SOURCE: A review of Audrey Hepburn's Neck, in The New York Times Book Review, April 28, 1996, p. 23.

[Below, Galef provides a negative assessment of Audrey Hepburn's Neck.]

Toshi Okamoto, the hero of Alan Brown's first novel [Audrey Hepburn's Neck], is a hick from Hokkaido now living in Tokyo. His father runs a noodle shop back home; his mother left long ago to work in a rustic inn. Toshi has found his niche as a comic-strip artist by day and an English student by night, taking lessons at the Very Romantic English Academy. His small circle includes Paul Swift, a gay American advertising copywriter, and Nakamura, the comic-strip studio boss, whose idea of encouraging hominess in the office is to rent a pet dog by the hour. Toshi's own personal quirk is his fascination with Audrey Hepburn, which began when he first saw Roman Holiday at the age of 9. Since...