Harmless Like You

November 28, 2016
At the onset of Buchanan’s debut, a son shows up at the doorstep of his mother, Yuki, in Berlin after a 30-year separation. Jay’s there to settle Yuki’s inheritance—a house in Connecticut—after his father is killed in a car accident. The story of what prompted Yuki to abandon her family, as well as the details of Jay’s life as a New York gallery owner and recent father, unspool in sections stretching from 1968 to the present. Some parts are more effective than others. After her parents move back to Japan when she’s 16 and leave her in America, Yuki’s push to find love and purpose as an artist takes on a myopic urgency that teeters toward mania. It’s therefore no surprise that she drops out of school, stays in an abusive relationship too long before marrying Jay’s doting father, and becomes a suburban mother, all with creativity-crushing consequences. In contrast, Jay’s ineptitude—at staying loyal to his wife, caring for his “inarticulate pink flesh-sack” of a baby, and facing his emotions—reads like a series of temper tantrums. When mother and son bond over Jay’s ailing cat in Berlin, the union feels too easy given the depth of their estrangement. Still, Buchanan has a knack for mining the murky depths of what it means to identify as an artist, parent, and lover. The journey is sometimes tender, often agonizing—and everything in between.

January 15, 2017
Even the meek and mild can unwittingly cause long-lasting harm to the people they love.Jay was 2 when his mother abandoned him and his dad, and it's been many years since he probed the reasons for her disappearance. But now that he's a father himself, he worries that he'll be unable to love his daughter and sustain a relationship with his wife, Mimi. Will he, like his mom, be suffocated by domesticity? Will he be able to stifle the impulse to flee? On top of these concerns, Jay is in mourning. Shortly after Mimi gave birth, his beloved dad, Edison, suddenly died. Even more shocking, Edison left his Connecticut home to his ex-wife, Yuki, Jay's estranged mom. Thanks to a quick internet search, Jay discovers that Yuki now lives in Berlin and has become a somewhat successful artist. Jay's decision to pay her an unannounced visit--not only to have her sign the inheritance documents, but to get answers to questions he's obsessed over since childhood--unleashes long-repressed anxieties. Not surprisingly, when the pair finally meets, the encounter is awkward and tense, at least initially. Before their paths cross, however, the novel takes readers back in time to reveal Yuki's personal history. As you'd expect, it's intricate, layered, and complex, filled with missed connections and disappointments. Readers learn, for example, that Yuki was the only Japanese-American student in her New York City class, and while the novel doesn't directly address race, Yuki's isolation, and the resultant insecurity and depression it caused, paints a vivid picture of an unmoored woman whose emotional disquiet led her to become both victim and victimizer. A highly-nuanced, understated, and beautifully written debut.

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January 1, 2017

Buchanan's debut novel is an intriguingly told tale of a mother and the son she abandoned at age two. In 1968, when her parents return to Japan from New York, teenage Yuki stays behind, moving in with her best and only friend, Odile, and Odile's mother. Her son Jay's story, told alternately in first person (Yuki's story is in third person), opens in June 2016 with Jay as a new father. As the novel progresses, Yuki moves out to live with the abusive Lou and eventually finds refuge in marriage to a longtime friend who encourages her interest in art. Eventually, Yuki and Jay's worlds come together as Jay seeks out his mother after his father's passing. VERDICT While the author skillfully handles the alternating story lines, the focus on Yuki means that readers do not get a complete sense of Jay's upbringing without his mother, only the knowledge of his resentment toward her. Nevertheless, Buchanan's initial effort is a worthy page-turner for those who appreciate stories focusing on families and relationships.--Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA

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