cover image The Clay That Breathes: A Novella and Stories

The Clay That Breathes: A Novella and Stories

Catherine Browder, Browder. Milkweed Editions, $9.95 (160pp) ISBN 978-0-915943-63-0

The jewel of this debut collection is the title novella. Eve Sandler, an American, apprentices with a Japanese potter, and it is not Browder's knowing depiction of Eve's prickly relationship with her foreign hosts that impresses as much as her description of Eve's relationship with the clay. Browder's respect for ceramics as an art form is palpable: Eve is smitten by the feel of the clay's texture, elasticity and weight; she learns that by controlling herself she will control the resistant clay that fights back with a will of its own; it thrills her that she can one day say, ``This is my life. I do it with my hands.'' Delicate and reticent, the stories pale in comparison to the novella but they do shed light on the cultural gulf that divides Americans and Asians. The scents and sounds of Hmong refugees upset the other residents of a church-owned apartment complex in ``Goodwill.'' A widow with time on her hands comes to integrate the refugees into American life, teaching them the intricacies of washing machines and the like, but she loses her grip on reality when she becomes hooked on learning to sew skirts the Hmong way. In ``The Altar,'' an American living in Japan finds the family altar of the house he rents in shambles. He carefully repairs it and stacks it with books, and is baffled by the owner's outrage. (May)