Ellen Sherling

Drawn by its charming cover and the instructional title, I brought this little book home. Loved the progress through the years as the mother focuses on choosing her mate, marrying, then raising her children in a foreign culture. The excerpts from the housewife's handbook were wonderful--funny, poignant, and revelatory of American cultural expectations seen through Japanese eyes. The embarrassed daughter and her hyper-vigilant mother were painfully familiar, to my all-American eyes. Even if adolescent daughters have nothing to feel embarrassed about, they'll find or manufacture something. I recommend that you read this well-written, tender novel that resonates with love and hard-won understanding. So glad I read it!