Bryan Washington’s writing is so gorgeous I’d be happy to read whatever he writes, but I’m glad he chose to write this.

A story of a mother and son (referred to as such throughout the book) spanning a mother’s first visit to her son since he moved to Tokyo years ago. The mother son relationship has been complicated by the distance and because of the mom’s favoritism towards the homophobic brother back home in the US. Now, the mom shows up uninvited to bond with her son, and ends up finding her own romantic journey with a neighbor as the son mostly goes about his day to day life. The son is an English tutor who frequents the local gay bar and is in a situationship with a married man, and prioritizes all these activities as he normally would instead of attempting to reconnect with his mother. Yet, in the little moments and trivial day to day things, we see the mother and son relationship bloom and evolve in a quiet and real but powerful way, just as we see both characters evolve individually.

Thank you to Netgalley & Farrah, Straus and Giroux for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the ARC!
4.25

This is my first novel by Bryan Washington and I must say I really enjoyed it. At first, I thought the writing style was a little hard to read but when I got into it I really enjoyed it - although I'm sure the lack of quote marks is not for everyone. I will probably check out his other books.

It explores complicated relationships which I enjoyed, although I thought there would be some more, I suppose, deeper moments of conflict. Although the whole novel was focused on the relationship between the son and the mother I still felt like it wasn't resolved by the end - and maybe that was the point, just how life is. My favorite moments were the ones about the son's friends and his whole circle - the way found family can be there for you even in the smallest of moments. I also thought there would be a bigger explanation to Chris and that whole situation because I feel like it would be a really interesting brotherly dynamic to explore. In the end, it felt a little like just a cut-out of a few moments of movie without the rest, which I'll admit I both liked and didn't. But I did enjoy it more than I didn't, I thought it was well-written and interesting, it flowed easily just like life.

Palaver takes place in Japan and follows a mother and son. The son lives in Tokyo and works as an English tutor. He has built a chosen family in Japan and is estranged from his mother who is in Houston. He hasn’t seen his mother for ten years mainly due to her supporting his brother, Chris who is homophobic. His mother arrives on his doorstep and wants to rebuild their relationship. The mother thinks of her youth in Jamaica and her brother. The mother has good intentions and as they spend time together, the mother and son cautiously start to fix their relationship.

This was really good and I really appreciate how this was focused on the relationship between a mother and son. Family relationships are very complicated and the relationship between the mother and son is no different. As the novel goes on the reader starts to understand the mother’s perspective particularly how complex her homophobia is/was. The son is happy with his chosen family in Japan but his mother’s arrival makes him look back on his relationship with his brother and that was really interesting. As always, Washington’s writing is compelling and I loved this novel for how quiet it was. It’s very soft and its impact sneaks up on you. In all of Washington’s novels the black gay experience is depicted and this had a lot of diversity that I enjoyed reading about. I had such a great time reading this and I would recommend this for fans of literary fiction. I also loved the Japanese setting of this novel.

3.5

I enjoyed this! I originally picked this up because the cover gave me 'late night film' vibes (a subgenre of introspective, emotional, slow movies filmed almost entirely at night), I was correct in that assumption. It created a vivid atmosphere with complex, flawed characters that felt like real people.

The story mainly follows 'the son' and 'the mothers' fraught relationship, both characters that are never given names, when the mother turns up unannounced at her sons home in another country. It delves into the past, showing the reader how things ended up the way they were and subsequently how both parties slowly began to accept and understand one another. There's also a decent amount about the sons queer friend group and people the mother meets when exploring her sons city. it's quite an insular and self contained novel, but it really works for what the author wanted to do.

Personally I found some parts a bit boring and drawn out, but that's partly on me for picking this up when I wasn't entirely in the mood 😭 the book lacks quotation marks and was confusing at first when the two main characters weren't given names, but I adjusted to it after a while. There were pictures at the beginning of every chapter and a few text threads towards the end if anyone's into mixed media lol

This is the 2nd Bryan Washington novel I’ve read, and as with the last one, it was a breeze to read; written in his simple but compelling and graphic style. He doesn’t need to explain with descriptions or adverbs how a character looks at someone. The reader should be intelligent enough to decipher the look. Even with such a simple style, the reader is able to see all the action and nuances of a scene. It’s a bit unusual to merely call the two main characters "the son", "the mother", but somehow it works. An absorbing read right up to the end, when we know why the son called the mother and why she flew all the way to Japan.

