What do you think?
Rate this book
A Bridge Between Us
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, the four women--Reiko, Rio, Tomoe, and Nomi Hito--speak with unflinching honesty about their lives, the secrets that have separated mother and daughter, and the fierce ties of intimacy that form an inextricable bridge between them.With the touch and power of a master storyteller, Julie Shigekuni gracefully interweaves four distinctive voices to shape a moving story of love and the courage it requires. In baring the heart of one family, she illuminates the truths about families, real and imagined, we all create.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
4 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Julie Shigekuni
10 books6 followersJulie Shigekuni is the author of three novels: A Bridge Between Us (Anchor/Doubleday 1995), Invisible Gardens (St. Martin’s Press 2003), and Unending Nora (forthcoming from Red Hen Press, Fall 2008). Her fiction has been translated into German, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian.
Shigekuni was a finalist for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award and the recipient of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. She has received a Henfield Award and an American Japanese Literary Award for her writing. Shigekuni received her B.A. from CUNY Hunter College and her M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.
She is currently at work on a collection of inter-connected short stories and a 60-minute video documentary, Manju Mammas & the An-Pan Brigade, for which she has received funding from the California Council for the Humanities and the Skirball Foundation and sponsorship from Visual Communications, an all Asian media network.
She teaches fiction and Asian American Literature at the University of New Mexico and lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband and three young daughters.
Shigekuni was a finalist for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award and the recipient of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. She has received a Henfield Award and an American Japanese Literary Award for her writing. Shigekuni received her B.A. from CUNY Hunter College and her M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.
She is currently at work on a collection of inter-connected short stories and a 60-minute video documentary, Manju Mammas & the An-Pan Brigade, for which she has received funding from the California Council for the Humanities and the Skirball Foundation and sponsorship from Visual Communications, an all Asian media network.
She teaches fiction and Asian American Literature at the University of New Mexico and lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband and three young daughters.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 22, 2019
(I posted this review a few days ago but somehow the review did not 'appear,' so here it is)
Here is a novel about five generations of Japanese American women in San Francisco. They still occupy the house lived in by the first immigrant. At the time of the story four generations are still alive, so there is a daughter, the main character, her mother, grandmother and great grandmother (aka Great-grandpainintheass.”
I’ll say this. Nothing is what you (I, anyway) expect. If you envision a saga of five generations struggling to achieve the American dream with hard-working stay-at home, religious mothers – this is not it. In these stories it’s the women who stray, in fact, or in their minds, because they all seem to have picked the wrong man. The men are faithful, doting even, but the women are unsatisfied. It began with the very first generation where the wife went back to Japan to visit her family and never returned. Her daughter (the great-grandmother in the book) grew up hanging out at the docks watching ships unload because her father told her “she’ll be back; she’ll be back.” She never came back.
Fast-forward. The fifth-generation daughter is thoroughly Americanized. She has a caring mother, all this multi-generational family surrounding her (although a workaholic dad), and yet seems totally lost, astray and rudderless. She carries on with her boyfriend in the backyard knowing that her grandmother can’t see and that even though her great-grandmother can see, she won’t be believed. She lets her sister’s boyfriend screw her in the pool. She wants to go to Japan (she doesn’t know why) and does so, for a year. While she is there she hardly interacts with anyone, but has a baby and gives it up for adoption. She never tells anyone, including her mother or the baby’s father back in the states.
Men kill themselves, right? Not in this story. After her grandmother tried to kill herself, her mother sees her daughter depressed and says “It’s not your fault you know.” And the girl thinks “It hasn’t occurred to me that it is, but the instant she says those words I know I am to blame.” Her mother tells her that her suicide attempt “shows disrespect for her family.”
The girl’s father is a sad type too. He was a Christian minister and a workaholic all the time his two daughters were young. When his daughters are teenagers, he leaves the church and wants to start getting involved in the family. Of course, it’s way too late. The LAST thing that teenaged girls want to do is hang out with Dad at a family barbeque. She thinks of her father “He does not deserve to know about me. He wants information served to him the way my mother serves him dinner.” In the end she decides he “isn’t part of my memory.” “I had grown accustomed to life without a father and at 15 his sudden interest in me felt unnatural, unholy even…”
This book has some great writing and quite lyrical writing. It is flawed in other ways and I should point out it has a very low rating on GR. I found it very confusing at times trying to figure out which woman a chapter focused on since the story jumps around in time as the women reflect back on their past, talking about their mothers and grandmothers -- too many grandmothers!
But here are some passages I liked that I thought illustrate great writing:
“After 28 years of marriage I can actually see words forming in his lungs.”
