Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers

DNF so I won't give a star rating, but I have to say there aren't many books I give up on so early.

I picked this one up (and I have to say it is out of my preferred genres) because I am interested in learning about the history of Hawaii during WWII. Only a few chapters in, I questioned my decision because of the blatant stereotypes in the writing.

In chapter two, Violet confesses to miss having her husband around to make parenting decisions because, “Violet tended to let emotions cloud her thinking.”

Later on in the same chapter, Violet describes having Jean as a roommate as “like having her very own wife.” Why? Because Jean has coffee and pancakes ready on the table before Violet wakes up, and she scours the kitchen clean after breakfast.

By this point, I was already questioning whether or not I would enjoy this book about supposedly “strong-willed women” who fall into all the usual female stereotypes.

Then, in the next chapter, 10 year old Ella (whose maturity reads like a 6 year old, but vocabulary reads like a 40 year old) says, “If you spend even five minutes around them, you will know that Japanese people are smarter, neater, and more interesting than us. They also don't talk as much, and are probably good at keeping secrets.”

I mean, I guess you can write it off as a naive kid being cute, but is she being cute? All I know is that these stereotypes are ones that Japanese people (and people of Japanese decent) face now. And if a major message of this book is anti-racism, shouldn't Japanese people be portrayed as a complex, nuanced group of people instead of stereotypes?

It doesn't seem to be my kind of book or my kind of writing style. I am going to try to find out which books she used for her research instead.