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Apr 23, 2011

Margaret rated it:

I loved this book. Shoko is a beautiful young Japanese woman who, at the end of WWII marries an American GI stationed near her workplace. Her father agrees to this marriage, but not her younger brother. This becomes a source of pain for years afterward. The part of the book that touched me most was how difficult it was for Shoko to fit into her new way of life in a strange country. There was so much she didn't understand, so many things that were permanently etched on her heart and character More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Jennifer rated it:

From My Blog...[return][return]How To Be An American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway is a beautiful story of love, family and traditions encompassing four generations of women. The novel is told through the beautiful voice of Shoko who takes the reader through her life in Japan, her culture, heritage and how she came to be an American wife of a naval officer. The novel tells of her daughter Suiko and her daughter Helena, who at Shoko’s request, travel to Japan, a culture Suiko “Sue” never ident More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

May 04, 2011

Michelle rated it:

I so enjoyed reading this book. I was excited when it initially arrived. The premise was pretty novel to me, when you have been reading for a number of years it is hard to find a topic that feel new. How to e an American Housewife delivers.

Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American in the Navy at the end of World War Two tells us her story in such an interesting fashion. I don't know anything about Japanese culture so, I cannot say how truly authentic this book would feel for some More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Suelynn rated it:

I got this book as a Kindle gift, and I'm so glad. I might not have picked it up otherwise, because there are so many books with this type of theme and it's hard to narrow down the choices. I loved the character's voices in this book the most. The book centers on Shoko, a native of Japan who emigrates to the states with her American husband following the end of WWII, and the shaky relationship with her daughter, Sue. When Shoko narrates, her thoughts are clear...but when she tries to express the More...

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Jan 07, 2012

Ellyn rated it:

This novel tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who marries an American GI following World War II and returns with him to the United States to live, carrying a shameful secret with her. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, which is narrated by Shoko and tells of her early life in Japan and her subsequent move to the States and her struggle to acclimate and adjust to a new (and not entirely friendly) land. The second half of the book is narrated by Sue, Shoko's adult daughter, and More...

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Dec 02, 2011

marymurtz rated it:

I liked it.

The story is told from the point of view of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI and moved to the United States. Each chapter includes an exerpt from a book purportedly written to instruct Japanese women on how to assimilate into American culture and be good American housewives.

It outlines her attempts to fit in, to make a good home, and to raise her two children. Yet almost everything is a disappointment to her after she tries her best to do as More...

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Nov 16, 2011

Nicole rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2011

Erika rated it:

Set in multiple time periods in Japan and in the United States, HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE is a touching and poignant tale of a mother and daughter, and how the past shaped and defined their future. Shoko, the Japanese mother, narrates the first half of the book, and Sue, her half-American daughter narrates the second half. Both women have unique, compelling voices.

As a girl, Shoko often found herself in trouble for disobedience and nonconformity. She was very close with her broth More...

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Sep 23, 2011

Mia rated it:

In many ways, I am similar to the character of Suiko. We're both half Japanese and half Cacuasian with mothers who came to America well after WWII, we grew up speaking only English (and our mothers held off teaching us Japanese for the same reasons: fear of making us less than 100% comfortable with English and giving us disadvantages that "average" American kids would not have), took Japanese in college in the hopes of reconnecting with some lost piece of ourselves, and eventually went More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 18, 2011

Kelly rated it:

I think this was more of a 3.5. It was really hard for me to decide on a rating because even after reading the book I couldn't really decide if I had liked the book or not.

In all, it was a really easy read. From the beginning it was hard to put the book down once I started.

That said, Dilloway did a beautiful job in keeping her readers captivated with the mother-daughter relationship between Sue and Shoko and taking us into the lives of the Japanese during WWII. It is ha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 27, 2011

Amy rated it:

One of the most beautiful books I've read in some time, How to Be an American Housewife touches themes of family and specifically mother-daughter relationships in a way that feels authentic and truthful, rather than contrived and preachy. The story focuses on Shoko and is largely written in her voice, but Dilloway's ability to switch narrators into the voice of Shoko's daughter, Sue, is done smoothly and adds, rather than distracts, from the story. It gives an interesting view of Japanese-Americ More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 18, 2011

Patricia rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel about an elderly Japanese woman named Shoko and her American daughter. When Shoko was a young woman, her father encouraged her to marry an American because her future prospects in Japan were limited after the Second World War. She dates several American servicemen before marrying Charlie Morgan. After Charlie is transferred to America in the 1950s, Shoko moves there with him. For guidance on adjusting to life in the United States, Shoko turns to a book entitled " More...

