THE FAIRLEY BROTHERS IN JAPAN

Two brothers and former bandmates reconnect on a Japanese tour in Starkey’s novel.

Chris and Andy Fairley wrote two Top 40 hits in the mid-1980s, and they are introduced here at the 1988 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, performing to a diminished audience after their dud of a fourth album. They are only in their mid- and late-20s but already feel their music careers are over. And they are—until 34 years later, when the brothers reconnect in Tokyo in 2022 to perform on a cross-country tour after a sync from a Honda commercial puts their music, or at least one particular song, back in the ears of Japanese audiences. After years apart—Chris spent the intervening time in Los Angeles working a desk job while Andy traveled the world as a TEFL teacher (he now lives in Kyoto with his wife)—the brothers start small, playing their hit song five times in a row at a wedding by request and performing in unconventional venues, such as the back of a souvenir shop at a flower store. An online interview they give about their past gradually helps them pick up more fans; their answers are woven throughout the story, allowing the reader to learn more about the brothers’ personalities, ambitions, and unresolved tensions. (Reflecting on the past, Andy observes, “There’s been so much water under the bridge, the bridge itself washed away—decades ago. But the way you were talking this morning, it sounded like it all happened yesterday.”) The author does not shy away from presenting the flaws in his sibling characters: Andy once stole Chris’ girlfriend, the love of his life, and Chris struggles with dissatisfaction in comparison to his more adventurous sibling (amid reflection and regret, Chris begins to emerge from his shell and find some fulfillment in his present circumstances). Starkey deftly balances nostalgia, humor, and heartbreak throughout, providing authentic-seeming details about touring Japan while presenting a realistic story of two brothers coming to a better mutual understanding with age.

A wise and smartly told story of reunion.