“…she has managed to express her hatred for me through acts of kindness.”
“…her voice sticks to my ear like the paste of death.”
When a grandmother with 7 daughters is dying, all of them gathered about her, one is overly solicitous to her every need. The eldest tells her “”Mama will not die as long as you keep calling her back.”
A 3.5 rounded up to 4 for the good writing.
Photo of Japanese immigrant women at dock from caamedia.org
Photo of the author, a creative writing professor at the U of New Mexico, from english.unm.edu
Here is a novel about five generations of Japanese American women in San Francisco. They still occupy the house lived in by the first immigrant. At the time of the story four generations are still alive, so there is a daughter, the main character, her mother, grandmother and great grandmother (aka Great-grandpainintheass.”
I’ll say this. Nothing is what you (I, anyway) expect. If you envision a saga of five generations struggling to achieve the American dream with hard-working stay-at home, religious mothers – this is not it. In these stories it’s the women who stray, in fact, or in their minds, because they all seem to have picked the wrong man. The men are faithful, doting even, but the women are unsatisfied. It began with the very first generation where the wife went back to Japan to visit her family and never returned. Her daughter (the great-grandmother in the book) grew up hanging out at the docks watching ships unload because her father told her “she’ll be back; she’ll be back.” She never came back.
Fast-forward. The fifth-generation daughter is thoroughly Americanized. She has a caring mother, all this multi-generational family surrounding her (although a workaholic dad), and yet seems totally lost, astray and rudderless. She carries on with her boyfriend in the backyard knowing that her grandmother can’t see and that even though her great-grandmother can see, she won’t be believed. She lets her sister’s boyfriend screw her in the pool. She wants to go to Japan (she doesn’t know why) and does so, for a year. While she is there she hardly interacts with anyone, but has a baby and gives it up for adoption. She never tells anyone, including her mother or the baby’s father back in the states.
Men kill themselves, right? Not in this story. After her grandmother tried to kill herself, her mother sees her daughter depressed and says “It’s not your fault you know.” And the girl thinks “It hasn’t occurred to me that it is, but the instant she says those words I know I am to blame.” Her mother tells her that her suicide attempt “shows disrespect for her family.”
The girl’s father is a sad type too. He was a Christian minister and a workaholic all the time his two daughters were young. When his daughters are teenagers, he leaves the church and wants to start getting involved in the family. Of course, it’s way too late. The LAST thing that teenaged girls want to do is hang out with Dad at a family barbeque. She thinks of her father “He does not deserve to know about me. He wants information served to him the way my mother serves him dinner.” In the end she decides he “isn’t part of my memory.” “I had grown accustomed to life without a father and at 15 his sudden interest in me felt unnatural, unholy even…”
This book has some great writing and quite lyrical writing. It is flawed in other ways and I should point out it has a very low rating on GR. I found it very confusing at times trying to figure out which woman a chapter focused on since the story jumps around in time as the women reflect back on their past, talking about their mothers and grandmothers -- too many grandmothers!
But here are some passages I liked that I thought illustrate great writing:
“After 28 years of marriage I can actually see words forming in his lungs.”
“…she has managed to express her hatred for me through acts of kindness.”
“…her voice sticks to my ear like the paste of death.”
When a grandmother with 7 daughters is dying, all of them gathered about her, one is overly solicitous to her every need. The eldest tells her “”Mama will not die as long as you keep calling her back.”
A 3.5 rounded up to 4 for the good writing.
Photo of Japanese immigrant women at dock from caamedia.org
Photo of the author, a creative writing professor at the U of New Mexico, from english.unm.edu
November 23, 2025
This is a novel following four generations of non-traditionally raised Japanese women, each perceiving the world they live in in different ways. It hops through various times in each of their lives where they have either gone through mental struggles and obstacles or triumphs. The main thing that stood out to me was a resounding return to mental health and it's different standards of conventionalization through all four generations. I also really liked that despite it being a relatively short book, it takes a little longer than you'd first expect to grasp all the different aspects of each chapter. Another aspect of the book that is visible across the board is how much attention it gives the effects of depression, and reminiscence of past mistakes and tragedies that resulted in a lifetimes worth of trauma and lifestyle change. The book also has incredible intertwined love stories that bring about a sense of emotion other than than the imminent sadness. A better way to describe it would be an ancient song, or poem that is recited or sung to each generation as years pass, but each member of the successive generation has a different interpretation of what the song means and chooses how it should shape their lives and control their decisions. I would 100% suggest this to anyone who doesn't end up eternally plagued by melancholy.