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Aug 05, 2011

Connie rated it:

This is a quick read and a pleasant one. It's the fictionalized story of the author's mother who had married an American serviceman and left her home country of Japan for the United States shortly after World War II. The prose is divided between mother and daughter as narrators. The most affecting part of the book for me was the differences between Japanese and American culture that are highlighted. For instance, Shoko, the mother, is told by her father to marry an American in order to obtain a More...

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Aug 03, 2011

Jocelyn rated it:

Shoko is a Japanese woman who marries an American soldier at the end of WWII. She travels with him to America and strives to become the perfect American housewife. Dilloway was inspired by her Japenese mother's experiences when she wrote HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE. She was especially inspired by a book that her father gave to her mother when they were first married titled The American Way of Housekeeping. Shoko's father supports the marriage but her younger brother does not, something that More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Cheryl rated it:

Shoko came from Japan. She lived there with her father, mother, brother and sister until Shoko was about nineteen. During the time that she lived there, she and her family had to deal with the Americans. Most of the Americans did not like the Japanese and visa versa. Though, the only way for Shoko to leave Japan is to find and marry a nice American boy. Shoko does find one. His name is Charlie. They get married and move to America. Years later and two children, Shoko wants to return to Japan bef More...

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Jul 14, 2011

Puttopal rated it:

I'm surprised at all the four and five star ratings this book got. It just wasn't a very strong story, and the dark secret that the main character Shoko is hiding from her children is not very novel. I know that Dilloway's own mother was a first-generation Japanese immigrant, but I had a hard time buying the dialogue as spoken by Shoko. Fifty years in the U.S., having raised children who speak perfect English and she still speaks in broken pidgin English? I grew up around the first-generation gr More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2011

Jenny rated it:

I wanted to read this book ever since I saw that it was an upcoming TLC book tours book but was too late to make it for the tour. I eagerly read everyone else's reviews and saw how wonderful everyone thought this book was and knew that I had to read it. Especially after reading the reviews by Meg at Write Meg! and my good friend, Jennifer at Crazy-For-Books. I had other reading commitments, though, so I wasn't able to read it the second it came out like I wanted to. At this point it's only been More...

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May 25, 2011

Kathy rated it:

As everyone know by now I love books that give a peek into a different culture than my own and since this book had a way of merging the Japanese and American culture together, it was right up my alley. The first half of the book is told through Shoko's eyes as she grows up in Japan and eventually becomes a war bride and lives her adult life in the United States Shoko is elderly and has a heart problems she wants to go back to Japan to make amends with her brother. Due to an her illness she can n More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 12, 2011

Louise rated it:

How to Be An American Housewife is a beautiful Japanese/American story of a family who fell out of favour with some relatives in Japan. For forty-years Taro, and his older sister, Shoko did not speak to each other or communicate in any way. Shoko married an American Navy man in Japan and then moved to America with her husband, Craig after the falling out. Shoko had two children: Mike and Sue.

The story is rich with historical information and we visit places such as: Nagasaki, Kuma More...

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Dec 13, 2010

Wendy rated it:

2.5 maybe

This is the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who marries an American GI, and her daughter Sue. As Shoko faces serious health problems and possible death, she enlists Sue's help to make peace with her family left in Japan.

While at first I had some trouble getting into Shoko's story (and kept having moments where I just didn't buy things she was saying) when the story shifted to her daughter Sue's perspective I just didn't like it as much. I don't think the book did More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 02, 2010

Laurie rated it:

This book, Dilloway’s first, tells the story of both Shoko, a Japanese war bride, and her daughter Suiko, called Sue. The novel moves back and forth in time and between Shoko and Sue’s points of view. It’s a story of love, guilt, shame, prejudice and family. We are introduced to Shoko as she waits for heart surgery in San Diego, with her American husband and half-Japanese daughter. Because of her ill health, she has a task for her daughter and grand-daughter, a task made more difficult because o More...

