Palaver

A Novel

By: Bryan Washington

Narrated by: André Santana

Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction

Named a Most Anticipated Book by New York, Time, the Boston Globe, Bustle, and Town & Country

A life-affirming novel of family, mending, and how we learn to love, from the award-winning Bryan Washington.

In Tokyo, the son works as an English tutor and drinks his nights away with friends at a gay bar. He’s entangled in a sexual relationship with a married man, and while he has built a chosen family in Japan, he is estranged from his mother in Houston, whose preference for the son’s oft-troubled homophobic brother, Chris, pushed him to leave home. Then, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, ten years since they last saw each other, the mother arrives uninvited on his doorstep.

With only the son’s cat, Taro, to mediate, the two of them bristle at each other immediately. The mother, wrestling with memories of her youth in Jamaica and her own complicated brother, works to reconcile her good intentions with her missteps. The son struggles to forgive. But as life steers them in unexpected directions—the mother to a tentative friendship with a local bistro owner and the son to a cautious acquaintance with a new patron of the bar—they begin to see each other more clearly. During meals and conversations and an eventful trip to Nara, mother and son try as best they can to determine where “home” really is—and whether they can even find it in one another.

With understated humor and an open heart, moving through past and present and across Houston, Jamaica, and Japan, Bryan Washington’s Palaver is an intricate story of family, love, and the beauty of a life among others.

"André Santana's narration matches the somber tone of this novel...[and he] tackles the Jamaican, Japanese, Texan, and Spanish accents and phrases of the many globe-trotting characters." — Kirkus

"[Narrator André] Santana is remarkably convincing as the distanced yet concerned mother, perfectly capturing her Caribbean-infused cadences...Santana glides between global accents—between hemispheres, cultures, [and] communities..."—Booklist


A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Excellent story and great premise

Novel exploration of a mother son relationships that was very realistic. Delving into family we r born with and the one we create for ourselves.

A wonderful book!

It felt like being in Tokyo. All the characters were interesting. Unique story about a mother- son relationship. Highly recommend.

Breathtaking

Breathtaking, beautiful story about a Black gay man in Japan and the tension that occurs when his Jamaican mother pays him an unexpected visit. Great dialogue between the two and riveting supporting characters. Book gives a detailed view of the lives of many non-Japanese who make Japan their home. There are even African markets that cater to African workers. Also detailed are the subway stations, shrines, neighborhoods, and customs. Bryan Washington had to have spent time in Japan in order to pull off this intimate view. The book is a treat and a satisfying meal in and of itself.