The Way We Live. Stories by Utah Women ed. by Ellen Fagg

Abstract

Reviews 85 should never think of going to Oregon”; Matthew P. Deady, a federaljudge in Portland, whose diary includes reflections on the 1877 surrender of ChiefJoseph; Haralombos Kambouris, Greek poet, who describes laboring on the railroad; and the reflections and drawings ofVance de Bar “Pinto”Colvig, better known as Bozo the Clown. Though some selections are regrettably brief, we are rewarded by the variety of information and characters. Letters from the Kam Wah Chung Co. inJohn Daygive some glimpse of the Chinese community. NancyJudson’s letter asking the legislature to grant her a divorce raises good questions about gender roles in 1858. Preston W. Gillette’sdiary records a controversy about school prayer as early as 1861. AndJohn Waldo, ChiefJustice of the Oregon Supreme Court, sounds in his 1890 letter many contemporary themes of conservation. Reflecting historical events, describing ordinary detailsoflife in diverse times, and demon­ strating the variety of peoples present in the state, these volumes are a delightful close to the Oregon Literature Seriesand a valuable resource for reader, student, and scholar. CAROL S. LONG Willamette University The Way We Live. Stories by Utah Women. Edited by Ellen Fagg. (Salt Lake City; Signature Books, 1994. 215 pages, $14.95.) This collection provides a different view of Utah, a female view. Instead of nine­ teenth-century pioneers and cowboys, here you find contemporary women telling us about the way they live. It is a collection of funny and touching stories with themes ranging from gambling to polygamy to nuclear tests. But the most important theme is love: love between lovers, siblings, owners and their pets, and especially between mothers and children. As editor Ellen Fagg says in her introduction, here there are stories “tracing connections to the heart.” For instance, in “In the Shadow of Upshot-Knothole” by Dianne Nelson, a mother leaves with her baby, the narrator, to get away from her husband’s ridiculous thoughts about becoming an actor. However, when a nuclear test seems to threaten the area, he comes to get her back and their argument seems sillyand insignificant. This story was my favorite in the collection, even though the subject of nuclear tests reminded me more of Nevada; but then the radioactive clouds did blow over Utah as well. However, “Sisterwives: The Order Things Took” by Lynne Butler Oaks, another favorite, does deal with a particular subject that I associate with Utah—religion. It is the story of the different wives of a Mormon polygamist looking out for each other and especially for the latest addition to the “sisters,” a fifteen-year-old girl. The language is simple, capturing the way a young, overwhelmed girl would talk and think. Other high points are ‘The Way I Live,”byPatriciaMcConnel, a story of mother and daughter who love each other very much yet don’t understand each other’s lives; “Blue, Blue, My Love is Blue” by Pauline Mortenson about a woman contemplating her empty life and her unfulfilled ambition—dancing; and the story by Shen Christenson, “Mouth to Mouth." This story shows how mothers can be cruel and loving at the same time. It is, like the author herself says, about “the underbelly of mother love.” Apart from all these, the book is filled with more wonderful stories—“stories you carry around and can’t put down.” BARBARA CAPEL University ofUtrecht, The Netherlands ...