Customer Reviews

Kissing in Manhattan

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I don't know how I stumbled upon this book or what particulary about it interested me, but I'm glad I bought it.

This quick read is comprised of several short stories, all revolving around different people living in Manhattan. At first, the stories appear unrelated aside from a few establishments in Manhattan being mentioned in each. The stories all seem to end very abruptly too, leaving you wanting more. This is not to say that the story wasn't good, however I felt a lack of closure to each one.

This continued until I got into the 4th or 5th story. By that time, I started seeing a pattern to these stories, and slowly it was as though each short story turned into a chapter in a novel. I was hooked.

I don't want to give away too much about the book because it really is a fascinating read. I'll tell you however that you can expect each story to deal with love, life, and sex, however bizarre.

I'd never heard of David Schickler before reading this book, however I'm now eagerly awaiting his next.

-Jen

Normally, I'm not a fan of short story collections (my own lunacy) or writers that are hailed by the so-called "hip" media (In this case I think it was Esquire). The whole David Eggers is finest writer we have train passed me by. Nevertheless, I bought Schickler's book--it sounded intriguing, was a first novel about young people and romance--or so I thought.

The reviewers here all have differing and interesting thoughts. I'm probably not going to have many original insights at this point, but I wanted to endorse this astounding work of fiction.

The first sign of how much I liked this is that is that I'm nervous that this will become a movie. I can see the the James-Rally-Patrick triangle becoming a film--and them casting Christian Bale in some absurd (patrick's word)attempt to capture the zeitgeist--yikes. The essence of this book is in Schickler's voice, his deceptively simple writing. The detail, the rich voice, the subletity of the writing.

The stories are all gently connected and it is fun to see small details and characters appearing again and again. The weakest story, by far, is the first one. Checkers and Donna. However, we are introduced to some themes and characters who will come up again. Several reviewers have touched on the weakness of the female characters--and while I don't even come close to agreeing with that assessment--Checkers and Donna might make you squirm. However, the rest of the book just traps you. I felt like a young James hiding in his dumb waiter and drowning out the rest of the world as I was propelled deeper into the story.

There is a change of pace--from comic to darkly comic to dark to light again. However, it works, if you are willing to go with Schickler. The magic is there--actual magic perhaps. Jacob's Bath is a moving & beautiful story. Rally and James make a couple, who, you care for deeply. The book touches on huge themes--themes I'd studied in literature classes from day one--grace, sins, and salvation (or remdemption).

Just who is Sender the doorman? Who is the mysterious JOhn castle--could it be...? Even Thomas Merchant seems otherworldy. I won't spoil this review with ruining the plot (esp. the last 3 chapters/stories), but there is some definate addressing of life's biggest issues. Salavation of some kind or another is found by the all the characters, even young actor Jeremy Jaxx (I think). Not an original theme, but starkly rendered at times (Patrick's "awful grace"), lyrical at others (Talking to Otis among others), and wonderfully romantic ("It can happen like that sometimes. The city can tilt its hand and let two people fall for each other as completely" as they did).

Nitpick if you will. I say spend that time reading and enjoying a welcome new voice to our American canon. You can keep your David Eggers, I'll hang out with David Schickler.

It's intriguing to read all of these reviews after reading this novel-in-stories -- what I found to be an assured, mythic, and entirely breathtaking performance. I came to the book with no knowledge of what it contained, and came away from it absolutely surprised. This is the kind of book that you can't read expecting it to describe contemporary life in New York. Instead, the author creates his own Manhattan, and imbues it with a mysterious magic that brings to mind fabulists such as Stephen Millhauser (an author who has also mythologized New York to similar effect in "Martin Dressler") If you're not willing to imagine this New New York with David Schickler, then don't read this book. If you're willing to be dazzled and delighted, then leave your skepticism at the door and simply enjoy the depth of the characters, situations, and the lovely writing. The only reason that I give this book four stars is that it is definitely a young book -- not tentative, but ambitious enough that Schickler gives us a broad view of his world without as much depth as I would have liked. Then again, maybe he wants us to imagine that for ourselves.

I too read "The Smoker" (now a chapter of "Kissing in Manhattan") when it was published in the New Yorker last June. I loved the story on my first reading and it's merited several rereadings. The same is true of this book. It's is funny, sad, mysterious and touching. If you wish to read a book containing characters that will make you feel cozy and comfortable, this isn't for you. But if you want to read a book that will make you think a little more about both the dark and light sides that exist beneath everyone's facade, this is it.

