Reviews in Brief Momoko Tenzen's Manhattan Love Story

Every once in a while something slips through the cracks and you find yourself scratching your head and saying to yourself "I don't believe that." That's my story with Momoko Tenzen's Manhattan Love Story. What I don't believe is that I haven't given it a notice here.

This is another one of those collections of related stories, centered on Diamond "Dan" Loving, a florist in New York City. His lover is Rock Melville, a young, high-powered executive who happens to own, among other things, the shop from which Dan works. Another set of stories involves Kirie Kanan, Dan's co-worker in the shop, and Kenji, a young Japanese student visiting New York. The story about Kenji's young cousin, Rafael, and a teacher in his school takes us a few years into the future, then we come back to now for a sweet comic tale about Rock's secretary, Jessie Cry, and his spiky, difficult lover Lou.

These are more of Tenzen's low-key stories, subtly told and worth thinking about after you read them -- there's probably something you missed. They are, as is the case with her stories, character-driven, and the characters are richly drawn and easy to like. Dan's insecurity about Rock, Kirie's angry hurt when Kenji seemingly forgets him, Rafael's confusion about Mr. Austin, all ring true -- even Lou dropping his grouchy facade long enough to reassure Jessie about his place in Lou's heart has reality behind it.

And of course, there's Tenzen's drawing, which I love. Even in this early work -- 2002 -- it's elegant and expressive. And this is her best cover, at least insofar as giving an accurate idea of the interior art.

OK, it's not up to the level of Seven or The Paradise on the Hill, but if you want to spend a nice hour or two with something charming and romantic, this is a good one to put on your list. From Juné.

(Irony note: I ran across another "review" of this one, as well as another of my favorites, Satoru Ishihara's God of Dogs, that panned both of them. An object lesson in what happens when you don't put your preconceptions aside. Besides, the fool should have known that you never pay attention to cover copy.)