Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut that explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle era during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love.”—Lisa See
“A tender and satisfying novel.”—Garth Stein, bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain
In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s—Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel’s basement for the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.
“A tender and satisfying novel.”—Garth Stein, bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain
In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s—Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel’s basement for the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.
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Readers say *Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet* offers a poignant coming-of-age story set against WWII-era Seattle’s Chinese and Japanese Americ...
My second read over the Thanksgiving break was Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. This book has been on my Kindle for quite some time. I saw it listed as a "book club" read awhile back and purchased it. It sat, collecting dust on the proverbial shelf, for almost a year. I don't know why. I wanted to read the novel, but other things just kept coming along. It was shuffled to the back of my reading list and until the break, I hadn't had time to update my books. I'm glad I did.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was simply that, bitter and sweet. This novel chronicles the life of Henry Lee who has just lost his wife to cancer. Trying his best to find a rhythm to life again after caring for his wife in his home (against his son Marty's wishes), Lee find himself standing outside the Panama Hotel that used to be a grand place in Japantown. A crowd of people have gathered there and much to Lee's surprise, a wealth of items have been uncovered from the basement of the hotel belonging to Japanese Americans that were interred in prison camps during WWII. Lee knew, in his mind, the items were there all along, but time has a way of befuddling a person's memory. Upon seeing a particular parasol on display, Lee is taken back to this time period where his father made him wear a button that read "I am Chinese" so their family wouldn't be confused with the Japanese seen as the enemy, and he made and lost his first true love. His journey as a child forced him to make decisions that cost him his friends and his family, but decisions that provided him with his future. This novel is a solid coming of age story set in a time period where few people of Asian decent were allowed to reach their full potential in their own culture and rather, their parents wanted to "Americanize" them.
The novel is beautifully written with excellent characterization and depth. The struggle between the Asian cultures and the American cultures are highlighted through the use of all races. The historical notes of a time period America likes to ignore (putting people in prison camps on our land while we fought the Germans for doing the same thing to Jews) accentuates the arrogance of our nation during a time of great unrest. A fondness for Jazz music not only grounds Henry's relationship with his friend Keiko as a child, but draws a sharp contrast of his relationship with his family. This novel explores both the triumphs and downfalls of human relationships with a natural ebb and flow. In the end, this book reminded me, and I'm sure all those whom have read it, that time heals all wounds and it is truly never too late to live, to love, to lose, to forgive.
I would give this book a comfortable 4 out 5 of five stars. It spoke to me, and is a book I will continue to think about for years to come.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is Jamie Ford's breakout novel. (From Amazon.com): Jamie is the great grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from Kaiping, China, to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name "Ford," thus confusing countless generations. An award-winning short-story writer, Ford is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and a survivor of Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp. Having grown up near Seattle's Chinatown, he now lives in Montana (where he's on a never-ending quest to find decent dim sum).
Visit him at jamieford.com, where he can be found blogging about his next book, WHISPERS OF A THUNDER GOD, among other things.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was simply that, bitter and sweet. This novel chronicles the life of Henry Lee who has just lost his wife to cancer. Trying his best to find a rhythm to life again after caring for his wife in his home (against his son Marty's wishes), Lee find himself standing outside the Panama Hotel that used to be a grand place in Japantown. A crowd of people have gathered there and much to Lee's surprise, a wealth of items have been uncovered from the basement of the hotel belonging to Japanese Americans that were interred in prison camps during WWII. Lee knew, in his mind, the items were there all along, but time has a way of befuddling a person's memory. Upon seeing a particular parasol on display, Lee is taken back to this time period where his father made him wear a button that read "I am Chinese" so their family wouldn't be confused with the Japanese seen as the enemy, and he made and lost his first true love. His journey as a child forced him to make decisions that cost him his friends and his family, but decisions that provided him with his future. This novel is a solid coming of age story set in a time period where few people of Asian decent were allowed to reach their full potential in their own culture and rather, their parents wanted to "Americanize" them.
The novel is beautifully written with excellent characterization and depth. The struggle between the Asian cultures and the American cultures are highlighted through the use of all races. The historical notes of a time period America likes to ignore (putting people in prison camps on our land while we fought the Germans for doing the same thing to Jews) accentuates the arrogance of our nation during a time of great unrest. A fondness for Jazz music not only grounds Henry's relationship with his friend Keiko as a child, but draws a sharp contrast of his relationship with his family. This novel explores both the triumphs and downfalls of human relationships with a natural ebb and flow. In the end, this book reminded me, and I'm sure all those whom have read it, that time heals all wounds and it is truly never too late to live, to love, to lose, to forgive.
I would give this book a comfortable 4 out 5 of five stars. It spoke to me, and is a book I will continue to think about for years to come.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is Jamie Ford's breakout novel. (From Amazon.com): Jamie is the great grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from Kaiping, China, to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name "Ford," thus confusing countless generations. An award-winning short-story writer, Ford is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and a survivor of Orson Scott Card's Literary Boot Camp. Having grown up near Seattle's Chinatown, he now lives in Montana (where he's on a never-ending quest to find decent dim sum).
Visit him at jamieford.com, where he can be found blogging about his next book, WHISPERS OF A THUNDER GOD, among other things.
Having read Amy Tan and other authors that capture the tension between mothers and daughters, I found it very interesting to read about the tensions between a father and son. I also recently read Unbroken which shed light on why Henry's father would have such a strong reaction against his Chinese son being involved with a Japanese girl.
I loved this book - gave me insight into the tragedy of being Japanese and Chinese during the WWII era and having no distinction between the Japanese and the Chinese. So much was lost.
Very interesting glimpse into a shameful time sanctioned by FDR - the internment of Japanese into dismal camps because they were deemed a threat to Americans. And unstated, but perhaps they were shipped off for their own protection against angry citizens. This, despite the fact those of Japanese heritage were naturalized citizens or immigrants, hoping to find a better life in America. The story centers on schoolmates at an American school - Henry, an American-born Chinese and Keiko, an American-born Japanese. It's told in a dual timeline. The war years, when they were on the cusp of becoming teenagers. And many years later, as they go their separate ways due to world affairs, and intense prejudices. A sweet love story that defies those prejudices, until Henry's Dad puts a stop to it, due to his hatred of the Japanese invading America and his homeland. Most of the present day, 1986, is told after the death of Henry's wife, Ethel. And the mysteries of opening up an old hotel by new owners, which also included the discovery in the basement of luggage and belongings from those families shipped off to internment camps during the War. Henry is looking for something specific, and enlists the help of his son and fiance to find it. This story reminds me of another book - Snow Falling on Cedars. I want to go back and re-read that one.
I really liked this book. I just felt like the secondary characters were tools to move the story along. I wish there was more depth to them.
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