Insightful Panorama of Lesbian Lives

The Bar Stories, a Novel After All by Nisa Donnelly (St. Martin’s Press: $16.95; 362 pages)

In the ever-growing body of fiction centered on the authentic lives of lesbians, the lesbian bar remains a distinct presence, if not a central totem. Ann Bannon’s popular novels of the 1950s and ‘60s chronicle lesbian bar society in Greenwich Village. Lee Lynch’s 1983 novel, “The Swashbuckler,” and many of her delicate, tightly focused short stories portray changes in this gay mecca during the ‘70s. And now Nisa Donnelly takes us into visible lesbian society on the West Coast in the ‘80s by way of Babe’s Bar in Oakland.

“The Bar Stories” opens in 1965 with a rollicking account of how Babe Daniels, ex-Roller Derby star, lands in a home for unwed mothers in Kansas City with a broken leg instead of the more pertinent condition. There she meets pregnant Sharon Winston. When Sharon delivers her baby, the women flee, aided by a sympathetic if rather confused nun. Over the next 23 years, as Babe shares turbulent parenthood of Sharon’s child, she will run the increasingly famous Babe’s Bar. And into this bar will wander the women whose lives are captured in the interweaving tales that make up “The Bar Stories.”

We meet Kate Solomon, successful New York photographer, who has received a calamitous medical diagnosis. Accompanied by a perceptive cat named Berenice Abbott, Kate zigzags the country to find and photograph the lesbian nation before she is felled by her illness. At Babe’s Bar she will meet and begin the rescue of Maggie “the cutter.”

Meet Fearless Fletcher

Also we meet Fearless Faye Fletcher, denizen of Babe’s Bar, who has fallen upon hard times. And Shadow, who used to be Marla; now Shadow writes poetry to Matty the bartender. Glamorous Lydia drops into the bar and selects Randi for a “game”--an erotic evening beyond all Randi’s experience.

And there’s Jake, “who ruled the table the way she never could rule life,” whose existence acquires radiance and pattern only at the game of pool. And Kris, who is involved with celibate Jane and the enigmatic Sutra. And the fatally irresistible Mara. And Danni, who chauffeurs tourists in a limo once belonging to Elvis Presley.

And many, many more women wander into Babe’s Bar.

There is enough drama and invention here for a dozen novels. First novelist Donnelly possesses a huge narrative gift, and she works primarily in narrative form. When she brings a new woman into view, her compulsively readable storytelling hurtles us down the corridor of that woman’s life.

Torn by Events

Wan Ho, owner of the minuscule cafe across from Babe’s Bar, is a Korean torn by the events of her life; she endures the most circumscribed kind of existence. Rose, a weekly patron of Wan Ho’s cafe, leads a life so narrow that she cannot summon the courage to enter Babe’s Bar; she can only sit at the cafe window and yearn to be part of the magical lives she envisions across the street. The incremental movements Rose and Wan Ho take toward each other, the humanity and poignancy of these two damaged women as they reach to each other, form a beautifully realized story, a journey into Anne Tyler country.

Geologist Julia works and lives on a mountain. She and Shelly are weekend lovers, an unsatisfactory and anxiety-ridden arrangement for Shelly. Then Julia arranges a weekend of dreams--a weekend of romance and glamorous sophistication to rival any Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie.

Kelly has long been ostracized by her family. A communication arrives from her mother: Kelly’s dying grandmother has asked to see her. Recognizing this signal from her grandmother as validation, Kelly discovers the courage to return home and face her family. “Your grandmother is a proud woman, stronger than you’d think . . .” says the terse message from Kelly’s mother. “And so am I, Mother,” Kelly answers aloud to that unforgiving letter, “despite all of it, despite even you, so am I.”

Kaleidoscope of Inventions

Lesbians, in their ostracism from mainstream society, have always had to invent their lives. “The Bar Stories” offers a kaleidoscope of these inventions, an exuberant panorama offered by a bold new talent. Here are vivid women in stories that stand on their own as dramatic entities, yet interconnect until all the women and all the dramatic pieces fit together in a spectacular jigsaw puzzle of community. On so lavish a canvas a few story lines lack finish, and one can only mourn the absence of a line editor; this big a talent deserves to have her prose glisten.

But these imaginative, incandescent portraits override any flaws. They suggest the range and depth and drama of lesbian lives. They convey pain and isolation. But most of all, they celebrate diversity--the beauty and eroticism, the humor and pride and strength of lesbian women.