Thank you to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an eARC in return for an honest review.

Palaver takes place in Seoul and follows two unnamed characters, the mother and the son. The son has left home in Texas to live in Korea and has been nearly completely estranged for ten years from his mother and his incarcerated brother. His mother has flown to Korea to attempt to make amends with her son, the son does not want to forgive her.

I really enjoyed that the mother was not just there as a character to give a conflict for the main male character, throughout our time with her she reminisces about her life before having her children and has her own motivations throughout the main story of the novel. Often stories like this can fall into a sort of "coming of age" vibe, where the main son/daughter/child just has these family members they dislike, and we never get to see the other side of it. Palaver absolutely did not fall into this trope which I appreciated.

Unfortunately, it felt a bit too poetic for me at times, some of the metaphors that were used fell a little too far into cliché. But overall, I thought this was a solid story of complicated relationships of the familial, romantic and platonic kind, which I always enjoy. I just felt it was missing a bit of spark that I can't put my finger on. I almost wish we got more of the son just hanging out at the gay bar with his friends, as that was the most heartwarming, real-feeling aspect that we got many glimpses of. I just never truly felt like I got the time to get to know all of them fully.

As always, Bryan Washington delivers beautiful prose. The relationship between mother and son is fraught but fascinating. That said, I wish the book had more narrative drive. Washington’s voice remains distinctive - warm, confessional, and cutting when it needs to be. Themes of queer identity, grief, and belonging are explored with depth and nuance, though not every story lands with equal impact. PALAVER confirms Washington’s place as a vital storyteller of our time. It is a messy, beautiful exploration of human connection that lingers long after the final page.

In Palaver, Bryan Washington offers us a gently deep book that vibrates with emotional intimacy and authenticity. He seeks out identity, queerness, loss, love, and family. Most resonant is the gentle peace within acceptance: not the neat, glossy variety, but the rough, lived-in variety that comes from loving over and over again.

What's left most behind is the sense of peace that becomes not in perfection, but in raw, imperfect spaces of love and acceptance. His work makes space for vulnerability without spectacle, where softness and hurt can rest together.

Palaver is not just a book, it's an invitation to sit through the quiet with yourself and others, to absorb the many faces that connection and healing take.

Unfortunately, since this could not be sent to my Kindle, I am unable to read this book. It’s sad because this is one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

Palaver gives us a glimpse into the dynamics of family, and how we build the feeling of home within our spaces and within people.
I liked the scene set for this story, urban Japan, full of many types of people that interact with The Son and The Mother.
The scenes where The Mother was exploring and meeting people were enjoyable, as it was a new experience for her.
I wanted to enjoy this one, but I felt that it was difficult to get into the story and immerse myself. I found that The Son was just kind of there and The Mother was desperately trying to cling to him.

I neither loved nor disliked this one overall
I think this would be good for those who enjoy digging into family dynamics, finding yourself and learning to grow.

I didn't see any reviews mention this but I was quite bummed that this was not an arc I could read on my kindle! I've never encountered that before and it set things off on kind of a bad foot, as I was super excited to receive this e-arc and then unfortunately had to read it on my phone, not ideal.

that said, I did still enjoy this book and it might be one of my favorites from Washington. I do feel like, having read his other novels, a lot of his characters are the same (based on himself?), and the themes explored are all a bit redundant, which is a little disappointing as I'd love a little more variety. that said, I don't think that is too relevant when reviewing the book singularly, and I do think this one stood out for some reason, maybe just in that Washington's writing has ultimately still evolved, which I was glad to see. I liked the setting, the complex parent-child dynamic explored, the son's queerness and exploration of identity. I was frustrated by him often and didn't always agree with the decisions he made but I spose that makes for good fiction.

I don't think this story had a lot to say that Washington's other books haven't already said, which again, was a bit off-putting, but I still connected with it easily and powered through the iphone read because it was still a book I really wanted to finish! 3.5 stars rounded up~

1. An unnecessarily elaborate or complex procedure.

2. An improvised conference between two groups, typically those without a shared language or culture.

Palaver as a novel encompasses both of these ideas: unnecessarily elaborate procedures and an improvised conference between 2 individuals about a shared language or culture. This story begins with the “son,” who is never given a government name, and the “mother,” which allows the reader to slip into the role of the mother or the son. The son lives in Japan and has been there for the past seven years, and in that time he hasn’t visited his mother in Texas. The son has a complicated relationship with his mother, which is punctuated by phone calls where each forgets the time change and seemingly has very little to express to the other. Until the Son makes a call to his mother at 2 or 3 AM, his time, after a brush with the idea of jumping onto the subway tracks. As every mother knows, this phone call was unlike other ones from her son, even if he brushes it off as nothing. The mother then books a ticket to Japan to see her son the week before Christmas. 

