Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Paperback – October 6, 2009

I did not know what to make of this at first. A young adult coming of age story? It's that and much, much more. The setting: Seattle's Chinatown. Time: WWII and forty years later--it's a split-time story, but it's easy to follow the shifts. Very well done.A young Chinese boy is caught in a tight swirl of conflicting identities and loyalties: his Chinese-speaking father follows the war in the Pacific, not because he's American, but because the Japanese are attacking China. This father then instructs young Henry never to speak Chinese, but only English.Then at school, Henry meets Keiko, and they form a deep bond. But his father can never know, because, you see, she's Japanese--the enemy. Never mind that she can't even speak Japanese. She's still treated as such, and then Roosevelt signs an order carting off all Japanese families to internment camps. What will Henry do now? Can he save his friend?This book is clean, perhaps a PG story, and suitable for teens. A wonderful way to introduce an older teen to that period of history. It's not Christian but there is no bad language. And like the title implies, there are some sad parts--but sweet ones too, and a nice ending.

Well drawn characters and an absorbing story. I enjoyed the past and present. There was a satisfying ending which is always nice

Interesting and important history!!

When I picked up Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet to read last week, I figured I would finish it in a day or two. It was going to be quick filler while I waited for my book club book to arrive in the mail. The book is not very long and I had heard such good things about it.It turns out that every time I sat down to read this week my eye lids would get heavy and within minutes I would be sound asleep. It took me a full week to read it. This, however, should not reflect poorly on the book. In fact, it turned out to be a blessing because this is a book meant to be savored.Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is Jamie Ford's debut novel. I've been hearing about it for awhile and I added it as an after thought to my amazon book order a few months ago to get my cost up to $25 for the free shipping. (This was just before got Amazon Prime.)Henry is a twelve year old Chinese boy living in Seattle and attending a white school on a scholarship when he becomes friends with Keiko, a Japanese girl who is the only other non-white in the school. They work together in the cafeteria and develop a close friendship as they try to ignore the taunts and ridicules from their classmates. It is a sweet relationship but also a forbidden one. For it is during World War II. The Japanese are hated and even American citizens who are Japanese by descent are suspected of being spies. Also, Henry's father hates the Japanese and Henry has been restricted from associating with the Japanese.Henry and Keiko continue to grow close even as the Japanese, including Keiko's family are rounded up and moved into internment camps first in the fair grounds near Seattle and eventually at a camp in Idaho. Henry, in love, promises to wait.This novel is fabulous! It is beautiful, sweet and bitter (the title is perfect), romantic and emotionally stirring. I adored the characters and even though it is often easy to scoff at adolescent love, their feelings are strong and their reactions completely believable. The setting, characters and plot weave together so perfectly with Ford's style to create a subtle masterpiece.It is also, for my more sensitive friends, completely and refreshingly clean. I'm anxious to discuss the multiple themes and facets of this book, so don't be surprised if I start forcing everyone I know to read it. You'll thank me.

This is a poignant story filled with history and love, mostly. I fell in love with the main characters who had such a lovely, dad story to tell. I highly recommend it.

