Book Club

Book selection:  Palaver by Bryan Washington

It’s largely set in Shin-Ōkubo in Tokyo known for its diverse inhabitants and bustling Korean community. It’s a place Washington knows well, originally based in America he now resides full-time in Japan. The two main characters are referred to only as ‘mother’ and as ‘son’, a creative choice that emphasizes the social and cultural connotations and expectations arising from these kinds of familial designations, some of which are reinforced, some of which subtly undermined. Although it also underlines this mother and son’s inability to see each other as fully-formed individuals in their own right. The story shifts between their perspectives, revealing formative events from their past via inner thoughts and memories. The mother and son are effectively estranged, the son has been in Japan for twelve years, making a living as an English tutor. Now he’s grappling with the fallout from his long affair with married man Taku, and spends much of his spare time with found family in nearby gay district Ni-chōme.