Danger

A close observer of the bleak Manhattan landscape mapped by McInerney and Janowitz et al., newcomer Cymbalista delineates in her short stories the fragile milieus of young, disillusioned careerists. ``The Light in the Window'' describes minutely the emotions of a bond trader spending a stormy morning with her lover at the shore; birds kill themselves flying into a window, as she makes love and then feels herself losing all hope. ``Manhattan Boxes'' measures the progress of a woman's relationships by the contents of various characters' refrigerators. ``Choice'' tells of an adolescent's dependence on an abusive older man. Addictions and dependencies--on sex, graphically and coolly described, or drugs or alcohol--dominate the terrain; it is not a pretty place, and Cymbalista's reports are not encouraging. Yet they ring with authenticity, and when she ventures beyond, as in ``Alpine Sake,'' where the narrator confronts his incestuous attraction to his daughter, writerly accomplishment and promise bloom together on the page. (July)