"In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,
Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the
gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the
new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese
families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during
World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.
"This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.
"Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel's dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice - words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.
"Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart."
"This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.
"Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel's dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice - words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.
"Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart."
As
one who loves reading books from this time period, I was pretty
interested when I learned what this book was about. There is always so
much to learn. I can't imagine going forty years with such a secret. I
loved how things were resolved. I loved that his son didn't carry on
the same prejudices, even that the father didn't and that he tried to
overcome them. I can't imagine that kind of pressure from your parents,
thankfully. I get having pride in your heritage and in your culture,
but this feels as those it's to the extreme. At least, it seems extreme
to me. While I know the book is a work of fiction, I wonder about the
real life families that went through this. I think we sometimes choose
to forget that, while these weren't concentration camps, we did inter
people and take away their lives in this way. This is not a part of the
American heritage that I am particularly proud to acknowledge myself,
but it did happen. I hope, if there are still belongings and stories
out there like this they are being discovered. There needs to be some
justice for this kind of wrong doing.
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