Nothing could have been different in the circumstances I was in. The person I used to be could have only made one choice; the grown-up Shoko might have made a different one. That was how life was. You only figured out the right thing after you were old.
(from How to Be an American Housewife, page 136 in the ARC)
Margaret Dilloway used her mother’s experiences as the basis for her new novel, How to Be an American Housewife. The fictional Shoko left Japan right after World War II as the wife of an American GI. An immigrant unfamiliar with American culture, Shoko didn’t fit in with the other wives and mothers, but she did her best to make a home for Charlie and their children, Mike and Suiko (Sue). Her younger brother, Taro, opposed her marriage, and she hasn’t spoken to him in decades. A weakened heart (probably due to radiation from the bombing of Nagasaki during the war) and an impending surgery make it impossible for Shoko to travel to Japan and heal her broken relationship with Taro.
Shoko persuades her daughter, Sue, to make the trip for her. Sue has problems of her own; she’s a single mother to 12-year-old, wise-beyond-her-years Helena and stuck in a job she hates. For years, she felt what she thought was her mother’s disapproval, but the trip to Japan offers an opportunity for Sue to strengthen her relationship with her mother and find herself.
How to Be an American Housewife reminds me of the Japanese version of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. If you know me well, you’ll understand this is high praise, as The Joy Luck Club is one of my favorite books. Like The Joy Luck Club, How to Be an American Housewife emphasizes the conflict between Asian-born mothers and their American-born daughters, the struggle to understand and adopt a new culture, and of course, the discovery of family secrets. Also, the American-born daughter is sent on a trip to the home land to meet long-lost relatives.
Dilloway includes excerpts from a fictional homemaking guide, “How to Be an American Housewife,” at the beginning of each chapter, based on a book her father gave her mother when they married, The American Way of Housekeeping. She also tells the story from both Shoko’s and Sue’s points of view, with Shoko dominating the book and shifting from past to present and Sue’s narrative taking over as she embarks on the trip to Japan. I was captivated by both stories, from Shoko’s tales of forbidden love and how the war changed everything to Sue’s desire to change her life. I loved all three of the main characters: Shoko for her strength and courage, Sue because I related to her need to chase the dreams she put off when she started a family, and Helena for convincing her mother to embrace change.
It’s hard to believe that How to Be an American Housewife is Dilloway’s first novel. Her tender treatment of the characters and their problems appealed to me and kept the book from getting too heavy. Although somewhat predictable and neatly tied up in the end, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the story from the very beginning. I can’t get enough of books about World War II, mother-daughter relationships, Japanese culture, and the immigrant experience, and Dilloway does a brilliant job combining all of these themes into a single novel. While I was satisfied with the ending, I wasn’t ready to let these characters go, which makes me believe How to Be an American Housewife is yet another book to add to my list of the best books I’ve read this year. (I count myself lucky to have read so many good books recently!)
Thanks to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to participate in the blog tour for How to Be an American Housewife. Click here to check out the other tour dates.
Disclosure: I received a copy of How to Be an American Housewife from Putnam/Penguin for review purposes. I am an Amazon associate.
© 2010 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
Hmmm, I might give this one a try if I ever run across it.
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I hope you do!
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I have heard so very much of this book. I love stories like this – will try to find a copy.
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I hope you get a chance to read it and that you love it as much as I did.
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[…] to Diary of an Eccentric today to talk about her debut novel, How to Be an American Housewife (read my review). How to Be an American Housewife is the story of a Japanese woman who married an American GI […]
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I’m looking forward to reading this one.
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I’m glad you were on the tour, too, so I had someone to discuss it with. 😉
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I am happy to hear it’s good cos it sure looks good and I’d like to read it
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I think you’d like it and hope you get a chance to read it.
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So many great reviews of this book. I am dying to read it!
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I hope you do! I’d love to hear what you think about it.
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This sounds so good to me – I think I could totally relate to it. I so admire people who give up their native culture for the person they love.
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I know how much you wanted this one, and I’m glad you now have a copy. Looking forward to your thoughts.
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I’m definitely going to read this one soon, people have great things to say about it!
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I can’t wait to see what you think about it.
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Oh I just can’t wait to read this one after your review!
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I hope you get a chance to read it soon!
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This is the third review I’ve seen of How to be an American Housewife and it seems like everyone is gushing about it!
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It seems that most of the reviews have been positive, and I’m glad because I really enjoyed it. Hope you give it a try.
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What an excellent review! This one is my favorite book of the year so far too!!! Great minds, and all that..
Anna, thank you so much for being on the tour. We really appreciate it.
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Thanks! It was my pleasure.
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This is the second review I’ve read of this book and it just sounds like such a good book! I can’t wait to pick up a copy.
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I hope you read it soon. Would love to hear your thoughts.
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Thanks! I’m so happy you liked it and that it’s one of your faves this year. Wow!
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You’re very welcome! Thanks for stopping by my blog.
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Great review Anna! You are right, it’s definitely in the spirit of The Joy Luck Club. I really enjoyed it too. I felt so bad for Shoko as she hadn’t been able to go see her family. I can’t imagine being in that situation.
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Thanks! There were a lot of sad moments but a lot of happy and hopeful moments as well.
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I have The Joy Luck Club but I haven’t read it. I wouldn’t normally read something like this book but I think I’d enjoy this.
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You definitely should give it a try…and read The Joy Luck Club, too!
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[…] August 10, 2010 by Anna (Diary of an Eccentric) Kathy! […]
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[…] How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway […]
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