This moment is where this complicated family story begins. What happens when two people, who yes are family but have nothing else connecting them, are forced to share a small apartment together for several weeks? This book is filled with complicated emotions, fights that never happen or do happen, old memories, and tears. The son has made his life in Japan, and the mother is upset about a multitude of things. Like why won’t the son return home and live in Texas? Why doesn’t the son appreciate that she came all this way to see him? Why won’t the son talk to his homophobic brother who is in prison? To the Son, the answer to all of these questions seems simple, but they aren’t enough for Mother. The story continues with both the mother and son orbiting each other in space but never quite making contact, and the son often leaving to do things in his own life to avoid complicated and emotional conversations with his mother. 

This piece of contemporary fiction weaves both the Mother and Sons stories together in a complicated tapestry that connects their lives together. The Son is a Black, American, gay man living in Japan and his connections to other gay transplants living in his city. He has a complicated relationship with a married man named Taku, which becomes even more complicated as the story progresses. There is Alan, the local gay bar bartender who is trans and keeps a motley crew of connections with his bar patrons. Along with the Sons English students who care about him far deeper than he may realize. The mother also gains a connection during her time in Japan with an older bakery owner named Ben. While the mother and son have difficulty connecting to each other, the people around them help them gain perspective on the situation at hand. 

This book for me was excellent, as I am a person who loves complicated characters and even more complicated lives. This made me think about my own connections in my life and the ever-complicated relationship one can have with their own mother or father. This book weaves back and forth from the mother’s and the sons perspectives, and their voices and thoughts are distinct enough that it isn’t difficult to place whose perspective you are in. The story also isn’t told linearly but rather threads you through the past, present, and future as it sees fit. Going from the present moment with the Son moving in a way reminiscent of the Mother’s brother, then to the past to the Mother’s youth when she lived in Jamaica. In November when this book is set to be published, I can imagine readers enjoying this complicated family story under a blanket with a cup of hot tea, while they question their own place in their life and the connections in it.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of Palaver.

I had just read Memorial, which gave me a bit of mixed feelings, but this one Ireally enjoyed. Humor, tenderness, conversations... It has it all. I like most the fact that we don't have a lot of names to work with, as a reminder of how the relationship between the mother and the son watches over all their lives, as a signal that their identity is entwined, no matter how little they talk. I specially loved the mother exploring Tokyo and trying to understand such a different pace of living, and all the not-really-conversations that she exchanges with the son. I found Palaver more layered and thought-provoking and finishing the book left me with a bittersweet hope, which I think is Bryan Washigton's strongest power. I have a couple of friends I already know I will reccommend this book to, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

Wow, wow, wow. I devoured this book.
Bryan Washington absolutely nailed it with Palaver. This story felt like a warm, complicated, heartbreaking hug. It’s about a mother and son, oceans apart in more ways than one, finding their way back to each other—awkwardly, painfully, beautifully.
The way Washington captures queer life in Tokyo, mixed with family trauma, cultural memory, and the messiness of love (romantic and familial)? Just... chef’s kiss. Every character felt so real. The son’s queer circle in Japan, the strained yet tender interactions with his mother, even Taro the cat—each added a layer of texture that made this book feel alive.
Also, can we talk about how stunningly it moves between places—Houston, Jamaica, Japan? It’s done with such fluidity, such care. The writing is intimate and funny and aching all at once. One moment I was laughing at a snarky line, the next I was tearing up at a quiet memory.
If you love stories about identity, family, and finding home in unexpected places, Palaver is absolutely for you. I’m still thinking about it. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

palaver brought something new to the table, moving forward from the stereotypes and everything, this book frustrated me a lot but it was all good, it was engaging to read this book!!!

This was a really, really good book. It's so sensitively written, and every single character is treated with just so much respect and love, even though they're all flawed in their own incredibly human ways. And the way Washington writes about different places, especially about Tokyo—the photos certainly helped, but his words alone were enough to paint this truly meaningful depiction of the city. He makes it feel like home for the reader, and that's truly special.

