I'm continuing my love affair with the work of Momoko Tenzen.  Manhattan Love Story, a collection of closely related stories, just came out in April, and I made sure to get a copy.

The core of the book is the romance between Diamond "Dan" Loving, a florist in Manhattan, and Rock Melville, a high-powered CEO who owns, among other things, Dan's flower shop.  They're both pretty busy men, so they don't get to see each other very often.  There are side stories woven throughout the book, about Dan's co-worker, Kirie Kanan, who falls in love with a student from Japan, Kenji; one set a few years later about Kenji's young cousin, Rafael, and a teacher in his school; and one about Rock's "secretary in training," Jessie Cry, and Lou, his prickly and eccentric lover.

These are, as one might expect after having experienced Tenzen's other works, low-key stories.  The most drama comes from Kanan and Kenji:  Kenji has to return to Japan, but promises that he won't forget Kanan and he will come back to go to school in New York, a promise that seems to have been forgotten.  Their reunion is a high-tension thing, Kanan being a fairly volatile character.

Rafael's problem is slightly different:  thirteen-year-old Rafael happens to see a teacher, Mr. Austin, having sex with another student in a tool shed on the school grounds.  He's completely freaked out, to the point of becoming physically incapacitated; Mr. Austin carries him to the nurse's office.  Rafael's sister tells him about the rumors surrounding Mr. Austin, and observes that she doesn't like him:  his eyes are cold.  But Rafael remembers how gentle they were when Mr. Austin was carrying him.

Jessie and Lou are a delightful couple, obviously well-suited to each other.  Jessie is hung up on their eight-year age difference -- Lou is older, and Jessie's not sure he takes him seriously -- but nevertheless mothers Lou mercilessly.  Lou complains about it, and eats it up.

The three stories about Diamond and Rock are perhaps the most subtle and ultimately the most rewarding.  Diamond is insecure about his relationship with Rock -- he characterizes them as "the prince and the peasant" -- but finally realizes that not only does Rock truly love him, but maybe he needs to be a bit more open about his own feelings.

These are early stories, dating from 1998-2000.  The art, while recognizably Tenzen's style, hasn't quite reached the degree of finish evident in The Paradise on the Hill and Seven, but it's still seductive:  spare, delicate, and remarkably expressive.  The characters are the driving force in all these stories, most evident in the fireworks between Kanan and Kenji, but the motivator in all.  There's not a lot of drama in these stories -- it's much more a slice-of-life kind of flow, thoughtful and understated.  They are delicately drawn but with an underlying strength that becomes clearest in retrospect.

I confess I was somewhat taken aback on my first reading of this volume, but they grow on you, these little gems:  I can't seem to leave this book alone.  Yes, of course I recommend it.

Recommended: Yes