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Review

David Leddick’s novel I Don’t Kiss is almost completely lacking a plot and is ultimately pointless, although well enough written. The arc of the little plot there is covers several decades and goes back and forth in time between protagonist Peter Miller’s young adolescence and his late middle age. Much of the story is set in The Quaker Colony, a haven of the rich and upper-middle class on the border of New York and Connecticut. Among its inhabitants are many bygone real-life people like New York governor and presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey and famed newsman Lowell Thomas. The novel continues its namedropping when Peter, now a well-known entertainer who calls himself Peter Hawthorne, has lengthy affairs with actors like Tyrone Power and Tab Hunter. His enduring true love, though, is the slightly older Tim Harrison, whom he has known since childhood and with whom he has been infatuated ever since. Tim, however, wants to remain firmly closeted. They meet sporadically over a long period of time, always having great sex, but never committing to a relationship. In the meantime Peter has played on Broadway with Ethel Merman, made several movies, and conquered Las Vegas. Never forgetting his first love, he makes several attempts to find him before the admittedly poignant ending. A major problem in this first-person narrative is that Peter essentially remains a cipher, making it impossible to care about who he is and what he does. Even the title has nothing to do with the story, being a song that he has made popular.

 -- Roy Liebman