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for the speech patterns of his native region, which gives authenticity to his plays. It is Jacqueline's eye for colors and shapes that enables her to create striking sculptures out of castoffobjects. Jacqueline creates her own patchwork life from bits and pieces: her family heritage, her random relationships, her native grit. Face of a Stranger by Yoji Yamaguchi HarperCollins, 1995, $18 Japanese author Yamaguchi's debut novel is a revenge comedy about Japanese "picture brides," set in America in the early part of this century. The story begins with Takashi Arai, an irresponsible immigrant houseboy, whose only merit is his extremely handsome face. Unbeknownst to Takashi, his photograph is being used as that of a prospective husband to entice young Japanese brides-to-be to immigrate. At the end ofthe journey is no husband; instead the young women are forced into prostitution by the evil pimp, Kato. The central character is Kikue, one of the deceived picture bridesturnedprostitutes , who sees Takashi one night and recognizes him as the handsome man whose photograph lured her. She and her friend Shino plan revenge, and hilarious chaos results. Yamaguchi's cynical view of humanity is offset by his mastery of comic technique. This is a classic tale of mistaken identities, punctuated by slapstick and plenty of sharp, refreshing wit. Reviews by: Seth Bro, Anthony Butts, Andrew Careaga , Mary Creger, Virginia Fick, Jeff Galbraith, Reeves Hamilton, Kristen Harmon, Willoughby Johnson, Diedre Kindsfather, Speer Morgan, Hoa Ngo, Kirstin Rogers, Kylie Shafferkoetter, Kris Somerville, Jim Steck, Steve Weinberg , Roberta White, Melissa Wright M'muri REMAINDERS & REMINDERS Sam Stowers Browsing the bargain bookstalls is something like combing a beach for shells. Often you don't recognize that there's a pattern to your finds until you get home, empty your pockets and arrange your treasures . When I sat down to write this column, I realized that I had picked up paperback copies of two first novels written by women who had solid reputations as poets before they turned to fiction. Both novels are autobiographical to some extent, and portray the coming of age of observant, vulnerable young people in turbulent times and difficult family circumstances. Engaging reads, they combine skilled recreations of crucial periods in history with vital portraits of individuals. Diana O'Hehir's 1984 novel I Wish this War Were Over (Washington Square Press) takes place in the last year of World War II. The nation is on the move. The trains, train stations and hotels are packed. The fact that people of all ages, classes and regions are crammed into the same train compartments and hotel lobbies makes for improbable romance, a situation exploited by numerous wartime movies. One of the many charms of this novel is that it exploits the dramatic possibilities of that interesting time with more complexity and energy than any of those old films did. A seemingly hapless nineteen-year228 ยท The Missouri Review old woman, Helen, begins a crosscountry train trip from Berkeley to Washington D.C. on a quixotic mission to save her alcoholic mother from herself. Along the way she encounters a married older man, an army lieutenant, who uses their coincidental proximity as an occasion to pester her for sex. The butt of her family's disorder, Helen is mothered by a younger sister and preached to by an imperious and uncaring grandmother. Looking to make a life of her own, she feels both threatened by and attracted to the lieutenant. O'Hehifs depiction of how she sorts out aU her problems both overturns and at the same time answers the reader's expectations . It also provides the occasion for a string of high and low comic incidents. In Helen, O'Hehir has created an irresistible voice that brings to mind, at least fleetingly, a combination of Holden Caulfield's restless adolescent romanticism and Jane Austen's' calm domestic realism . I also picked up a British paperback edition of Jessica Hagedorn's 1991 Dogeaters (Pandora). This novel recounts the life of the city of Manila during thirty years of Philippine history , beginning in the 1950s and progressing through the rise and decline of Ferdinand Marcos. The story is told in a legion of voices, but those...

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