A Bridge Between Us

by Julie Shigekuni

Book Overview

Four generations of Japanese American women make??their home in a large house in San Francisco,??united by the obligations of family and tradition and,??perhaps, by love. In alternating chapters,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385482272
• ISBN13: 9780385482271
• Release Date: February 1996
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.6" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Four generations of unhappy women

Shigekuni's first novel explores the ties and tensions between four generations of Japanese American women. In alternating chapters (most divided between the second generation, Rio, and the fourth, her grandaughter Nomi) the women voice their regrets, hopes, resentments and aspirations.Reiko, the eldest, is a sour, demanding old crone who grew up motherless but with a vision of herself as a princess. As she adapted to something less, her hauteur adjusted to hard work and a scathing contempt for those around her, pinching her naturally strong-willed disposition into something crafty and malicious.Her emotionally oppressed daughter, Rio, dreams of the gentle father she scarcely knew and the one true love she almost had. Brooding and almost bed ridden with depression, she attempts suicide early in the novel when her beloved grandaughter, Nomi, is seven.Tomoe, Nomi's mother, devotes herself to her husband, his female relatives and her own daughters, asking nothing more from life than the pleasure of nurturing. But she's saddened by her husband's remote self-absorption and the lonely fate of her own mother, who, having only daughters, must end her days without a proper home.Nomi grows from a lively child, devoted to her grandmother, to a promiscuous and sullen adolescent with little time for the old lady. Yearning for something she cannot name, she fixes on the idea of going to Japan. Through lovers, spats with her parents and various youthful disappointments, she clings to this dream.Each woman, we come to see, has a dream and a secret. Within them are the seething feelings they hide from others, the lives they wished they had lived and hope to discover in the younger generation. But each suffers from the inability to communicate, even to answer a cry for help. Unspoken, feelings curdle, misunderstandings proliferate. Rio sees Nomi make the same mistakes she did, Tomoe sees her daughters receed from her, Nomi cuts herself off from all of them. Only Reiko, spiteful and unfeeling, seems to go on as strong as ever.Shigekuni's language is thoughtful and reflective, her images sometimes dreamlike, other times sharp and vivid. The voices of her characters emerge as individuals but evoke little sympathy. They seem trapped in their inability to communicate and their histories, finally, do not stir the emotions. Still, this is a subtle, complex story and an impressive debut.

A Japanese-American Joyluck Club.

This was one of the books that have sat upon my bookshelves unread. No real reason why it sat there so long, but it did, silently collecting dust. I finally did read it, and I found it to be quite enjoyable. After reading the first few pages, thoughts of Amy Tan's _Joyluck Club_ Popped into my head for obvious reasons. The main characters in the book are all Asian-American women, and the main theme in the book are the relationships of the female side of the family: Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters. Shigekuni writes in a very lovely style that is full of sadness. Her words evoke what life must have been like back in 30s San Francisco, or the lonliness of living in a foreign country without being able to speak the language. She paints a beautiful picture of relationships between family members. This picture shows the many flaws of the family. Flaws that are not corrected, but left to get worse. This is a very good book, and should be read by anyone who is interested in Asian-American writing, or just a good book writtn with a heart that is not afraid to show warts and all.

Almost poetic; reads like a memoir.

A lovely and at times disturbing study of the relationships between women in an Asian-American family. It wasn't particularly visual, but it did create a nice sense of place and presence. Well-drawn characters. Nicely and smoothly written.

Brilliant and beautiful writing

I loved this book! The writing is rich and full of feeling and the characters drew me in completely. Occasionally I got confused with the plot, but the urgency and imagery in the writing made me unable to put it down. I can't wait until the author writes another!

Brilliant and beautiful

This book just blew me away. The writing is deep and dark, and quite brutal at points. Even though I was confused some of the time, the urgency of these characters' stories kept me going. This writer is the real thing! I want to know when her next book is going to come out (if she's writing one).