Awards

• Long-listed for DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2020 (UK)
• Long-listed for The Story Prize 2020
• Short-listed for NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award 2020
• Winner of DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2020 (UK)
• Winner of Lambda Literary Award 2020

Overview

Stories of a young man finding his place among family and community in Houston, from a powerful, emerging American voice. In the city of Houston - a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America - the son of a black mother and a Latino father is coming of age. He's working at his family's restaurant, weathering his brother's blows, resenting his older sister's absence. And discovering he likes boys. This boy and his family experience the tumult of living in the margins, the heartbreak of ghosts, and the braveries of the human heart. The stories of others living and thriving and dying across Houston's myriad neighbourhoods are woven throughout to reveal a young woman's affair detonating across an apartment complex, a rag-tag baseball team, a group of young hustlers, the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, a local drug dealer who takes a Guatemalan teen under his wing, and a reluctant chupacabra. Bryan Washington's brilliant, viscerally drawn world leaps off the page with energy, wit, and the infinite longing of people searching for home. With soulful insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot is about love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.

Full Product Details

9781786497864

Table of Contents

Reviews

Visceral and raw... beautifully delicate prose... A terrific read! * Irish Times * Compassionate, observant, tough; often funny, always authentic * The Big Issue * Brutal, raw and blisteringly brilliant... Outstanding. * Attitude * Stellar... a remarkable collection from a writer to watch. * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review * [F]unny, sad, wise & very alive in the best way * Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Sisterland (Twitter) * Lot belongs foremost to its characters, who ask to be remembered, even long after their pages have turned. * Paris Review * Extraordinary * Southern Living * Empathetic and honest, tender and brutal at once, Lot quips with humour and explores grief and each stop in between. Lot feels like a living, breathing book... As debuts go, these characters and prose leap from the page. * Heather McDaid, The Skinny * Washington's debut reads like a love letter to Houston * New York Times * Depicts its author's hometown of Houston with empathy, tragedy, and exceptional specificity * Entertainment Weekly * Will stay with you for a very long time... powerful * Jamel Brinkley, author of 'A Lucky Man' * Raw, empathic and wise... achingly intimate and brilliantly panoramic * Stefan Merrill Block, author of 'The Story of Forgetting' * A thrilling new voice in American fiction and one to watch * Amelia Gray, author of 'Isadora' * Raw, soulful and moving * Jami Attenberg, author of 'The Middlesteins' * Unflinching... a prodigious talent. * Mat Johnson, author of 'Loving Day' and 'Pym' * A brilliant display of raw talent * Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of 'Here Comes the Sun' * Generous, powerful, deeply engrossing * R.O. Kwon, author of 'The Incendiaries' * Lot spills over with life - funny, tender, and profane * Entertainment Weekly * Phenomenal * Justin Torres, author of 'We the Animals' * Washington's prose sings with vibrancy * The Rumpus * Washington cracks open a vibrant, polyglot side of Houston about which few outsiders are aware * New York Times * Stunning... one of the strongest literary debuts in several years. * NPR * A treat and an inspiration to witness * Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous * A superb book * Max Porter, author of 'Lanny' * Gut-wrenching and powerful * Cosmopolitan * Enthralling... Subtle but bruising * Guardian * Audacious... Profound * New York Times *