December 27, 2015
There is a house in San Francisco that is home to four generations of mothers and daughters. Its story begins with Reiko, who spends much of her youth watching the ships enter San Francisco Bay, hoping one will bring her mother, whom she has never known, from Japan. The generations of mothers and daughters that follow carry love and hate, understanding and misunderstanding, closeness and distance. These conflicts could occur in most any family. Even though the pace is slow, our interest follows willingly the inner turbulence each woman feels. Each indulges in deep introspection--perhaps too much--and we may or may not identify with her anxieties. Near the story's end, the youngest daughter has "escaped" to Japan, eventually to return.
I found the ending a downer because I didn't recognize any resolution to the anxieties and introspections. It could be that I missed something because I would not have made the same choices these women made in their quest for fulfillment. That said, those who can identify with the book's heroines can savor the richness of a well-told story.
I found the ending a downer because I didn't recognize any resolution to the anxieties and introspections. It could be that I missed something because I would not have made the same choices these women made in their quest for fulfillment. That said, those who can identify with the book's heroines can savor the richness of a well-told story.
March 14, 2021
I know the author will never read this, but her words were so easily identifiable. I happen to be first generation born in the U.S. with a Japanese mother. I am still amazed at the power of secrets, shame, love and unspoken words that bind. Deeply. I see the Bridge that is still between us and she passed nearly 12 years ago. I was not at her side when she passed, but she must have known I really was there. I am her and she is me. There is no other explanation.
Water, ocean sea salt, Japan, pride and angst. All are interwoven. A blanket weaved by the heart. Being a Japanese American woman that always had one foot in each door.
I understand. Thank you, Julie. I appreciate your words. Always. You are not alone.
Water, ocean sea salt, Japan, pride and angst. All are interwoven. A blanket weaved by the heart. Being a Japanese American woman that always had one foot in each door.
I understand. Thank you, Julie. I appreciate your words. Always. You are not alone.
February 2, 2011
I'm not sure what I think about this book. Because I'm not sure what happened and what it was about! Was it about karma? Past lives mixing with new lives. {the sins of the fathers?}
Did it teach me anything? Were great images strung together in words like Murakami that are more like music than writing?
I'm not sure. But I am not sure I have any desire to read the book again to try and understand it more.
Puzzling.
...but I just checked out her follow up book. Invisible Gardens. I'm lost in a dream
Did it teach me anything? Were great images strung together in words like Murakami that are more like music than writing?
I'm not sure. But I am not sure I have any desire to read the book again to try and understand it more.
Puzzling.
...but I just checked out her follow up book. Invisible Gardens. I'm lost in a dream
November 29, 2024
this a book full of really unhappy people which makes it totally depressing
February 4, 2025
Well-written, beautiful prose with captivating characters caught up in a loose plot headed nowhere except to a destination of mulling.
A poetic dalliance, full of amazing imagery and well-developed, complex characters. Be that as it may, there is little binding the storyline(s) besides the fact that all the women are related. There is no climax, no resolution. This novel is ongoing rising tension. While I desired to know what would happen next and to learn about these women's secrets, there were secrets that were told as conjecture or daydream-esque reveals. I don't fully know what is real and what is not or who to believe, which may be the point, but for me, I felt burdened by too many questions to give this more than three stars.
A poetic dalliance, full of amazing imagery and well-developed, complex characters. Be that as it may, there is little binding the storyline(s) besides the fact that all the women are related. There is no climax, no resolution. This novel is ongoing rising tension. While I desired to know what would happen next and to learn about these women's secrets, there were secrets that were told as conjecture or daydream-esque reveals. I don't fully know what is real and what is not or who to believe, which may be the point, but for me, I felt burdened by too many questions to give this more than three stars.
March 27, 2025
3.5 stars, read for school.
Four generations living under one roof, the minds of the women are varied, full of trauma, full of evil, sadness, loneliness, and lost. Most men in the story are awful, sometimes hard to read. It’s interesting and confusing and I still don’t know how to truly feel about the whole thing.
Four generations living under one roof, the minds of the women are varied, full of trauma, full of evil, sadness, loneliness, and lost. Most men in the story are awful, sometimes hard to read. It’s interesting and confusing and I still don’t know how to truly feel about the whole thing.
November 7, 2017
Fierce , lyrical and compelling. Deep emotional wounds scar four generations of Japanese American women ; the consequences of living in survival mode.
Highly recommended .
Highly recommended .
