Buckman, Daniel 1967–

views updated

Buckman, Daniel 1967–

PERSONAL:

Born 1967.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Chicago, IL.

CAREER:

Writer. Military service: U.S. Army, served as a paratrooper.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Water in Darkness, Akashic Books (New York, NY), 2001.

The Names of Rivers, Akashic Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Morning Dark, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Because the Rain, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Daniel Buckman, who served as a paratrooper with the U.S. Army, has created a protagonist in his debut novel, Water in Darkness, who has just finished a tour. Jack Tyne's father died twenty years earlier while serving in Vietnam, and Jack has grown up without his influence and guidance, something he has dearly missed. He finds a substitute father in Vietnam veteran, now drug user, Danny Morrison, and although they make a connection, the relationship is not a smooth one. Danny tries to teach Jack to distrust everyone, an attitude Jack finds difficult to adopt. The lives of both men deteriorate, and Jack's disillusionment grows, based both on his own experiences and on the stories told to him by Danny.

John Kenyon reviewed the novel for the PopMatters Web site, writing: "The slim volume is a gritty tale rendered with tough, spare prose that fits the story like a flak jacket. On the surface it reads like your typical coming-of-age story. But the subject matter—the generation sent adrift because their fathers were scarred by the Vietnam War—gives this story a richness and depth that allow it to transcend the trite trappings of the genre."

Buckman's second novel, The Names of Rivers, is the story of a multigenerational family headed by Bruno Konick, who served during World War II and who participated in the liberation of Dachau. His sons Bruce and Len fought in Vietnam, and Luke, Bruce's son, is caught up with the memories of the former soldiers in his family.

Three generations of Illinois men populate Morning Dark. Big Walt is a World War II hero who built the family's wealth as a successful plumbing contractor. His son, Walt Junior, is a Vietnam veteran who has tried to live up to his father's expectations but who has failed at several marriages and in managing his father's business. His nephew has been dishonorably discharged and is attempting to reconstruct his life. Walt Junior retreats to a log cabin and is approached by teen drug dealer Shirley, who convinces him to let her process methamphetamine in the cabin, a scheme that leads to disastrous results.

Library Journal reviewer Thomas L. Kirkpatrick wrote: "Buckman is a master of character development and interpersonal analysis, and his slice-of-life tale of family dysfunction is right on target." "This is a book that won't be easily forgotten," concluded Betty Dickey in Booklist.

Mike Spence, the protagonist in Because the Rain, is a former paratrooper, now writer turned policeman, who is obsessed with Vietnamese prostitute Annie, as is one of her clients, Donald Goetzler, a tortured Vietnam vet. All become involved in the aftermath of a violent act that mingles the present with memories of times past.

Reviewing the novel in Booklist, Ian Chipman wrote that Buckman's writing ranges from "brusque, Hemingwayesque jabs to lilts of startling beauty detailing the tiniest gestures of longing." "It's a bleak but redeeming read," concluded a Publishers Weekly contributor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2002, Thomas Gaughan, review of The Names of Rivers, p. 1677; September 1, 2003, Betty Dickie, review of Morning Dark, p. 52; March 1, 2007, Ian Chipman, review of Because the Rain, p. 59.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2003, review of Morning Dark, p. 1030.

Library Journal, July 2002, Thomas L. Kilpatrick, review of The Names of Rivers, p. 115; September 1, 2003, Thomas L. Kilpatrick, review of Morning Dark, p. 204; March 1, 2007, Thomas L. Kilpatrick, review of Because the Rain, p. 68.

Publishers Weekly, April 29, 2002, review of The Names of Rivers, p. 39; September 1, 2003, review of Morning Dark, p. 62; December 18, 2006, review of Because the Rain, p. 38.