I thought "The Smoker" was the most harrowing study of addiction I've read since "Naked Lunch." I felt it inside me where I live, crawling around like some sort of small animal with horny spikes or scales or sharp protruberances of some kind. It was quite a story to make me feel that way! Honestly, I usually look at that Debut Fiction issue of the New Yorker and just say, "Hey Pidge [my beloved budgie], some more liner for your cage." Pidge usually just says, "Cheep-cheep!" in that wise, birdlike way. But in the case of Schickler I just had to read "The Smoker" over and over, wishin all along that the guy would up with a book of stories like that. And so he did. The work is urbane, witty, superficial, thoroughly professional; sort of like something Tobias Wolff might do if he were to wake up with a vicious hangover in a postindustrial loft district. I hope Schickler can come up with more like this because, boy, he sure has a lifelong paying customer in me. I do like that sort of stylish, yet rueful; smart, yet willing to learn; cynical, yet able to see the wonder of things kind of style that Schickler puts across like nobody else. Really, "The Smoker" changed my outlook on things. Gosh, what a gift.

While meandering aimlessly in a bookstore I picked this up, expecting to read it just to pass the time away on a lazy vacation. Upon reading I became thouroughly engrossed and found that the stories of the various yuppies living on Manhattan's upper West Side grabbed me and made me hungry for more page after page.

Sure, this book is not classic writing, but it is is a very cleverly intertwined story about various characters living in New York City and what goes on on the surface in their exterior lives contrasted with what lurks inside each character's head and how this influences their actions. This is the part that grabbed me. The views inside the characters' heads and their thoughts may have a dark brooding bent to them, but the refreshing and suprising part of this book is that they are not far from the average person's thoughts and especially probably not far from those of your average yuppie New Yorker trying to make it.

All in all I found the book fascinating and gripping page after page. I wanted the sequel when I was through.

When I first read an exerpt of this book in "The New Yorker" last year, I knew I would be seeing great things from the author in the future, and I have. This book blew me away. I haven't read anything in years that was populated with as many quirky, interesting, alive characters as "Kissing in Manhattan." Schickler is truly gifted at creating people you care about and remember.

I also really liked the way this book ties together -- not quite a novel, but more than just a collection of stories. By connecting the characters to each other through the apartment building, and by allowing some overlap from story to story, Schickler creates a smooth flow of narrative. Unlike typical short story collections -- when the reader must clear his mind at the beginning of each new tale and start fresh -- "Kissing in Manhattan" allows you to ease in to each story with a certain level of comfort. It's an oddly affecting device. Finally, the writing is consistently intelligent. I found myself marveling at certain sentences or paragraphs that were painfully evocative and beautifully written.

I predict that this book will be getting a lot of attention. Read it now to avoid the rush.

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.

I've been waiting for this book by David Schickler to hit the shelves since I read his stories in The New Yorker and that one in Tinhouse, "Jacob's Bath", last year. There has been a lot of hype around this book, and it is well-deserved. Thoroughly enjoyable. I love the way he describes a scene and the thoughts that run through the characters' minds in the course of dialogue. Each chapter introduces new characters and you feel like you know them almost immediately. I will be recommending this one to many. I also hope this new guy writes more stuff!

I must admit that by the end of the third story of David Schickler's "Kissing in Manhattan", I was almost ready to put the book aside. Being someone who has never failed to finish a book I've started, however, I diligently plodded on. And... I'm glad I did.

Written as a series of short stories about a group of rather eccentric Manhattanites woven together by a common theme, the Preemption Apartment Building, Schickler gives a very dark and sometimes bizarre glance into the inner-workings of the human psyche. The stories are brought to life with imaginative and descriptive passages that allow the reader to get a real feel for the characters and the scenes. Schickler is careful not to be so "over-the-top" as to teeter on the brink of surreal, yet he is colorful enough to keep the stories intriguing.

My caution - if you are looking for a good collection of short stories, I think you will be disappointed. While I thoroughly enjoyed the interweaving of the individual storylines, standing alone, I feel the stories leave the reader unfufilled (with one or two notable exceptions). This is likely why I didn't enjoy the book until I was several stories in and the characters began interconnecting. But given some perseverance, this book eventually delivers.

While I was originally going to give this book three stars, I realized that once I hit the fourth story, I couldn't put it down. To this reader, that is a testament to a good book so I bumped it up to four stars. Good work by Schickler and I look forward to reading more titles from him.