Washington has such an incredible skill at texturising people and their histories. Anything he writes next will be a game changer for me. * Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous * Visceral and raw, Washington's powerful stories are met with a beautifully delicate prose that reflect the fragility of life. A terrific read! * Irish Times * [Washington's] heartfelt voice rings out; compassionate, observant, tough; often funny, always authentic. * The Big Issue * Brutal, raw and blisteringly brilliant... Outstanding. * Attitude * Stellar... Washington is exact and empathetic, and the character that emerges is refreshingly unapologetic about his sexuality, even as it creates rifts in his family.... Washington is a dynamic writer with a sharp eye for character, voice, and setting. This is a remarkable collection from a writer to watch. * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review * [F]unny, sad, wise & very alive in the best way. * Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Sisterland (Twitter) * For every thrown fist and quickly whipped comeback, there is a quiet moment cleaning dishes, sitting in the Whataburger parking lot, or sneaking out on a lover in the night. Just as every city is created by its inhabitants, Lot belongs foremost to its characters, who ask to be remembered, even long after their pages have turned. * Paris Review * Bryan Washington makes his already much-lauded debut with Lot, a collection of extraordinary short stories set in and across the city of Houston that thrum with vitality and authenticity and are peopled with characters yearning for connection. * Southern Living * Empathetic and honest, tender and brutal at once, Lot quips with humour and explores grief and each stop in between. Lot feels like a living, breathing book... As debuts go, these characters and prose leap from the page. * Heather McDaid, The Skinny * Enthralling... In subtle but bruising prose, Washington deftly conjures an idiosyncratic world in which people live cheek by jowl...... Washington [...] possesses a compelling and seasoned writer's voice. * Guardian * Washington's debut reads like a love letter to Houston. * New York Times * This eagerly awaited short-story collection, excerpted in The New Yorker to much fanfare, depicts its author's hometown of Houston with empathy, tragedy, and exceptional specificity. * Entertainment Weekly * Lot will affect you the way that cherished and, sometimes, painful memories do, with a quality like haunting, a sense that the encounter you've had is undeniably real and will stay with you for a very long time. What a thrill to inhabit-to live in, to navigate-the stories and people that make up Bryan Washington's powerful debut. * Jamel Brinkley, author of 'A Lucky Man' * In his raw, empathic and wise debut collection, Bryan Washington's gaze works like a surveillance drone dispatched to a frenetic microcosm of America, a hovering intelligence that can take in the whole of a Houston neighborhood but can also descend with great precision upon the perfectly chosen detail. It's that astonishing versatility of his voice - at once achingly intimate and brilliantly panoramic - that makes LOT a vital new entry in the Texas literary canon and also makes Washington one of the most thrilling and promising writers to come along in years. * Stefan Merrill Block, author of 'The Story of Forgetting' * Bryan Washington gets Houston down on the page in a way I haven't seen before; the city, in his hands, is revealed in all its strange and righteous glory, a fresh sense of youth that's a pleasure to read. Bryan is a thrilling new voice in American fiction and one to watch. * Amelia Gray, author of 'Isadora' * Bryan Washington's voice has risen blazingly from Houston and now commands us to pay attention. Lot is as raw, soulful and moving as a story collection can get. It's my favorite fiction debut of the year. * Jami Attenberg, author of 'The Middlesteins' * Lot is the confession of a neighborhood, channeled through a literary prodigy. Bryan Washington doesn't render a world, he actually captures one, grabs it out of reality and holds it up for you to see it sparkle. Unflinching, romantic while refusing to romanticize; this is the debut of a prodigious talent. * Mat Johnson, author of 'Loving Day' and 'Pym' * Washington's subtle, dynamic and flexible stories play out across the city's sprawling and multiethnic neighborhoods... Washington cracks open a vibrant, polyglot side of Houston about which few outsiders are aware. * New York Times * Where has he been my whole life?! This collection of stories - all of which take place in Houston - is absolutely gut-wrenching and powerful, and will immediately transport you out of whatever bubble you're living in. * Cosmopolitan * Bryan Washington's writing is refreshing - a brilliant display of raw talent with gut punching stories that deliver with a lasting force. This is the literature that I've been waiting for. * Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of 'Here Comes the Sun' * What a book. This is a generous, powerful, deeply engrossing collection of stories that will crack open your heart then put it back together again. Lot is indelible, and Bryan Washington is an important new talent. * R.O. Kwon, author of 'The Incendiaries' * Lot spills over with life - funny, tender, and profane... Washington takes characters often consigned to the literary margins and drags them to the center - not as exotic objects of curiosity but as whole human beings, messy and defiant and drawn in full, vibrant color. * Entertainment Weekly * Lot is a phenomenal debut, the kind of stories I am always longing to read. I love the urgency, honesty, and vitality of Washington's voice. I love these characters for where they're from, and where they're going, what they know, and what they reveal about trouble and love. * Justin Torres, author of 'We the Animals' * There's an acute empathy in each of the stories, tenderness alongside brutality, generosity and humor in tandem with loss and grief. When the narrative calls for it, Washington's prose sings with vibrancy. His sensibilities are spot on. * The Rumpus * It's hard to overstate what an accomplishment Lot is. Washington [is] a keen observer of human nature; his characters are flawed but not irredeemable, and he writes about them with a compassion that's never condescending... A stunning work of art from a young writer with immense talent and a rare sense of compassion, and one of the strongest literary debuts in several years. * NPR * A superb book. * Max Porter, author of 'Lanny' *

