Swaying
“Swaying blasts the reader out of routine American life to face the larger challenges of a wider world. From an American woman leaving all familiarity to live a new life with her Indian husband to a Vietnamese woman who immigrates to the U.S. with her American spouse, these writers describe the dilemmas, solutions, and resolutions they experience when they break through barriers of 'difference.' Grearson and Smith have compiled a moving and profound set of stories that open us to a new way of viewing the intricacies of intimacy. Male or female, this book is for anyone who's ever struggled with a relationship. This book is for anyone who's ever tried to confront the self.”—Mary Swander, author of Out of this World
“Swaying is one of the most rewarding books I have read in a long time. These are incandescent stories that speak from the full hearts of their talented authors about the most important relationships in their lives. Some of these stories are sweetly optimistic; some are profoundly disturbing; all are brave and wonderfully written. All gently explore the nuances of dream and disappointment, the quiet pains and joys of trying to live together across cultures. Read one story and savor it, then another, and another. Almost any single piece alone would be worth the book's price. Together, the collection is priceless.”—Paul R. Spickard, author of Mixed Blood: Intermarriage and Ethnic Identity in Twentieth-Century America
Intercultural couples struggle, often quite successfully, with the kind of questions anyone who wants to live responsibly in a multicultural world must raise. They live, as we must all learn to do, in a place where multiple cultures find expression. This engaging anthology of literary nonfiction celebrates the creative potential of choosing diversity and explores in many voices the real-life social, cultural, and spiritual consequences of this choice. These are the honest voices of women who have made commitments across national and cultural lines, who have moved toward the revitalizing and educating potential of such partnerships.