ASIANWEEK
There’s No Overkill with ‘Underkill’s’ Relationships
By Bert Sing, Special to AsianWeek, Apr 02, 2004
Like most thrilling detective novels, Leonard Chang’s Underkill has a
twist at the end, a totally unexpected turn of events that delights and confounds.
However, Allen Choice, the Korean American voice of the novel, has been updated
from a cynical private investigator to a private patrol officer involved in
executive protection. Rather than reside in the seedy underbelly of the city,
Choice lives comfortably in the dot-com boardrooms of Silicon Valley. And instead
of indulging in a hard-drinking, hard living lifestyle, Choice runs to keep
in shape and is forever in search of self-enlightenment. He even has a name
for his quest; he calls his philosophy “removement,” and he searches
for “engagement” and an end to “dis-ease.”
In Underkill, Choice has to figure out the circumstances surrounding
the death of Hector, his girlfriend’s brother. To do so, he has to leave the Bay
Area for Los Angeles. It is there that Choice confronts the requisite murders,
car chases and drug dealing of the crime genre. During his investigation, Choice
is also introduced to the rave counterculture. With Serena, Hector’s
ex and another Korean American, Choice explores this new environment learning
about map points, E and hardcore trance. Of course, Choice also learns
what happened to Hector.
With all that goes on, Chang certainly knows how to engage the reader
with fast-paced action scenes and realistic characters. However,
Underkill is more
than a crime story. It is really a novel about relationships. And
this is where Chang excels. In Underkill, Choice has to deal with what
seems
to be the inevitable
end of his relationship with Linda, his girlfriend of two years.
He also has to contend with a possible new love interest in Serena.
The
jealousy,
questions,
and self-abnegation that results is what makes Underkill great.
The questions are never answered, but can questions of love ever
be answered? The questions that Choice asks himself are revealing
in their
own way.
Why did we stop showering together? When did we start annoying
each other? Chang
has Choice examine these questions deeply, and in this way makes
Choice a complete person, a person with whom we can really relate.
At relationships Chang is exceptionally insightful. The arguments
between Choice and Linda ring painfully true, and the tentative
nature of his
new relationship
with Serena is certainly familiar. If only Chang could write
as well when he describes the security business. When Chang has Choice
talk
about PI licenses,
procedures and the law there is awkwardness to his prose. The
writing
is not exactly flawed, but there is a discontinuity with the
rest of the novel. When
Choice goes on and on about the details of the investigation,
there is an odd formality and earnestness. Instead of seeing the events
through the all-knowing
narrator, we suddenly feel that we have to humor the narrator,
just as
an adult sometimes humors a child who goes on and on about the
minutiae of his or her
life. Then again, perhaps Chang is giving Choice such a personality.
Maybe Choice is supposed to be so earnest.
Underkill is certainly an impressive work. Chang expands the
boundaries of the crime genre and creates real characters who
we care about.
The fact that
Allen Choice is Korean American is also a plus.
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