Rating: 
Summary: a wonderful kind of strange
Review: Schickler's collection of stories are strange, but in a wonderful way. They are slightly surreal and absurd, but still believeable in an out there kind of way. Schickler's voice is one that draws the reader in to his world, and I look forward to reading more of his work. The stories in Kissing in Manhattan (which is a wonderful title for the book--I can't think of anything more appropriate) all center around one odd apartment building, Preemption, and the main characters and events of one story are secondary to the next. The best story in the collection is "The Smoker," which is an odd sort of love story that first appeared in The New Yorker and then later in the O. Henry Awards. All the stories in this collection relate to love, or sex at the very least. There is the very touching "Jacob's Bath" and "Telling It All to Otis." "Kissing in Manhattan" is a very strange sexual tale that contains no sex. One of the weak spots of the collection is "Duty," which is the only story that is told in first person. It is an interesting story, but it is a bit jarring to go from a certain distance between reader and narrator and then to jump in this close. It's a good story, but Schickler should have trusted the voice and distance that worked so well for the other stories. The other weak spot was the final story "The Green Balloon." Even though all the stories in the collection relate to each other (and they add to each other by reading each other), they can be taken as seperate stories. With the exception of the final story. It wraps up events from other stories and you can't understand it or truly enjoy it without having read several of the other stories. Still, this is a great collection from one of American letters' great new voices.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written and stylish, but wears thin
Review: The title of David Schickler's book, "Kissing in Manhattan," suggests love, frivolity and sophistication. Indeed Mr. Schickler is a witty stylist, pithy and amusing, yet his collection ultimately falls short. "Kissing in Manhattan" is like a nifty pop record. It's got some great, catchy singles, but taken as a whole it becomes tiresome. The corkers in Mr. Schickler's collection are "Jacob's Bath" and "The Smoker." Both stories highlight Mr. Schickler's macabre sophistication and his adeptness in creating a hyper-stylized reality (think Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson's "Rushmore"). "Jacob's Bath," about a married couple's odd nightly ritual, is a touching story about love and devotion, and "The Smoker," Mr. Schickler's ticket to fame when it was published in The New Yorker, is the collection's best treat. All the stories in "Kissing in Manhattan" are all linked by an imposing apartment building populated by quirky tenants who walk in and out of the various stories. This is where Mr. Schickler wears out his welcome--the characters with all their quirks become irksome and annoying. Every single character has a quirk or some strange habit, which leads the reader to play the game of "Guess the Quirk" with each character we encounter. Ultimately, it becomes readily apparent that the collection's style and quirky characters are means by which Mr. Schickler dresses up his wispy thin conceit. "Kissing in Manhattan" is entertaining and blessed with two or three high quality stories, but the book itself is frivolous and disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Intelligent, fresh & easy read
Review: This is a very nice collection of short stories full of interesting and controversial characters. David Schickler's style is intelligent and the pace is fast. The various characters are never fully developed, but Schickler provides just enough to let the imagination take over. Schickler may have intended this work to appear more like a portrayal of the lives and times of various people living in the same building in New York. Stories of love, sex, crime, hate, depression, success, failure and just about everything else; a story of life in Manhattan in 2001. These short stories are fresh and clever enough in their own right without having to share the tale of the Preemption Building and its old Otis elevator. The attempt to present a more unifying whole did not work particularly well for me and I disliked the overly contrived approach with which many of the characters appeared in different stories. I would have liked the stories better without the attempt to tie them together. Overall, this is a great easy read that will probably win a good share of 2001 book honors, enjoy!
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