The Fruit Cocktail Diaries

Alternating entries from two journals chronicle the parallel experiences of two 20-somethings starting lives in New York City in this slight but entertaining novel. A conservative young woman fresh from an unfulfilling advertising job in Ohio and an adventurous gay man transplanted from Indiana seem worlds apart, but they both end up in the East Village waiting tables, partying into the night and looking for meaning in it all. Although they don't know each other, coincidentally each buys an identical cloth-covered diary (decorated with a fruit design, hence the title) in which they both record their feelings and slightly unusual pursuits. After several months, however, the Bohemian track grows stale for the diarists as they conclude that they are ready for a stronger swig of reality-and the responsibility that goes with it. As a result, the journals are discarded and both wind up at a flea market where they are purchased-and read-by a stranger. The clever structure and dual voices succeed in holding a reader's attention long after the litany of urban escapades has worn thin, while the anonymity of the the protagonists allows for a satisfyingly voyeuristic read. While some of the trendy references to bands, films and television programs will soon render it dated, readers who enter this offbeat world are rewarded with a vivid, often kooky, slice of '90s New York. (Jan.)