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| Love in a Global Village
ISBN: 9781587293306
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / University of Iowa Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Ethnicity; Families; Interethnic marriage; Intermarriage;
Fifteen intercultural families shared their life stories with editors Grearson and Smith, recounting the moment the couples just "knew" they'd met the love of their lives, their marriage proposals and every last detail of their wedding ceremonies. They finish each others' sentences. They want to raise children who'll be "world citizens." However, they do not seem to have to deal with anything ugly, like domestic violence, or even domestic anger. None of these folks seem to have a problem getting a job, even though many couples are biracial. And if any of them are strapped for cash, they certainly don't talk about it. On the other hand, there are one or two accounts in this collection that make it worth wading through the goo. The last entry, for example, is a wonderfully understated account of a Jewish woman who married an Afghan student in Chicago in 1945 and went to live with him in Kabul, raising their two children as good Muslims. Oddly, though, it's the couples that on the surface seem the most intriguingÄthe Hmong man married to the Mormon woman, the Wisconsin-Indian lesbian coupleÄwho turn out to be the most mundane. The book's underlying message is that these relationships thrive because each partner has to work harder to overcome their differences. With a Valentine's Day pub date, this book may find its way to a few lovers, although a box of candy might be more effective. (Feb. 14) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Jessie Carroll Grearson and Lauren B. Smith collaborated previously on Swaying: Essays on Intercultural Love (Iowa, 1995). Smith is associate professor of English at Eastern Illinois University, and Grearson is professor of writing at Chicago's John Marshall Law School. |
