For anyone who's enjoyed Washington's previous works, this is an absolute delight. Bryan Washington's prose is always built to be savored – mouthwatering descriptions of food, portraits of relationships and emotions that are poetic in their subtlety. His dialogue is expertly written, and the novel is as much about pain and grief as it is about comfort and love. Washington's ruminations on love and found family through this cast of characters are fascinating as always.

I loved Bryan Washington’s Memorial and have been waiting so long for his next book. This was a moving follow-up, with heavy but powerful explorations of grief.

I was already familiar with Bryan Washington's work, and this felt very similar in tone to my experience with his previous work. Always challenging with the emotional intensity and relationship dynamics, but I think ultimately worth it for the resolutions and nuance that Washington takes to tease out the details.

Great dialogue, the relationship dynamics are hard to beat. The look at grief and the many ways people express it was masterfully written.

Books like this make me feel old and prudish. Enjoyed the connection between found family and food, the overall a bit of a slog.

Washington is a very gifted writer. His prose is sharp and addictive. I just wanted to keep reading. This was such a compelling novel. The characters are so real and relatable. A great novel about grief, life, and family (in all its forms).

4.5 rounding up - it took me quite a while to get into this one because it drops you right into the middle of these characters' story, and their initial interactions are actions are annoying and inexplicable out of context. Cam in the midst of his addiction spiral, in particular, was a hard viewpoint to get my head around and a tough opener. But then you learn the context and background, and oh boy.

A great, great read about young queer men of color living and working and struggling in a gentrifying neighborhood of Houston - highly recommended. Builds on and deepens the themes of family, loss, love that Washington explored in Memorial. No simple answers, and difficult people remain difficult, but you definitely get the sense that they're finding their way.

(It also absolutely blows my mind that some people actually have this much sex. I'm sure they do! I'm just in awe.)

The definition of bittersweet, this love story follows childhood best friends reunited after a tragedy. Brimming with hope and heartache and celebrating both romantic and familial bonds, this soulful novel is a stunning depiction of profound pain and true healing. I featured this title in my fall reading guide (link below)

This was a really hard read for me to follow. A lot of secrets and wounds were exposed and dealt with. The book deals with hurt and loss and finding your way out of that.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

A solid read. Washington’s characters are always so beautifully crafted. I loved the different POVs and the impact of food, sex, and love on these three characters. The ending was left a bit open and I wasn’t hugely in love with TJ’s character but a strong 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Bryan Washington, and Penguin Group Riverhead for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I am ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED by this book, wow. In the best way possible perhaps? In the worst way possible perhaps? This book is a masterpiece that I felt tenfold given the setting being Houston. How heartbreaking and raw and real and lovely of a layered story anyways but to have so many places that I know in the city I live in and can picture painted in such vivid life made this book even harder. I knew Washington is from Houston, but this is my first read of his and certainly will not be the last. The character work between TJ and Cam (and Kai and Mae and Noel and etc) is almost a perfect example of how to write flawed yet human characters. The nuances of race, sexuality, family, and so much more make this an extremely dimensional story that is a tough read but so worth it in all the little subtle glimpses of joy woven throughout too. I know that Cam and TJ are going to stick with me for a long time to come, and I know that I'm going to tell my friends and family just how much I love them. Life is short, but Washington shows us just how important it is in Family Meal.

When Cam moved to Los Angeles from Texas, he did not anticipate ever returning. But when Cam's boyfriend, Kai, dies, he is adrift and ends up deciding to move back home to Houston. There, he encounters TJ, his former best friend who once knew him better than anyone, though they have been out of touch for several years. Despite, or perhaps because, of their history, their reunion is awkward as they figure out whether they can overcome their pasts and mutual and separate struggles to finally help each other find happiness.

Told through alternating perspectives, this well-written novel explores important and timely themes around grief, identity, family, and friendship.

Highly recommended!

For the right reader this book could be life-changing to be able to see themselves in a character in this book and be so validated. Gay men of color, grief, relationships, risky sex. Lots to unpack. For me the book started out a bit confusing because it felt like a sequel to Memorial. Once I realized this was not a continuation of that book, it started to work better for me.

This one is really good. Smart, tender, about friendship but written without sentimentality. Parts 1 & 2 are so captivating. Part 3 loses its way a bit. Overall very very good.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. I devoured this book in a matter of hours. Bryan Washington created a beautifully flawed cast of characters in this novel and I truly could not put my Kindle down. There is so much here about family, relationships, grief, love, heartbreak, race, gentrification, etc. Washington tackles so much but it never feels clunky or overwrought. Highly recommend.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a novel about two young men who met as children and the struggles they face together and separately.

Wow! This book tugs at the heart. I read it in one day and thoroughly enjoyed it. This story starts with Cam as he struggles with the death of his boyfriend, and then the story unravels into first person narratives from friends and family members that include his recently deceased partner. The book is so personal that I had to double check that it was published as fiction. The sentences are poetic, and heartbreakingly breathtaking. Washington weaves together tragedy and hope flawlessly. There is forward queer intimacy and outstanding diverse representation. The story also conveys the power of family (bio or chosen) and how a great home cooked meal ties us all together. I thought it was a beautiful story, and I highly recommend it.

In Bryan Washington’s new novel two men are reconnected after growing up together in Houston. Told from alternating perspectives Family Meal examines what it means to be family and our human moments.

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.