The prose is to the point but every page just drips with emotion, and one of the most incredible things about this book is how it makes you feel all of it. You're not just reading or spectating, you are gently pulled into the story, deeper and deeper, until you get to the last page and realise you don't have the words to express the feeling you've been left with. So good.

rated: 4 stars

in the same vein as the last book i read by this author, this is truly a book about nothing. people go places, meet people, and go home. somehow without any sort of plot, this remained incredibly compelling. it was such an intimate look at the healing of a relationship between a mother and a child, while still portraying them as fully fledged people with life experiences the other doesn’t know about. the book flips jarringly between perspectives and in time, but here i felt this worked well. it helped me to feel the inner turmoil in and between our two main characters - how their thoughts were both on what was happening now and also the things that happened in the past that shaped them, and all of these thoughts happening simultaneously.

the only thing i felt was missing in the story for me was the actual reason that the relationship between our two main characters fractured. there were times where you kind of got the idea - flashbacks where the mother sided with chris in offensive situations for example - but it was never clear what the final straw was or why the son moved to japan in the first place. i’m not sure though if adding this however would have added something to the story or taken something away. it just felt like some of the context was missing.

i found the photographs embedded in the book to really help immerse me in this read. they created a sense of atmosphere that was so engrossing, because they allowed me in my mind to envision the specific places these events were taking place, really forcing me to think about japan and the setting of this book and not just imagine the scenes taking place at some “generic location” as i can often do.

"Imagine. Reaching into fire for flowers. It's too much."

I'd heard of Bryan Washington and was interested in trying one of his previous books when I got word of Palaver, so this ended up being my entry point into his work.
The book is a short and easy read, the prose is clear and the plot is quite straightforward, even if the storytelling is broken between current and past events. Palaver tells us about an immigrant gay man living in Japan and the visit from his estranged mother, herself a Jamaican migrant.
Bryan Washington doesn't tell the tale, as much as he lets it emerge from the random events of unplanned and unprepared coexistence. The son and the mother show the reader a meandering path from complete misunderstanding to odd small talk to short purposeful conversations violently broken to unexpected moments of connection. Palaver is the story of having to improvise overcomplicated nonsense just to get a chance to make some emotional sense. And how that may or may not happen, whatever one might think is deserved, fair or good. It is also the enumeration of non-essential moments for the story one is telling, moments that could be showing us how the characters are slowly changing or doubting, but other than that offer little to "a plot". Their other significant connections are also covered, especially the son's, a couple of them with some depth and consequence.
Despite all these potentially interesting points, I was never enthralled by Palaver. I can't really say if it was the writing that wasn't emotional enough or philosophical enough when I needed it, or even if some recent very charged reads had left me numb to less deep explorations.
In the end, I considered this a good read and would eventually read another work by Bryan Washington, but I'll wait for the reviews to know if it is the right book and the right moment.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I can’t believe I haven’t read Bryan Washington until
now!

Palaver is the story of a gay, Black American man living in Tokyo whose mother shows up uninvited on his doorstep. They spend the next two weeks, coexisting and coming to terms with their complex, emotionally wrought relationship.

The mother-son relationship is the bread and butter of this story, and it’s a rich one. As a queer reader, I feel deeply for both characters and can identify parts of myself in the text. But the other prominent character is Japan itself, and it won’t disappoint. This book feels like a love letter to Tokyo, and the beautiful photos add to the already iconic setting. Some may think this story is slow, but I found it to be the right pace, making it a quiet read while still having momentum

As a fan of lit fic, I adored every second of this quiet yet tense story. The relationship is one that will stick with me for a long time.

In which Washington cosplays as expat to create the imaginary inflated distance and indifference within a fraught relationship between gay son and mother. In the end, it plays out like an A24 picture best represented as trailer and totally forgotten as film. Some beautiful lines here and there, but too long for its own good, and perhaps because this feels like trial and error of a short story too long in its own form, yet not immense enough to be a novel. Some interesting points between the identity of foreigner, tourist, expat, and foreign worker, especially within the queer scene.

But when you really look at it, Washington only manages to graze the surface of Ni-Chome in a polished short-form Tiktok kind of way without really characterizing it from being one of the gay meccas of East Asia. The eye on this district remains touristic, never once delving deep into an actual place. It becomes caricature. Made-up. Bloated with all air. And that sums up most of the writing in its MFA approach — a story for the campus workshop best printed double-sided and double-spaced on A4 paper, held together by staples, not bounded, like a book.