Harmless Like You

 

Harmless Like You by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are a lot of things I liked about this novel. I loved the epigraphs before the chapters about Yuki--little facts about a shade of color that show up again in the chapter. At first, I found the poetic style of the Yuki chapters to be almost distractingly metaphorical, but soon grew to appreciate the precise way each metaphor allowed the reader to see things the way Yuki saw them. The chapters from Jay's point of view were much less poetic; told in the first person it truly felt like there were two narrators, which I appreciated (I hate when different perspectives are told in the same voice). However, although there was some growth with Jay, it's hard to say what role Yuki played in it. Yuki's character seemed almost pathologically inclined to pick out the most self-punishing choices, and it was hard to see why. Jay was pretty despicable as well for most of the book. Very well written, but the story it told fell flat for me.

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Ketchup marks looked less like stains and more like kisses.