A Bridge Between Us by Julie Shigekuni (review)

Reviews 225 As conservative in content as in form, the poets chosen for this anthology share predictable partisan concern for declining beef prices, appreciation for the hard work that they and their horses perform, awe of (mixed with adversarial posturing towards) the forces of nature, and allegiance to ranch etiquette. The female voices, which comprise one-third of the twenty-seven voices included in this volume, hardly add what could be termed a feminist perspective on ranch life. Maggie Mae Sharp complains that her husband will “plop his butt on that outhouse seat/That ain’t been washed in fortyyears,/Or he’ll use a public phone/That’sprob’blytouched a thousand ears. . . ./But he steadfastlywill not kiss me/if I have kissed my dog.”In a similarly comic vein, CaroleJarvis details howdifficult it isforwomen to relieve themselveswhile out on the range. Cornythough theyare, these two poems, and manyothers, could well bring down the house if recited with showmanship to a good-humored audience. Millerisrighton targetwhen he saysthat, despite its recent prolifera­ tion in print, cowboy poetry remains “essentially a spoken art form.” Trackers of the movement will want to note that some of the best known cowboy poets, among them Wallace MacRae, Vess Quinlan, and Paul Zarzyski, are given space in this anthology. PAUL HADELLA Southern OregonState College A BridgeBetween Us. ByJulie Shigekuni. (NewYork: Doubleday, 1995. 254 pages, $18.95.) A creative writing teacher in New Mexico, Shigekuni makes a brilliant debut with this novel, which takes us inside aJapanese American family in San Francisco, a familyoffour generations ofwomen forced to liveunder the same roof by tradition and by economic necessity. Although an immigrant novel, A Bridge Between Us is atypical of its genre: it is not about “us”against “them”or about racial discrimination, but rather about growing up and about family ties. The novel begins with the suicide attempt of the grandmother, Rio, and endswith her death approximatelyfifteenyearslater. Asthe fourgenerations of women take turns to tell their own versions of the family history and their relationshipswith one another, weget a mosaic ofthe hopes, despair, affection, and hatred circulating within the family: the great-grandmother’s childhood with the immigrant father and her arranged marriage with a bridegroom imported fromJapan; the grandmother’srecollection ofher brieflove affair in the relocation camp; the mother’s dutiful care of her husband, children and in-laws; and the daughter’s growing pains amid the confusions and secrets of herselfand her family. Although thisisabookthat can be read quicklythanks to the simplicityand clarityofher style, Shigekuni’snovelisbyno meanssimple; the sharp images of 226 WesternAmerican Literature life, death, dreams and sex are pasted bit by bit to suggest the ambiguity inherentin the reconstruction offamilyhistory. Shigekuni’smasterful handling of multiple narrative voices, ranging from a young second-grader’svoice to a senile, cranky old woman’s, helps us navigate through her exploration of mother-daughter relationships. The novel has little to offer those looking for something ethnic: no haiku and no sushi. Rather, it offers a sharp picture ofthe mess thatwe call life, and it signals the emergence ofaverytalentedwriter, a much needed presence in the Japanese American literary scene after Hisaye Yamamoto, David Mura, and SylviaWatanabe. SEIWOONG OH Rider University Unbridled Spirits: ShortFiction about 'Women in the Old West. Edited byJudy Alter and A. T. Row. (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1994. 365 pages, $17.95.) UnbridledSpiritscollects short fiction which depictswomen during pioneer days in the old West. The volume is divided into three parts: “Classic”women writers (Mary Hallock Foote, Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, DorothyJohnson); “Other” women writers: (Gertrude Atherton, Mary Austin, Jeanne Williams, Carla Kelly,JudyAlter, MarciaMuller) and “Some”malewriters (BretHarte, O. Henry, Owen Wister, Charles Esten,Jack London,Jack Schaefer, Elmer Kelton, RobertFlynn, and Elmer Leonard).The divisionsreflectthe editors’suncertain aims: they seem to be unable to decide if the volume should make a political statement, orjust be a good read. And it is a good read, bringing briefly to life a spectrum of bright women. There’s Kathryn, the protagonist of Marcia Muller’s “Sweet Cactus Wine.” Instead ofgiving us awhodunit, as isher custom, Muller tellswhy the indepen­ dent widow commits murder by saguaro. Also, there’sMaryAustin’sTizessina, who defies tribal tradition...