How to be an American Housewife
“I got a piece of tissue-thin airmail stationery and my husband’s fountain pen out of the desk drawer. Sitting down on the floor at the coffee table, I put the pen to my lips, thinking. From the garage, Charlie sang as he put laundry in the washer. One of my adult son Mike’s cats meowed at the screen door. I began my letter to Taro.”
How to Be An American Housewife
By Margaret Dilloway
Shoko is a Japanese war bride who at the start of the novel has one dream she still wishes to fulfill and that is to get in touch with her brother, Taro. After she married an American GI and moved to the States, Shoko’s brother cut all ties with her.
In the meantime, Shoko has tried to be the perfect American housewife. Her husband, Charlie, is a good man but perhaps doesn’t understand the alienation that Shoko feels in the new country and away from her family. She has never been able to go back to see them and now growing old and with serious health issues Shoko is desperate to go to Japan to see her brother.
Her doctor won’t allow that and Shoko asks her daughter to go in her place. Sue feels like she’s never lived up to her mother’s standards. She married the wrong guy, always at odds with her mother and now a single-parent but when she realizes that Shoko is really quite ill she knows she can’t say “no” to her mother and she and her young daughter embarks on a trip that will change their life.
The novel is broken into two sections, the first part narrated by Shoko and revealing the secrets of the life she had in Japan. At the beginning of each chapter a little advice note from an imagined handbook of how to behave in a new country sets the tone for the loneliness, confusion and adventures that await Shoko. The second part is narrated by Sue and tells of how she comes to learn more about her mother and herself while on her trip abroad.
This was quite an engaging debut which I found hard to put down but I just wish we’d heard all of the story from Shoko’s point of view. I understand perhaps it was set up this way to explore a mother-daughter relationship from both sides but Shoko’s part was really fascinating to me because it dealt with the customs and way of life in Japan during the war. Sue’s part of the story I found a little bit harder to get into although that may just have been because I found Shoko a much stronger character and one I wanted to keep reading about.
You can read about what inspired the author to write the book here. I read this book as part of the TLC Book tours and you can read more reader reviews of this book by checking the schedule here. Anyway, I hope you’ll add this book to your wishlist. I know, I’ll be looking forward to Dilloway’s next book.
Bookfool, aka Nancy http://bookfoolery.blogspot.com/
July 30th, 2010 at 6:07 amAaaaaah! I WANT! Yes, Iliana, it’s going on my wish list.
Thank you – excellent review!!!
Veens http://nidhiveens-loveforbooks.blogspot.com
July 30th, 2010 at 9:35 amWow! This sounds interesting. I can sure tell that it would have been to gr8 to hear the whole thing from 1 person…but still I am really intrigued. I totally want to read it.
Melody http://www.mel-reading-corner.blogspot.com/
July 30th, 2010 at 11:00 amGreat review! I can’t wait for my copy to arrive!!
Hope you’ve a great weekend ahead, Iliana!
diane http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/
July 30th, 2010 at 12:46 pmexcellent review Ilianna. I so want to read this one.
Les in NE http://lesleysbooknook.blogspot.com
July 30th, 2010 at 1:05 pmDefinitely adding this to my wishlist! Great review, Ilianna. Thanks!
Bellezza http://www.dolcebellezza.blogspot.com
July 30th, 2010 at 2:11 pmWhen I was reading your review at the beginning, I wondered if the author was Japanese. To me, that would have been even more exciting (what is her basis for understanding the Japanese culture?). Still, I loved your review. How interesting to examine Japan, for one thing, but also, the whole concept of an American housewife. How elusive is that?!
Eva
July 30th, 2010 at 2:58 pmI’ve read books that change narrator and seem worse off for it: it always annoys me! Like Bellezza, I think I’d be more interested in this if the author was Japanese.
Danielle http://www.danitorres.typepad.com
July 30th, 2010 at 7:37 pmThis sounds good–it reminds me of Amy Tan’s earlier books–I’ll have to check this out.
Margaret Dilloway http://www.margaretdilloway.com
July 30th, 2010 at 9:33 pmThanks for reviewing! Yes, I am half-Japanese; this story is largely based on my relationship with my mom, who died when I was 20, about 16 years ago. It’s sort of an imaginary carrying-on of the more fully evolved relationship I did not have with my mother; and the ways in which mother-daughter communication evolves.
Kathleen
July 30th, 2010 at 10:30 pmI’m definitely interested in reading this.
bookworm http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
August 1st, 2010 at 1:45 pmThis sounds great, I love stories like this one. Great review
Joanna http://lostinagoodstory.blogspot.com/
August 3rd, 2010 at 1:10 pmWow, this sounds really great, right up my alley. Will definitely look out for it.
Serena http://savvyverseandwit.com
August 4th, 2010 at 4:17 pmI thought the handbook was real? http://margaretdilloway.com/welcome/the-inspiration-book-the-american-way-of-housekeeping/
I really liked this book, but it wasn’t the best of all that I’ve read this year. A great debut though!
Wisteria Leigh http://BookwormsDinner
August 6th, 2010 at 1:45 pmI have heard so many good reviews about this one. I think I entered a contest someplace to win a copy. Maybe I’ll get lucky. lad you enjoyed it.
Anna http://diaryofaneccentric.wordpress.com
August 6th, 2010 at 6:19 pmI really liked this book, too. I didn’t mind Sue’s point of view, though I thought Shoko was a more interesting character.
I’ll link to your review on the WWII book reviews page on War Through the Generations.