Accismus

This collection of stories by Judy Budnitz begins with its strongest piece, “where we come from,” a story about a pregnant Mexican woman determined to cross the border and give birth to her son on American soil, no matter how many years she has to hold him in to do it. The story is also representative of Budnitz’s key themes – she writes of the relationships between parents (particularly mothers) and children (particularly daughters) and the concern that each has for the other, in childhood and old age (in “flush,” a young woman who has recently miscarried undergoes a mammogram in the stead of her terrified mother; in “visitors,” a young woman’s visiting parents call her frequently from the road, but never arrive). She is also concerned with racism and xenophobia, particularly with the way people react to any incursion on their soil by alien populations (in “nadia,” a group of women torment their good friend’s Russian mail-order bride; in “immersion,” a suburban community is thrown into turmoil when a child visiting from New York City invites a group of black children to swim in the neighborhood pool). Frequently, her stories contain both of these elements (in “miracle,” a white couple gives birth to a black baby, disturbing everyone but the baby’s mother; in “motherland,” an island solely populated by women raped and impregnated by invading soldiers during the previous war caution their daughters against men arriving by sea). Three of the stories take place in futuristic dystopias, and two concern the ways in which surviving a war can cause repercussions in the relationships of future generations.

Nearly all of the stories are successful, and many of them are a joy to read (I particularly enjoyed “where we come from,” “flush,” “visitors,” and “elephant and boy”), but Budnitz’s style here is too overly used these days.  She is fond of magical realism, and each story is kissed with at least one improbable detail or scenario – a narrative twist overused by several of Budnitz’s contemporaries (most notably, Aimee Bender). Because of this pattern, when read all together, the stories can become predictable and tiresome.