appreciate the sense of place that comes with this book. Also a relief to read something that mentions the pandemic without being about rich New Yorkers.

DNF. I could not get interested in these characters. There is a lot of sex, drugs, some anorexic/bulimic behaviour, and a lot of rehashing the past. The story is of a group of men who alternately harm and heal each other, and it's impossible who is doing what to whom, and why.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for giving me the opportunity to read this incredible book early!

Bryan Washington has become an auto-read author for me ever since I read his first novel ‘Memorial’ back in 2020. ‘Family Meal’ lives up to its predecessor, and in my opinion, surpasses it. Exquisitely devastating and poignant in equal measure, this novel affected me more than I thought it would. It takes significant effort and support to come back to yourself after grief and this book does not shy away from all the stumbling blocks you can experience while grieving.

I especially loved that this book discusses family, both found and by blood, and grief in its many forms—grief for a loved one now gone, grief for yourself or who you used to be, even if you accept who you are now. Even more, I loved how unapologetically queer this book is.

Fast-paced and filled with beautifully poetic and comedic prose, ‘Family Meal’ cements Bryan Washington as a favorite.

Bryan Washington has returned with a moving new novel even more complex and multipolar than “Memorial.” The literary virtuosity and structural innovations of this book feel completely organic and grounded in a warm, colloquial style. Among Washington’s many master strokes in this story, one that stands out is the introduction of a new major character halfway through the novel that the reader comes to care about deeply. This book will make you hungry one page, horny the next, and then suddenly take your breath away with a particularly gorgeous sentence. Washington’s fans will rejoice, and I hope that “Family Meal” brings him even more acclaim and introduces him to new audiences.

This was not a book for me. I struggled with caring for or about the characters, and characters were the whole point of the book. It just missed the mark for me.

What a beautiful book. I cared about the characters and despite the darkness within the book I was left feeling so hopeful. Thank you for the thoughtful author message at the beginning too. It's always nice to have a reminder to be kind to yourself.

This was moving. Surprising, since it’s a cool book, full of gruff exchanges between taciturn men, and graphic sex. And food. Nevertheless, the plight of these souls, the suffering and the hope somehow combine into something affecting and plausible. I enjoyed, too, the melded racial backgrounds and loyalties. A strange but modern and pleasing piece of work.

Washington (already a firm favourite and auto-read author for me) continues to deliver sublime characters that are a rich tapestry of everyday complexities, in settings that make me particularly excited to keep re-discovering the nuances of life in Houston.

Food is always a strong theme in Washington's writing - in previous works I've enjoyed the way it becomes conversational and an unspoken language between characters. I really feel like Washington was nudging new boundaries with food in Family Meal - disordered eating is a major part of the character development and forms a language of trust when it is spoken about, and food is so central to the livelihood to most of the characters. Food is an ever present variable, whether out be iconic institutions like Whataburger, local taquerias, or meals cobbled together in the intimacy of family homes, food speaks volumes in this. When I reflect on the title and what I felt this novel was doing, its this full circle, multi-perspective, chosen-family entire "meal" that Washington invites the reader to sit and experience alongside them. Like all family meals, the joys are often in the imperfect moments and mess of reality, in the conversations bubbling away as cuisines and opinions collide.

What set this apart from Washington's earlier works for me was the way it untangles (and re-tangles) grief - while the narrative feels more character-heavy than plot focussed, the movement through grief and the way the characters show up for each other and are in community over a shared loss is so well developed. It moves the narrative forward as Washington plays with both perspective and linearity of time seamlessly.

Readers who have enjoyed Washington's previous works will be delighted with the new depths his writing reaches in Family Meal, and end with this exquisite satiation at having spent time in one of America's most fascinating cities (Houston) with characters who you truly feel like you know. I can't recommend highly enough!

I'm a big fan of Bryan Washington's work in general, which makes this novel a little tough to review. Washington is undoubtedly talented, emotionally generous, and sharp. This novel feels in conversation with MEMORIAL, as it also has a rotating POV, is set in part in Houston, and centers QPOC. The first half of FAMILY MEAL was definitely my favorite, and I have to admit, I felt some disappointment in the latter half of the book, and the narrative started to feel a little less tight. I began to wonder if the fragmented writing style was really helping the story or if it was actually hindering it a little; it felt too neat at times, and too easy to turn away. I wish we could have stayed with the first narrator going to treatment and all of the fallout from that. All of that said, it's still a beautifully written novel, and I'm sure tons of people are going to love it. I really enjoyed it myself, but compared to LOT and even MEMORIAL, it just isn't my top pick of Washington's.