Lot | Bryan Washington

Lot is not your typical short story collection. Set to the background of a predominantly Black and Latin neighbourhood in Houston, Texas, most chapters follow the main character and his family while some are about other, slightly related inhabitants of the city. Bryan Washington’s writing feels as if you’re punched in the face and then given a soft kiss on the cheek by the same person. In the world he vividly describes, not being masculine enough and liking boys makes you a ‘maricón’, the slur being written in between lines as if it doesn’t hurt to be called names. In a 2020 interview with the Guardian Bryan Washington said: “There was a deeply conscious effort on my end not to write a coming out story but [to observe] the ways in which you continue to come out.” Not only has he succeeded in doing that, he has also written a beautiful observation of the many other aspects of people working, loving, cheating, fighting, moving and sometimes just being. 

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