Exile and the Heart

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria, British Columbia.

A central theme of this series of interrelated stories (all detailing
the lives of Asian-Canadian lesbians, their families, and their
communities) is the corrosive effects of the “misfit” label. In
“Mappings,” Naomi Chiba reflects: “As an Asian dyke she is
invisible, not big enough for butch, not white enough for femme,
invisible among the exoticized, eroticized shadows of street lights and
bars.” Another recurring theme is the changing pulse of day-to-day
living, with new characters arriving and familiar characters exiting.

In the earlier selections especially, the reader may be confused and/or
overwhelmed by the influx of new characters whose identities are not
clearly distinguished. That said, Tamai Kobayashi has a great
experimental voice—a voice perhaps most brilliantly illustrated in the
stream-of-consciousness piece “Bird Box Lantern.”