How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway
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Margaret Dilloway's How to Be an American Housewife is reminiscent of Amy Tan and Lisa See's fiction in that the main characters are of Asian descent and struggle with cultural differences and generational gaps that hamper their ability to relate with one another smoothly.
"After the first hour watching scratchy TV in the blood lab, I wished I had a book with me. Charlie and I weren't big readers. Books were too expensive and library books were full of germs from all the people who had checked them out." (page 123 of ARC)
Shoko is a Japanese woman who marries an American soldier, Charlie, shortly after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. She tells her story of how she moved from a happy childhood to a tumultuous adolescence at a time when her nation was occupied by a foreign invader and her family had lost its position in the caste society. She's an independent woman still beholden to Japanese traditions, though she takes time out to find true love.
"I understood then that my skills in school or in sports would not make my life come about in the way I wished. I took my bows at that recital, vowing I would learn what I needed and make the best marriage possible." (page 6 of ARC)
Her trip down memory lane, unfortunately, is a bit stilted with little emotion, which could make it harder for readers to connect with Shoko. However, once readers are engaged with Shoko's struggles as an American housewife as she adapts to different cultural norms and strives to raise her children properly. Mike and Suiko, her children, are as different as night and day, with Mike floating through life and Suiko taking her responsibilities to heart even to the detriment of her own dreams. Shoko's relationship with her children is strained, but she must soon learn to rely on them when she tries to reunite with her estranged brother, Taro.
Dilloway's novel is captivating as Shoko continues to tell her story and when her daughter, Sue takes over the narration when she heads to Japan to learn about her family's past and reconcile her family after many decades of silence. As a debut, it is solid in drawing dynamic characters and creating fun dialogue between Shoko and Charlie and between Sue and Helena, Shoko's granddaughter. Three generations populate these pages, but really How to Be an American Housewife is a story about the strong, independent women in this family.
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About the Author:
Margaret Dilloway was inspired by her Japanese mother’s experiences when she wrote this novel, and especially by a book her father had given to her mother called The American Way of Housekeeping. She lives in Hawaii with her husband and three young children.
Please follow her on Twitter, check out her blog, and view the reading group guide for her debut novel.
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Thanks to TLC Book Tours, Penguin, and Margaret Dilloway for sending me a copy of How to Be an American Housewife for review.
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This is my 40th book for the 2010 New Authors Reading Challenge.