Lot is a series of short stories, set in Houston. Each story takes its name from a different neighborhood of the city, and looks at different aspects of coming to age as a mixed-race boy. The structure of the collection is interesting, alternating between the story of one family and other, unconnected vignettes. I found myself ultimately drawn to the connected narrative but enjoyed the other short stories too (except the baseball one, not a fan). “Lot”, “Bayou” and “Waugh” were perhaps my favorites out of the collection.

In all these stories, Washington takes on heavy themes—homophobia, racism, drugs, adultery—but he does so with clear language and at times humor. At times it feels like someone is telling you the story, with more informal language and structure. Few of the stories are happy, and even those that veer more in that direction have layers of sadness to them. But you all probably know by now that I love a good sad book, especially when it is beautifully written like this one is.

Washington has a new novel coming out next month, Memorial, and I can’t wait to pick it up.

TW: language; homophobia; racism; adultery; death; drug use