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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.085089206642
EAN: 9780758200884
ISBN: 0758200889
Label: Kensington
Manufacturer: Kensington
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 294
Publication Date: 2002-05-01
Publisher: Kensington
Studio: Kensington

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Great Story, an Okay Story, and Two REALLY Bad Stories
Review: Four stories, only one that's worth reading. Kenry manages to present himself as a competent writer, with an amusing cast of characters that manage to be only amusing and nothing else. This is only a problem because Kenry tries to make an actual love story, which doesn't work with characters as shallowly drawn as his. The story is a fluffy summer read, and he makes the egregious mistake of forgetting it. Mann's characters aren't even amusing--they're annoying. Four chapters in, the ending is already obvious, and reading the rest of the book simply to find out if some twist of an ending was waiting at the conclusion proved utterly pointless. The final writer in the book, Tyler, is the least competent author of all (and after Mann, I thought it was going to be hard to get any lower). His characters are so poorly constructed that they make Mann's characters seem entertaining in comparison. Somewhere in the story are little glimmers of ideas that might have been creative at first, but Tyler's utter ineptitude destroys any artistic merit the story might have claimed. Why his story ended up last is an utter mystery to me. I not only consider his work the worst in the book, I am loathe to call it professional work at all. Somewhere in the literary world, a piece this bad must be a crime.

It is Schnell's story, Outline of a Torso, that redeems the book from one star to three. His character construction and syntactic style are within the range of a fluffy summer read, but the characters, while more or less flat, stay consistent, believable, and at times, surprisingly endearing. Reader, be on the lookout for symbols and themes, pathetic fallacies and hidden character motifs--the little nuances that really make a story worth reading are all tucked into Schnell's beautiful writing! Even though Schnell takes the liberty of suspending some belief, his intelligent but playful style carries the reader along smoothly through his story of joy, infatuation, shame, revenge, and empathy. The love story, of course, could make do with a little tweaking, but then again, if it were an actual love story, it wouldn't be in Summer Share now, would it?

I give Kenry two stars, Mann 1, and Schnell 5. Tyler, I give negative 1 stars, and that all averages out to be around two stars. Still, no matter how horrid Mann and Tyler are, my opinion is that Schnell is worth the read.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A CELEBRATION OF GAY LOVE!
Review: All four stories are great and I have a wonderful time reading them. My favorite is "Outline of a Torso". Like one of the reviewers, I wish Schell has extended this unique short story into a novel. Schell has written a gem and one wishes there is more. "Sugar Daddy Summer" is commendable and it is worthy of Kenry. Mann is one of my favorite writers and has proved himeself once again with the relatively light hearted "The Perfect Husband". I never like Tyler's style but "Satisfaction" is a fun read and has less "Hollywood" influence which I dread. Do yourself a favor and get this book.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Frothy, fluffy but with a bit of a bite...
Review: 4 simple stories of finding and rediscovering love, gay-style... I find that in 3 of them, they fall in love way too fast and the resolutions are way too pat and too perky. BUt who wants to read a party-pooper of a book in the bright, sunny days of summer anyway. But they are all charming in their own way.

But I gave this book 5 stars just because of 1 story - Andy Schell's The Outline of a Torso. It is light, unassuming and sweet at the start but suddenly, you willingly allow yourself to get swept up in the story in order to discover the tangled relationship between Rusty and Ethan. Schell sets up situations and uses other supporting characters to pave that way for a happy ending, but he does it so cleverly that I wished that he could have turned this short story into a novel. I would have loved to delve deeper into this rediscovery of first love.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Maded me believe in love!!
Review: I didn't know what to expect when I purchased Summer Share. The only reason I bought the book was because I wanted to read more gay authors and figured that I could hit 4 birds with one stone. It was the ultimate surprise!

I immediately became engulfed in the worlds that each author created. In this world, true love was paramount and although each protagonist had his share of heartbreaks, each man never gave up hope that one day they would find what they were searching for.

I would recommend this work to anyone, and will probably make my friends read it. If you enjoy reading love stories or are weary of every falling inlove again, this is the book for you! It will change your perspectives and give you hope!

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Maybe 2.5 stars, but not three
Review: As far as beach reading goes, this book is the ultimate beach read. I would have loved to have had this book around 15 years ago when I needed it. Now, I just see it as 4 paint by the number stories that portray gay life as shallow, unsatisying and sadly hollow. Many of these stories end up with the same plot twists (which any astute reader can see coming a mile away)and cookie cutter characters who seem to think only of sex, liquor and men (not always in that order.) The worst offender is Ben Tyler, who wraps up the collection. Tyler has a lot to learn about writing, with his junior high-level style writing and jaw droppingly bad similes. The other three stories fare a bit better ... but not much. Characters fall in love in minutes, hearts are broken, men are cast aside like Kleenex, and the reader is supposed to think "Oh, what romance!" The two middle stories, "A Perfect Husband" and "The Outline of a Torso" fare somewhat better since the writing style is a bit more professional, but the stories themselves are a bit weak and suffer, as the other two stories do, from protagonists who are so self involved and shallow that they left me cold.

This leads to the question as to why I bothered to even give it 2 and a half stars? The reason being is that while this book is not something I liked or go for, why CAN'T we have such books? After being fed a steady diet of similar stories in our lifetime from a heterosexual point of view, the gay community should also have a variety of nice, frothy reads, even if I realized I don't like this style book. As I said, had this book been around 15 years ago when i needed it, I'd have loved it. No doubt there are guys out there who need this book now ... and it's important that it's here, whether I like it or not.

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