March 31, 2018
Started out good with interesting characters, but the second half of the book went off the rails. Moving between reality and crafty dreams the selfishness of Nomi was boring and tiring
November 30, 2024
Sad and depressing almost seemed as if the characters are all depressed and suicidal,
Some of them didn't even have actual problems but still wanted to be sympathised with,
Everyones unhappy and a pessimistic,
It was soooo hard to finish
Some of them didn't even have actual problems but still wanted to be sympathised with,
Everyones unhappy and a pessimistic,
It was soooo hard to finish
January 14, 2015
I found the writing in this book to be very beautiful in several passages, however the plot did not drive me to keep reading. I rarely had that exciting elevation in my heartbeat that makes me want to turn a page.
I also had a hard time investing very deeply in the struggles of each character because each one only narrates for a chapter at a time. In a book that was only 250 pages, with five narrators, there just were not enough opportunities to establish a strong rapport with each character.
All of that being said, there were some excellent images in many sections, and the writing was crisp and uncluttered. Overall, 5/10
I also had a hard time investing very deeply in the struggles of each character because each one only narrates for a chapter at a time. In a book that was only 250 pages, with five narrators, there just were not enough opportunities to establish a strong rapport with each character.
All of that being said, there were some excellent images in many sections, and the writing was crisp and uncluttered. Overall, 5/10
July 21, 2015
I found this novel difficult to follow, and I'm still not entirely sure about what happened.
It's about four generations of Japanese-American women, 3 of them are narcissists and terrible people. The only rooting value is for the one who married into the family (and is the 2nd of 8 girls in her family).
I'm disappointed I spent $2 on this book at a resale shop. It looked to be a real bargain, until I read it. I could have bought a Mega Millions lotto ticket instead and felt better about the purchase.
It's about four generations of Japanese-American women, 3 of them are narcissists and terrible people. The only rooting value is for the one who married into the family (and is the 2nd of 8 girls in her family).
I'm disappointed I spent $2 on this book at a resale shop. It looked to be a real bargain, until I read it. I could have bought a Mega Millions lotto ticket instead and felt better about the purchase.
April 6, 2009
Touching book about four generations of Japanese American women and their struggles with cultural dictates, parental relationships and their personal fights for self expression.
"A tear runs down my face and I stick out my tongue to catch it; the first one tastes bitter, but they get sweeter until their wetness is like milk." Julie Shigekuni
"A tear runs down my face and I stick out my tongue to catch it; the first one tastes bitter, but they get sweeter until their wetness is like milk." Julie Shigekuni
May 13, 2011
Puzzling.... For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I found the lack of communication between the characters frustrating, yet, I guess that is what happens in families. The behavior of the main character is much more understandable once you find out the reason. The giving away of the child/not telling the father is heartbreaking. Some parts are heartbreaking.
August 28, 2016
My Original Notes (1996):
Very, very good. Reminded me of Amy Tan's style of writing. I really enjoyed it, except the last couple of chapters were strange and disturbing. But really a great novel.
My Current Thoughts:
Once again, this is a book of which I have no recollection. So odd since I obviously enjoyed it.
Very, very good. Reminded me of Amy Tan's style of writing. I really enjoyed it, except the last couple of chapters were strange and disturbing. But really a great novel.
My Current Thoughts:
Once again, this is a book of which I have no recollection. So odd since I obviously enjoyed it.
February 19, 2008
This was a strange Japanese American book about families, secrets and geneology.
September 8, 2009
This description is a bit of a stretch, but it's kind of like the Japanese version of The Joy Luck Club (writing style is much more lyrical though).
July 31, 2012
Puzzling!
May 14, 2013
As most of the reviewers have stated, I am not sure what this book was about and what I was supposed to get from the novel. Not a fan.
August 11, 2013
I'm glad I read this book -- even if it was just ok. Happy to see an author starting off. Plus, I treated myself and read this book all in one sitting -- something I hardly ever do!
April 8, 2015
couldn't get into the characters
---
"I want both my daughters to find security in the way things appear; to know that people who travel too deeply within face danger."
---
"I want both my daughters to find security in the way things appear; to know that people who travel too deeply within face danger."
August 11, 2015
This book is nothing short of stunning! When tradition meets modern day, the costs are endless in terms of our relationships with each other and ourselves. This was beautiful.
April 9, 2017
The writing is beautiful in places. The story is told through four generations of voices, but all have the color filter of a young writer, In the end we are left dangling in the same place we began without resolution over even a full revolution, and this taste of thirty something dissatisfaction is the sought denouement.
It is a fine example of university literature, if it were a food it would be a fancy presentation of Japanese amuse bouch.
It is a fine example of university literature, if it were a food it would be a fancy presentation of Japanese amuse bouch.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews