Harmless Like You
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- 3,99 €
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- 3,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
WINNER OF THE 2017 AUTHORS' CLUB FIRST NOVEL AWARD
WINNER OF A BETTY TRASK AWARD
'Announces a startling talent' Guardian
'This brilliant debut novel is cause for celebration' Lorrie Moore
Written in startlingly beautiful prose, HARMLESS LIKE YOU is set across New York, Berlin and Connecticut, following the stories of Yuki Oyama, a Japanese girl fighting to make it as an artist, and Yuki's son Jay who, as an adult in the present day, is forced to confront his mother who abandoned him when he was only two years old.
An unforgettable novel about the complexities of identity, art, adolescent friendships and familial bonds, offering a unique exploration of love, loneliness and reconciliation.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 BOOKS ARE MY BAG BREAKTHROUGH AUTHOR AWARD
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2016 JHALAK PRIZE
'A refreshing, bold book' Sunday Telegraph
'Slick and intelligent' Stylist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.