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Sep 30, 2010

Michelle rated it:

If mothers and daughters could share their deepest secrets and thoughts, they would have the relationship that Margaret Dilloway writes about in her novel, HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE. The novel is about a Japanese mom (Shoko)who leaves Japan with her American husband, Charlie Morgan, and her American daughter (Sue) who have lost their way from each other and come together when Shoko asks Sue to return to Japan. Told in the voices of both Shoko and Sue, the reader is allowed insight into t More...

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Sep 11, 2010

Julie rated it:

How to Be an American Housewife is divided between Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI after WWII, and her daughter Suiko, a single mother whose life has stalled since her divorce.

I really felt for both characters, and found both the story and the settings (WWII-era Japan, occupied Japan, present-day San Diego, and present-day Japan) very interesting. Margaret Dilloway explores many of the differences between Japanese and American cultures and also illustrates the hardsh More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 11, 2010

Felice rated it:

It's odd to read two books in a row that feature How To pamphlets and assimilation. This may be the only time in my life when that happens, don't you think? The first book was the disappointing Mr Rosenblum Dreams In English and the second was How To Be An American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway. Second time's the charm apparently since Housewife was heavenly.

Housewife is the story of a young Japanese bride who comes to America with her GI husband. Shoko comes of age during W More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2010

Jacqie rated it:

Kind of a "Kitchen God's Wife" with a Japanese background instead of a Chinese one. The story starts off from the Japanese mom's point of view, and goes over her past during WWII and how she married an American serviceman. Interesting insights into class both in Japan and America in the '40's, and how it is to be treated as an outsider. This tough little lady was admirable.
Then the story goes to the Japanese-American daughter's point of view. Not as interesting of a character More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2011

Becky rated it:

Background and present day is nicely inter-woven in this examination of cultural differences and adjustment. Shoko, raised in Japan during WWII, marries an American GI with the blessing & encouragement of her father, but with the bitter opposition of her brother. While it was not a love marriage, it does develope into love. Shoko is a surprisingly spirited, strong woman but also keenly aware of the need to adapt and understand American culture and her role as a wife to survive. A heart illn More...

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Jun 19, 2011

Margaret rated it:

As a "konketsu" mixed-race, half Japanese, half Greek daughter of an American GI Marine and Japanese mom ... finding this book that I can truly identify with has been a joy. Although my mom is four years younger than the character Shoko, my mom's stories mirror hers in so many ways. The character of Sue or Suiko lives her youth, in many respects, as I did mine.

Aside from the joy of finding a book with very much my own life story, I hope others will enjoy the plot and the ch More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 15, 2011

Victoria Evangelina rated it:

~"NOW BE HAPPY. OK?"~

This is a very kind book with a good ending. It something we not often meet in life and in fiction, too! I gulped it in less than two days not only due to the clear and simple style of writing, truthful dialogue and observations of life, but for I could clearly try on the shoes of being an immigrant in America, something I always felt is not as easy as it may seem to be. "When you marry and integrate with Americans, it is only natural not to hav More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2011

April rated it:

An interesting story about two women, a mother and daughter, born and raised in two entirely different worlds and their journey to find mutual understanding.

Shoko was raised to be a very traditional Japanese woman. Her daughter, Sue, born and raised in America was often completely confused by her mother's outdated traditions that were vastly different from their American counterparts. It isn't until Shoko finds the courage to ask her daughter to take care of some unsettled family bu More...

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Jul 13, 2011

Barbara rated it:

I approached this book warily, thinking it might be "cute", worrying that the attractive cover was too pretty for a deep read. Instead, I was drawn immediately into it. It has a light and easy touch in its writing, with the chapter heads drawn from the fictitious book which is supposed to have aided the young Japanese bride in adapting to her new state of marriage and her new country. These can be amusing, but under the surface of the novel is a tension and sadness that affected me de More...

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