"deep chick lit look at interracial offspring"

While growing up in Arkansas with a Japanese American mother and White southerner father, Jen Nakamura Taylor felt like she never belonged. When she became old enough she moved to Chicago with plans to avoid her roots as much as possible. Her sister did likewise relocating to San Francisco.

When cousin Lucy announces she and Kevin Peterson are to marry, the bride and her family including Jen's mother expects her to come for the ceremony. Unable to escape Jen needs to find a date, but not an Arkansas yokel. She persuades her best friend in the Windy City Nigel Riley to escort her home although she feels her boisterous clan will embarrass her in front of him. Riley has hidden his feelings for Jen that he keeps from her because he fears she only sees him as a pal. However, as she feels abashed by her family's antics, Riley seems to enjoy being with them. Jen starts to see things differently when she begins to realize they are her people and they love her just like she begins to see Riley in a different light.

The aptly named DIXIELAND SUSHI is a terrific glimpse at the blending of races and cultures displaying how complex humanity truly is. Cara Lockwood switches back and forth between the present Jen and the teenage Jen so that the audience can see how much the younger felt displaced in Dixie while showing how the child becomes the adult. Though the ending seems less filling than the tasty tale that leads to it, readers will appreciate this deep chick lit look at interracial offspring.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 12, 2005

Summary

Jen Nakamara Taylor didn't have a conventional childhood. In her hometown of Dixieland, Arkansas, most girls' mothers didn't serve sushi at their tenth birthday parties. As a television producer living in Chicago, she thinks she's left her childhood insecurities behind. Then she receives an invitation to the marriage of her grammar-school crush to her beauty-queen cousin. The subsequent search to find a suitable date, eventful trip back South, and the riotous wedding are all hilarious, but the real appeal of this book lies in its portrayal of a woman confronting her past and embracing her present. Each chapter begins with a platitude from The Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi, and every other chapter weaves in scenes from Jen's childhood. It seems odd at first, but helps reveal the character's quirky sensibilities. Lockwood is half-Japanese herself, and here she ably and humorously depicts the struggle to fit in.