[Washington's] heartfelt voice rings out; compassionate, observant, tough; often funny, always authentic. * The Big Issue * Brutal, raw and blisteringly brilliant... Outstanding. * Attitude * Stellar... Washington is exact and empathetic, and the character that emerges is refreshingly unapologetic about his sexuality, even as it creates rifts in his family.... Washington is a dynamic writer with a sharp eye for character, voice, and setting. This is a remarkable collection from a writer to watch. * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review * [F]unny, sad, wise & very alive in the best way. * Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Sisterland (Twitter) * For every thrown fist and quickly whipped comeback, there is a quiet moment cleaning dishes, sitting in the Whataburger parking lot, or sneaking out on a lover in the night. Just as every city is created by its inhabitants, Lot belongs foremost to its characters, who ask to be remembered, even long after their pages have turned. * Paris Review * Bryan Washington makes his already much-lauded debut with Lot, a collection of extraordinary short stories set in and across the city of Houston that thrum with vitality and authenticity and are peopled with characters yearning for connection. * Southern Living * Empathetic and honest, tender and brutal at once, Lot quips with humour and explores grief and each stop in between. Lot feels like a living, breathing book... As debuts go, these characters and prose leap from the page. * Heather McDaid, The Skinny * Enthralling... In subtle but bruising prose, Washington deftly conjures an idiosyncratic world in which people live cheek by jowl...... Washington [...] possesses a compelling and seasoned writer's voice. * Guardian * Washington's debut reads like a love letter to Houston. * New York Times * This eagerly awaited short-story collection, excerpted in The New Yorker to much fanfare, depicts its author's hometown of Houston with empathy, tragedy, and exceptional specificity. * Entertainment Weekly * Lot will affect you the way that cherished and, sometimes, painful memories do, with a quality like haunting, a sense that the encounter you've had is undeniably real and will stay with you for a very long time. What a thrill to inhabit-to live in, to navigate-the stories and people that make up Bryan Washington's powerful debut. * Jamel Brinkley, author of 'A Lucky Man' * In his raw, empathic and wise debut collection, Bryan Washington's gaze works like a surveillance drone dispatched to a frenetic microcosm of America, a hovering intelligence that can take in the whole of a Houston neighborhood but can also descend with great precision upon the perfectly chosen detail. It's that astonishing versatility of his voice - at once achingly intimate and brilliantly panoramic - that makes LOT a vital new entry in the Texas literary canon and also makes Washington one of the most thrilling and promising writers to come along in years. * Stefan Merrill Block, author of 'The Story of Forgetting' * Bryan Washington gets Houston down on the page in a way I haven't seen before; the city, in his hands, is revealed in all its strange and righteous glory, a fresh sense of youth that's a pleasure to read. Bryan is a thrilling new voice in American fiction and one to watch. * Amelia Gray, author of 'Isadora' * Bryan Washington's voice has risen blazingly from Houston and now commands us to pay attention. Lot is as raw, soulful and moving as a story collection can get. It's my favorite fiction debut of the year. * Jami Attenberg, author of 'The Middlesteins' * Lot is the confession of a neighborhood, channeled through a literary prodigy. Bryan Washington doesn't render a world, he actually captures one, grabs it out of reality and holds it up for you to see it sparkle. Unflinching, romantic while refusing to romanticize; this is the debut of a prodigious talent. * Mat Johnson, author of 'Loving Day' and 'Pym' * Washington's subtle, dynamic and flexible stories play out across the city's sprawling and multiethnic neighborhoods... Washington cracks open a vibrant, polyglot side of Houston about which few outsiders are aware. * New York Times * Where has he been my whole life?! This collection of stories - all of which take place in Houston - is absolutely gut-wrenching and powerful, and will immediately transport you out of whatever bubble you're living in. * Cosmopolitan * Bryan Washington's writing is refreshing - a brilliant display of raw talent with gut punching stories that deliver with a lasting force. This is the literature that I've been waiting for. * Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of 'Here Comes the Sun' * What a book. This is a generous, powerful, deeply engrossing collection of stories that will crack open your heart then put it back together again. Lot is indelible, and Bryan Washington is an important new talent. * R.O. Kwon, author of 'The Incendiaries' * Lot spills over with life - funny, tender, and profane... Washington takes characters often consigned to the literary margins and drags them to the center - not as exotic objects of curiosity but as whole human beings, messy and defiant and drawn in full, vibrant color. * Entertainment Weekly * Lot is a phenomenal debut, the kind of stories I am always longing to read. I love the urgency, honesty, and vitality of Washington's voice. I love these characters for where they're from, and where they're going, what they know, and what they reveal about trouble and love. * Justin Torres, author of 'We the Animals' * There's an acute empathy in each of the stories, tenderness alongside brutality, generosity and humor in tandem with loss and grief. When the narrative calls for it, Washington's prose sings with vibrancy. His sensibilities are spot on. * The Rumpus * It's hard to overstate what an accomplishment Lot is. Washington [is] a keen observer of human nature; his characters are flawed but not irredeemable, and he writes about them with a compassion that's never condescending... A stunning work of art from a young writer with immense talent and a rare sense of compassion, and one of the strongest literary debuts in several years. * NPR * A superb book. * Max Porter, author of 'Lanny' *

Author Information

Bryan Washington has written for the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, BuzzFeed, The Paris Review, Boston Review, Tin House, One Story, GQ, FADER, The Awl, and Catapult. He lives in Houston, Texas. BryWashing.com / @BryWashing

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