Audrey Hepburn's Neck, by Alan Brown
Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, 1996
Alan Brown's story of an Asian man obsessed with Audrey Hepburn is an engaging tale of a young man, named Toshi, trying to carve a life for himself in Tokyo. Toshi comes from a small village, and a broken home.
The novel alternates between the story of Toshi's present (replete with a psychotic American girlfriend) and his past. The latter is the most interesting part of the book. Brown creates a mystery of Toshi's past, piecing together a history of a childhood clouded by the silence of parents holding back a significant secret.
As Toshi flounders to "find himself" as an adult, he realizes how little he knew about his parents as individuals. In a moving climax, oshi finds out the truth about his mother's aloofness, his parent's separation, and his own heritage.
Bloom's writing style is lovely -- at times exquisitely poetic. For example, this passage describing a scene from Toshi's childhood, before his mother left him and his father. Toshi and his mother are out for an evening walk, and pause to watch evening descend upon the sea:
"They both waited, listened to the shuffling behind them, the sounds of the forest accommodating the night. The sky grew black. Suddenly, far out at sea, there was a burst of bright orange light. The light bloomed silently, dancing wildly in the darkness."
Bloom displays a great talent for subtle humor in this novel, as well. I highly recommend this book as an entertaining look at the obsessions that often control and destroy us, and, trite as it may be, how love helps to heal old wounds.
This is Alan Brown's first novel.
