Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature

59

was also published in England under the title Ev-
erything Happens for a Reason.
Daswani’s popular novels have been described
by several reviewers as “chick lit.” These novels are
mostly romantic comedies that focus on Indian
women’s experiences with love, marriage, work,
and familial relationships as first-generation im-
migrants. Her characters struggle with cultural
differences and try to balance Indian and Ameri-
can ways of life.
In For Matrimonial Purposes, Daswani tells the
story of Anju, who is from an affluent family in
Bombay. Since Anju does not succeed in finding a
husband and is getting older, her parents become
anxious about her future. Anju decides to come to
New York to get an education, and her parents con-
sent as they think that it increases Anju’s chances
of finding a rich, Indo-American husband. The
novel traces Anju’s experiences with education,
American culture, her successful career in fashion,
and eventually her successful romance (through
the Internet) with an Indo-American man that
leads to marriage. The Internet offers Anju a way
to bridge the arranged marriage system of India
and the American idea of romance and dating.
The Village Bride of Beverly Hills explores what
happens to an Indian bride after she comes to the
United States following an arranged marriage.
Priya is a spunky, young woman who finds that
marriage is neither romantic nor loving. Instead
she becomes an unpaid cook and maid for her
husband and his family in Los Angeles. By a series
of coincidences, Priya begins working for a Holly-
wood entertainment newspaper and discovers that
she has talent as a gossip columnist. She begins
interviewing famous movie stars but has to keep
her work life secret as its requirements in terms of
clothing and lifestyle do not mesh with her role as
a traditional Indian wife and daughter-in-law. Pre-
dictably, this secret unravels and causes enormous
stress on her marriage, and Priya leaves her mar-
riage and returns to her parents’ home in India.
Eventually, her husband realizes his mistakes and
comes to India to court Priya and win her back.
Daswani’s contribution to South Asian–Ameri-
can literature is her lighthearted look at the foi-
bles of both Indian and American societies and

her ability to provide charming narratives of

cultural clash and popular feminism in which

her female protagonists are able to find a middle

ground between two very different sets of cultural

expectations.

Bibliography

Daswani, Kavita. For Matrimonial Purposes. New

York: G. P. Putnam, 2003.

———. The Village Bride of Beverly Hills. New York:

G. P. Putnam, 2004.

Nalini Iyer

Daughter of the Samurai, A

Etsu (Etsuko) I. Sugimoto (1925)

A Daughter of the Samurai was first serialized in

the monthly magazine called Asia in 1923–24 and

published by Doubleday, Page & Co. in 1925. It

was translated into seven languages, and the au-

thor assisted and authorized a Japanese transla-

tion by Miyo Oiwa. Although it is often classified ̄

as autobiography, A Daughter is “more precisely a

work of fiction filled with many autobiographical

facts” (Hirakawa 397). The narrative framework of

A Daughter is a life story of Etsu-bo, a daughter

of a high-ranking samurai in the Echigo province,

the northeast part of Japan. The narrative follows

her life roughly in chronological order: growing

up as a daughter of a samurai family amid its de-

clining fortune; her strict education; a marriage

arrangement at age 12, decided by the family; edu-

cation in a Christian school; travel to America to

marry Matsuo; life in American society; raising

two daughters in the United States, then in Japan;

and returning to the United States. In particular,

the cultural practices in the early years of Meiji

Japan in her childhood are described charmingly

and vividly.

Inside the autobiographical framework, the

narrative often digresses into episodes about Jap-

anese customs and culture. In the preface to the

Japanese translation, ETSU I. SUGIMOTO is quoted

as saying that this book is written as an answer

to many questions about Japan that she had been

asked over the years. There are several detailed, col-

Daughter of the Samurai, A 59