Henry Lee is a grown man nearing the end of his life. He has recently lost his wife to cancer and struggles to bridge the gap in his relationship with his college-attending son. One day he comes upon artifacts being unearthed from inside the Panama Hotel, and he is thrown back into a swirl of memories from his childhood, from a time when he promised to protect a family’s most precious possessions. Henry reflects on his friendship with Keiko, and he continues to sift through the remains in the Panama Hotel, looking for the belongings of Keiko and her family, and enlists his son and his girlfriend to assist him…while he slowly tells his story of friendship, defiance, and commitment to his own son.The PlayersHenry – a young Chinese-American boy torn in a world of white vs. Chinese. vs. JapaneseSheldon – a black Jazz player Henry befriendsKeiko – a young Japanese-American girl who ends up attending Henry’s all-white schoolMs. Beatty – the school cook responsible for Henry and Keiko’s scholarshipping duties at schoolMarty – Henry’s privileged son; Chinese-American living in a modern worldSamantha – Marty’s Caucasion girlfriendThe QuoteHe walked to school each day, going upstream against a sea of Chinese kids who called him “white devil.” He worked in the school kitchen as white devils called him “yellow.”Prosperity didn’t seem to reach locals like Sheldon. He was a polished jazz player, whose poverty had less to do with his musical ability and more to do with his color. Henry had liked him immediately. Not because they both were outcasts, although if he really thought about it, that might have had a ring of truth to it – no, he liked him because of his music. Henry didn’t know what jazz was, he knew only it was something his parents didn’t listen to, and that made him like it even more.He thought about those three Japanese couple laying facedown on the dirty floor of the Black Elks Club in their evening finery. Being hauled out and jailed somewhere. He stared back at Mr. Preston, a man trying to buy land out from under families who were now burning their most precious possessions to keep from being called traitors or spies.The Highs and LowsHenry’s Inner Conflict. Henry is most conflicted in following his father’s rules and expectations. He ends up doing things that outright defy his father, and others that are done on the sly. Regardless, Henry spends three years being ignored by his father entirely, and told during such highly emotional times that he is a stranger, that he is dead to his father. Henry must choose between what is right and his father’s hatred for the Japanese. For a highly traditional family, it is not something that is easy for Henry, but it is something he must do.+ Keiko. She is such a sweetheart with such a love for life. She is all things bright and warm and fun and loving for Henry. She makes him feel alive and like there is more outside his father’s household. She stalwartly stands up for who she is – Japanese-American. Despite several instances when Henry could have saved Keiko from her fate by wearing his “I’m Chinese” button, Keiko refused. She endured the unjust punishment on her heritage.– Henry’s Father. Henry’s father migrated to the United States at age 13, after having quit school. He works in the neighborhood fighting to protect the Chinese and their cause. He fights for China on US soil. He fights for China in China. He fights for China in Japan and in Russia. He does everything possible on the ground in the US to support his cause, and he is a highly respected individual in this community.Marty. Marty’s appearance at the beginning of the book painted him as a disgustingly privileged young American boy living it up at college. As the book goes on, though, and Henry’s relationship with his son deepens, there is more to Marty than meets the eye. Henry is so afraid that his son will not approve of his childhood friendship with Keiko that he at first does not want to tell their story for fear of tarnishing his late wife’s memory, but Marty is a young man who believes in happiness.Fathers and Sons. Henry mentions on more than one occasion his own perspective of his relationship with his father, comparable to a widening gulf with no conversation and very little reaction. At one point, he realizes he had enacted and enforced the same type of relationship with his own son, continuing the cycle, and makes a conscious choice not to.Ms. Beatty. The school kitchen cook is more than meets the eye. She seems like a lazy, smoking white woman with little regard for the Asians working in her kitchen, but nothing could be further from the truth. When things get really sticky for Henry or Keiko, Ms. Beatty is there. She shows up the white kids who picked on Henry and Keiko. When Keiko is gone and in the internment camp, Ms. Beatty finds a way for Henry to get to her. Turns out Ms. Beatty has much at stake like Henry and Keiko. She’s just doing what she can.Racism, Prejudices and People of Color. Yes, this book has it all: African-Americans, Chinese-Americans and Japanese-Americans in a time when all were shunned and unwanted in a homogeneous white society. They are left on the fringes, and even turn against one another – at least, the Chinese against the Japanese. They must make the clear distinction they are not Japanese, hence the “I am Chinese” button Henry’s father requires him to wear.The Friendship. Henry and Keiko have such a beautiful childhood friendship. True, it is forged on the fringes of nonacceptance, exclusion and rejection by attending an all-white school – and having to scholarshipping through it.Power of the Words. The language and images that Ford paints are absolutely beautiful. She creates such a world of nostalgia that forces the reader to reminisce with Henry, and fall in love alongside him.The Take-AwayWhen Henry takes Keiko to the Black Elks Club, it is such a beautiful scene. I love it.Recommendation – Buy, Borrow or Skip?Buy it. This is not one to skip past, and I definitely wouldn’t borrow it.

This beautiful story has everything I long for when I open a book. I was completely transformed into the time and place and the people lives. Thank you Jamie Ford!

History can be dry but Jamie Ford has done a magnificent job. Young people would benefit of this very well expressed history lesson. Thank you,

Although I read this book years ago, the story is one that has never left my mind. It's beautifully written, a lovely story about true friendship and true love, set in a historical context I had heard little about before reading it. Over the years I've recommended this book often.I read it in English on my Kindle , but I bought it in paperback as a present for German relatives in German, and the German translation is good.

A fascinating story of America during WW11 from The Japanese perspective. Beautifully written . I couldn'tput this book down

a heart wrenching yet a beautifully touching story as well. Though the story is fictional the happenings of those times are real and that hurts and u wish that were fictional too.

I took the book for our "Book Club" choice. At first I never expected such a marvelous story. Buit this isn't a simple sad love-story. It contains the problems of human races. Mrs.Beatty, a cook and manager of the cafeteria in a school, is especially attractive person.