Description
David Bergen's highly original third novel follows the life, loves, and coming-of-age of sixteen-year-old Mason Crowe and the women he encounters - his tennis partner and first "love," Seeta Chahal, an older girl who is headed into an aranged marriage, and Ms. Abendschade, a charismatic teacher who opens Mason's eyes to the sensuality and the art of storytelling. Then there is Hyam Ferry, a wise and erudite blind man with a voyeuristic streak, to whome Mason reads.
All is not well in Mason Crowe's family. His father, a salesman, is away too much, and Mason's mother, an attractive woman, seems quite sure of herself and takes on a lover. Mason's duplicitous, competitive brother, Danny, a chef, has his own agenda.
And then, at the centre, there is Lena Schellendal, a girl who has "chosen" Mason and will teach him something of desire and despair. Wild, smart, impuslive, sexually provocative, vulnerable, and sad, Lena becomes haunting for Mason in ways he does not always understand.
In spare, precise prose, infused with intellectual layfulness and a deadpan humour, Bergen brilliantly and movingly captures the innocence, the wisdom, and the yearnings of youth, as well as the intricacies, the impossibilities, and the irresistible allure of relationships. He tells us something about what it means to be in the world.