Peeking Between the Pages

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Guest Post with Margaret Dilloway, author of How to Be an American Housewife & Giveaway (US only)

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I’m thrilled to welcome Margaret Dilloway, author of How to Be an American Housewife, to Peeking Between the Pages today. I read How to Be an American Housewife last year (my review) and I really enjoyed it. I love novels that take me away to a different place and culture and that’s just what this novel does! Margaret is joining us today with a guest post about finding humor in a dark situation and writing the novel after her mother passed away and learning about her even after her death…

Maybe it’s the Irish side of me, but even when I write serious things, I can’t help but put some humor into it. It’s what my natural style is. If I try to write seriously, my editor chastises me, so I don’t even attempt to cut out that part of myself anymore.

Thus, although some heavy stuff goes down in the novel (bitter relationships, war, broken dreams) there’s a fair amount of humor in it, too.

For example, in the book, Shoko threatens to throw a plate of spaghetti at her new husband, who doesn’t appreciate the effort she’s gone to. I don’t know that my mother ever actually did that to my dad, but she did say it at least once, to us kids. I think it might have been on I LOVE LUCY or some other old TV show. Anyway, though at the time I didn’t think it was so funny, now the thought of a tiny Japanese woman threatening to start a food fight (something she clearly won’t do, given her cleaning habits) strikes me as humorous.

In another part of the book, Sue, the American daughter, comes to Shoko’s house for dinner. Sue is going to set the table when Shoko stops her, saying, “Wash hands first. Lotta good college did.” Which is, of course, a different way of saying bakatare, a testament to Shoko’s commitment to cleanliness, and a commentary on Shoko’s jealousy/pride of her daughter’s college education.

This humorous side of serious situations laces the novel. Discrimination is a pretty big theme in the book. I’d grown up hearing stories about the prejudice my family faced. My parents and my brother had been a trio, living all over the country while my father was in the Navy. My middle brother and I showed up late, at the end and after my dad’s military career, so we didn’t really experience what they did.

Rather than react with bitterness or anger to discrimination, my mother delighted in proving people wrong, like Shoko in the novel. Mom said people were surprised to learn she was actually civilized, not the savage they thought she would be. “I thought you’d have yellow skin! But it’s pink,” someone told her. People worried she’d serve raw fish at potlucks, so she made American food, better than any my friends had ever tasted. People used to openly gawk at my oldest brother. “Stick your tongue out at them,” she said she told him. This is the kind of spirit I gave to Shoko, this feeling that people only thought they hated Japanese because they didn’t know any better, and she was going to school them.
_________

Thank you for this terrific guest post Margaret! It sounds as though your mother had quite the admirable spirit. After reading this post, it makes me think even more of your novel which I had already really enjoyed!
__________

About the Book (from Margaret’s website)

HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE is about the strong pull of tradition, and the lure and cost of breaking free of tradition. Set in California and Japan, it tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI as a way of improving her and her family’s fortunes, moved with him to the States, and tried to learn how to be a proper American housewife; and her grown daughter Sue, who finds her own life as an American housewife is not at all what her mother would have wanted for her, or even what Sue had hoped for herself. When Shoko’s illness prevents her from making a long-awaited trip to Japan to be reunited with her brother, she asks Sue to go in her place, and the trip changes both women’s lives in unexpected ways. With beautifully delineated characters and unique entertaining glimpses into Japanese and American family life and aspirations, this is also a moving mother and daughter story. Interspersed with quotations from Shoko’s guide to being an American housewife, this is a warm and engaging novel full of surprising insight.

How to Be an American Housewife excerpt
Reading Group Guide
Buy How to Be an American Housewife on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

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.

Margaret’s website
Margaret’s blog
Find Margaret on Twitter

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have one copy of How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway up for grabs to US residents only. To enter…

  • For 1 entry leave me a comment with an email address to contact you (no email, no entry).
  • For 2 entries, follow my blog. If you already do, thanks, and please let me know in your comment so I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
  • For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway and spread the word.

This giveaway is open to US residents only (no PO Boxes as per the publisher) and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, August 27/11. Good luck everyone!

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

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Comments

  1. The cover is so pretty. Thanks for the giveaway

    frellathon(at)gmail(dot)com

  2. + 2 Old follower woops for not adding in my other comment

    frellathon(at)gmail(dot)com

  4. I enjoyed reading this guest post. I love that the author tries to include slices of humor even when writing about serious, heavy things. I just had my hand on this book in the bookstore yesterday, as I do want to read it, but I am trying to whittle down my TBR pile (as always), so I exercised restraint 🙂 I do want to get to this at some point tho.

  6. I enjoyed the post. This looks like a great read.

    +2 I am a GFC follower.

    Thanks!
    JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

  9. What a great guest post – Margaret's mother sounds like a spitfire. No need to enter me.

  12. I would love to read this book. I am very curious about it! My husband is Chinese and we have felt prejudice several times because of being a mixed race couple. But there is another reason that I am interested. When my husband was very active in a temple, he brought me to introduce to the group. They didn't know that I know some mandarin and I overhead, over and over again in the kitchen, 'waiguoren". That means literally "outside county person" or a foreiger! They were talking about me! I had to learn a lot of customs, the holidays are the most fun, and other Chinese social graces to become a Chinese Amaerican wife. I really want to read this book,

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

  13. I really enjoyed this book…and her guest posts this month have been fantastic. no need to enter me.

  16. Another book that I've been wanting to read! Thanks for having the giveaway.

    mryward(at)yahoo(dot)com

  18. Sounds like a wonderful read! Good review by you – as always! Thanks for the giveaway!
    PMNSL95 at triad dot rr dot com

  21. Great post! This book sounds so fascinating and is on my wishlist.
    kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com

  26. Would love to read this. thanks.

    I follow your blog as Sandra K321.

    seknobloch(at)gmail(dot)com

  27. I love it when an author uses humor to deflect a bad situation, and think that this book sounds wonderful for that reason, and a lot of others. I'd love a chance to win this one, Dar, so please do enter me in your giveaway, and thanks for hosting it!!

    zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net

  28. I would like to win this book. Discrimination and how it is dealt with. A book with humor added to it to

    amhengst at verizon dot net

  31. I love this guest post especially because it gives me an idea of what to look forward to in Margaret Dalloway's book. I also am able to relate to the idea of using humor to deflect a bad situation and I have Irish blood so maybe that is it.
    I have read amazing reviews of How to be an American Housewife and am thrilled it's not out in paperback.

    Thank you for a wonderful giveaway, Dar, please include me.
    I am a follower of your blog!

    Aimala127@gmail.com

  35. I would love to read this book. Honestly, the cover caught my attention first. The story sounds interesting and exactly like something I'd enjoy. THANKS!

    2 entries because I follow GFC.
    Itwasemotional (at) yahoo (dot) com

  36. Sign me up please. I have been wanting to read this for quite some time.

    thank you

    chocolate and croissants at yahoo . com

  42. Great guest post. Margaret Dilloway's mom sounds like she was a strong woman. The book sounds like a fantastic read.

  46. I am fascinated with books about the Japanese culture. This book is one I have to read. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!

    +2 I am a GFC follower.

    Thanks!

    suzebomb(at)gmail.com

  49. Great story, I know someone that his parents met in Japan and married. He (father) was a GI and she (mother) was Japanese. Came to the US to raise a family.
    Please enter me.
    RJB
    loki304(at)tds(dot)net

  50. I like the fact that the author was inspired by her Japanese mothers experiences.

    lag110 at mchsi dot com