3. How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway
I picked up this book from an airport because I wanted something to distract me that wouldn’t give me a headache. I should note that I am well-read in the (I loathe to use this term) “chick lit” genre of coupling Asian women with non-Asian men and chronicling the neurosis it subsequently results in. In this book, it follows a Japanese woman who marries a GI to cover up a horrible (by soap opera standards) secret. The scenes featuring the protagonist as a young woman were kind of insufferable, but the present-day bits were nice, as everyone knows stubborn old Asian women are the greatest.
2. The Dim Sum of All Things by Kim Wong Keltner
As this book was published almost eight years ago, I’m guessing the publisher saw a dearth in books about modern-day Chinese women both lusting after and loathing white men. If you think the pun in the title is bad, there are a plethora more inside (She grew up liking Tiger Beat — not tiger balm!). I got permanent cringe wrinkles reading this book, as it seems to exist solely to “expose” several Asian stereotypes and simply leave it that. Self-awareness is great, but it will only get you so far. If you need an antidote to this book, read Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine.
1. Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen
Not all books of this so-called genre are bad. This book, for example, doesn’t fixate too much on the heroine versus white dudes. Yes, she has a crush on a nice Jewish boy, but it mostly comes about from her own decision to study Judaism as a result of wanting to know more about the biggest minority group in her town. Also, Gish Jen is a pro, and she knows better than to focus on trivial things like Hello Kitty. (And if she does, she does it well.) I guess all I’m saying is: if you want to write about this situation, by all means do, but just don’t pull the same old tricks all the time.
