A Bridge Between Us by Julie Shigekuni (Anchor Books)

Julie Shigekuni is a fifth-generation Japanese-American and her first novel, A Bridge Between Us is the story of a Japanese immigrant family. It isn’t about the struggle of being Japanese in America, it is the story of one family. Four generations of an immigrant family all living under the same roof. 

The story focuses on four generations of women who  live together in a house in San Francisco. Reiko, the matriarch, whose father traveled from Japan with his wife to the U.S. in 1898.  Rio, her daughter who is always at odds with her mother. Tomoe, the wife of Goro, Rio’s son. Tomoe is the mother of two daughters - Nomi and Melodie. 

Each chapter is told through the eyes of one of the main characters. It opens with Reiko talking about the death of her father and how he told her, “Never forget who you are.” “You are the daughter of a princess.” Reiko has never met her mother. She only knows her through the stories as told by her father. She knows that her mother’s name was Misao and whenever Reiko would ask her father, “Where’s Misao now?” Her father would always respond, “She’s visiting her Mother in Japan” or “She is in a boat on her way home”. 

Rio starts to tell her story from the bed of her hospital room after an attempted suicide. She starts to reminisce about her relationship with her mother. Tomoe, her daughter-in-law visits her in the hospital and tells her that Granny (Reiko) has been causing trouble again. Nobody in the family understands why she tried to kill herself. It’s Tomoe who says to her, “I know that you must want to live or you would have let go long ago.”

Nomi was only seven years old when her grandmother Rio tried to kill herself. This is her earliest memory. We follow Nomi as she deals with growing pains trying to please her mother by helping her take care of Grandma Rio and Granny Reiko. However, she sometimes feels trapped and finds solace in the arms of different boys. She has dreams of going to Japan but doesn’t speak a word of Japanese. At times, she seems to suffer from an identity crisis. 

Tomoe is the pillar of strength among the four women. She is the second oldest of her eight sisters. Her father was a fisherman who one day went out to sea and never came back. She remembers her older sister Miwa taking care of her, while she watched over her six younger sisters. She is the woman who takes care of Reiko and Rio. She also does her best to raise her two daughters as best as she can. 

A Bridge Between Us is a story about secrets and betrayals, hopes and dreams. It is not about the difficulties of being Japanese in America or being an American with a Japanese face. It is a story about family and the bonds that bind them. Four strong women with four strong personalities covering a span of more than fifty years. 

The story can be dark and depressing at times as Shigekuni takes you on a roller-coaster ride of emotional highs and lows. As with any family, there will always be love and conflict. It is only a matter of how you react to any family situation where you find out what kind of person you really are. ~Ernie Hoyt