"In between deep dives into the past are wonderfully moody, wholly immersive snapshots of the characters’ intersecting present lives, which both propel the narrative forward and contribute to some of its magic . . . a heart-wrenchingly honest, often luminescent exploration of how to find and cultivate true connections, sometimes in the unlikeliest of places . . . ['Palaver' is] an unshakable triumph.”
—Alexis Burling, The Washington Post
“Tender . . . Palaver is Washington’s third novel . . . and is a book that lunges ahead, demonstrating Washington’s maturation as a writer and artist, building atop the thematic and stylistic work debuted in his prior works with stunning realization.”
—Henry Hicks IV, Brooklyn Rail
“Textured and bracingly real depictions of queer intimacy, sex, family, and grief . . . Washington always writes complicated gays and complicated mother/son relationships so well, and [Palaver] continues that work.”
—Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya and Riese, Autostraddle
“[Palaver] is permeated by a deep affection for the city of Tokyo, its cuisine, its mass transit, its look and feel . . . The unpretentious way Washington writes about food is a throughline in his work, from Lot to Memorial to Family Meal. Somehow his simple menu descriptions are enough to incite ravenous hunger . . . Enough for the reader who appreciates texture and delicacy, queer authenticity, and a well-placed crisped oyster.”
—Marlon Winik, The Boston Globe
“Bryan Washington is one of the most sensual and emotionally captivating writers out there. His sparse yet resplendent style could be considered Hemingway-esque, but his terseness isn’t muscular, it’s musical, with a keen ear for the rhythms of speech and thought, the rubato ways that moods can change . . . With Palaver, Washington has again proven himself to be a genius of feeling, a writer who resuscitates our hearts with every word.”
—Eric A. Ponce, BookPage (starred review)
"A bighearted drama . . . The situation is rather straightforward, but Washington’s nuanced portrait of the gulf between mother and son and their difficulties bridging it offers keen insights into human relationships . . . The author’s fans will love this."
—Publishers Weekly
“Rendered in a taut, affecting prose, Washington’s third novel portrays a queer Black man’s attempts to reconcile emotions surrounding his estranged mother and conflicted relationships from Jamaica to Texas to Japan.”
—Hamilton Cain, The Boston Globe (Best New Fall Books)
“An intimate look at a young gay man struggling to reconcile with his family.”
—Time (Best Fall Books)
"[Bryan Washington] is at his best when drawing stark lines between distant cities and people. While Palaver drops readers directly into an argumentative and reeling household, the resulting novel is quiet, specific, and, ultimately, a uniquely beautiful read."
—CT Jones, Rolling Stone
“Tender and endearing . . . Count on Washington for stylish tales with emotional depth and, always, delicious-sounding food.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“It’s remarkable how delicately and finely Washington metes out the emotional journeys for both mother and son . . . He’s skillful at conveying the ways in which small, even tiny acts of kindness can heal . . . A patient, powerful analysis of the dual devotion required to heal a fractured relationship.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Few writers write about tenderness as Bryan Washington does—unadorned tenderness that is full of heart and humor but steers clear from familiar sentimentalities and convenient solutions. With deep understanding of human relationships, Palaver is a rare novel that offers companionship to solitary readers and lonely souls.”
—Yiyun Li, author of Things in Nature Merely Grow
“Palaver is the pinnacle of what has become Washington’s classic approach to writing: care, humor, tenderness, and an embrace of human beings at their most vulnerable, lovely, and wounded. It’s such a joy to see the summation of his generosity of thinking and living actualized in the sentence. Fiction—no—life is better because Washington is writing.”
—Ocean Vuong
“Gripping, beautiful, honest, unlike anything else on the bookshelf! A great work by one of America's greatest young writers, Palaver will break and remake your heart. A book I will be sending to everyone I know.”
—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less and Less Is Lost
“Palaver is an intimate, ambulatory, and deeply human reflection on family and home—on what we choose and what’s already chosen for us. It’s about our flawed attempts at loving and being loved, forgiving and being forgiven. It’s the rare novel that manages to be funny and sad and honest all at once—awake to the mundane miracles of our lives. Bryan Washington is one of a kind.”
—Rachel Khong, author of Real Americans
“The gift of reading Bryan Washington’s tender, funny, profoundly compassionate fiction is like sinking finally into a warm bath: a prose that stirs all those sore places that have lingered unspoken in us—and then meets them with Washington’s singular, achingly gentle attention, warmth, and solace. Palaver is a quiet knockout of a novel, a book like a yearning hand stretched out to the wide world (even if a car crashes into it!), and most of all a book that knows all family stories (that is, stories about all the possible definitions of family) are also love stories, complete with the heartbreak, loss and betrayal—but also the luminous hope of repair, recovery, and reconciliation.”
—Elaine Castillo, author of Moderation
“Palaver has my heart. The days have felt less heavy while I've gotten to spend time in the novel's capacious world and I can already tell I'll want to reread soon. Bryan Washington is a genius and you want this gorgeous book.”
―R.O Kwon, author of Exhibit
“[Bryan Washington] is a technically dazzling writer.”
—Alan Hollinghurst, author of Our Evenings
“Bryan Washington speaks for people who have too long been silenced, and the voice he has found for them is defiant, compassionate, decent and profoundly human.”
—Damon Galgut, author of The Promise
2025-07-17
A deeply estranged mother and son slowly, slowly learn to reconcile.
Referred to as “the mother” and “the son,” these two people—like characters inFamily Meal (2023) andMemorial (2020)—are equipped with the psychological tools needed to repair a wounded relationship but are almost entirely uncertain how to employ them. Truculent and alcoholic, he’s an English tutor in Tokyo but lately he’s been "forgetting his words." He’d moved to Japan a decade earlier partly, it seems, to escape his family in Texas, while his brother, Chris, who’d joined the Army, is now in prison. The son agonizes over his fractured relationship with his brother, another element in his perception that something is missing or incomplete in him. The son is sleeping with a man, Taku, who’s married to a woman; he’s seeking “clarity” from Taku about their relationship status. The mother and son hadn’t spoken in a number of years until he calls her one night but is unable to say much; the words he seems to want to say just do not emerge from his mouth, a physical manifestation of his emotionally stunted status. Suddenly, the mother takes two weeks off from her dental-office job in Houston, arrives in Tokyo, and promptly gets lost. It’s remarkable how delicately and finely Washington metes out the emotional journeys for both mother and son. The novel begins with the son’s embittered fury at his mother’s passivity and emotional distance, which becomes a begrudging détente, and then an eventual kindness toward her. She proves to be an adept and patient woman who finds her own way in a dizzying city, making acquaintances until her son lets her into his life. She seeks forgiveness for her past harshness, which her son initially refuses to grant. Washington imbues both mother and son with humane backstories, including the mother’s less-than-easy upbringing in Jamaica. He’s skillful at conveying the ways in which small, even tiny acts of kindness can heal: Returning home to his apartment late one night, the son notices the TV still on and his mother’s soft snoring, and he “slowly wedge[s] a pillow under the back of her neck.” In a less minutely observed novel, that would be an unremarkable moment, but it’s deeply affecting given the fine emotional calibration Washington employs.
A patient, powerful analysis of the dual devotion required to heal a fractured relationship.
2025 National Book Awards - Longlist, Long-listed
2025 National Book Awards - Finalist, Short-listed
