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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford
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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.
"Sentimental, heartfelt….the exploration of Henry’s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices."-- Kirkus Reviews
“A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel."
-- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain
“Jamie Ford's first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love. An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut.”
-- Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
- Sales Rank: #4489 in Books
- Brand: Ballantine Books
- Published on: 2009-10-06
- Released on: 2009-10-06
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .70" w x 5.20" l, .55 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 301 pages
Features
From Publishers Weekly
Ford's strained debut concerns Henry Lee, a Chinese-American in Seattle who, in 1986, has just lost his wife to cancer. After Henry hears that the belongings of Japanese immigrants interned during WWII have been found in the basement of the Panama Hotel, the narrative shuttles between 1986 and the 1940s in a predictable story that chronicles the losses of old age and the bewilderment of youth. Henry recalls the difficulties of life in America during WWII, when he and his Japanese-American school friend, Keiko, wandered through wartime Seattle. Keiko and her family are later interned in a camp, and Henry, horrified by America's anti-Japanese hysteria, is further conflicted because of his Chinese father's anti-Japanese sentiment. Henry's adult life in 1986 is rather mechanically rendered, and Ford clumsily contrasts Henry's difficulty in communicating with his college-age son, Marty, with Henry's own alienation from his father, who was determined to Americanize him. The wartime persecution of Japanese immigrants is presented well, but the flatness of the narrative and Ford's reliance on numerous cultural cliches make for a disappointing read. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adutl/High School—Henry Lee is a 12-year-old Chinese boy who falls in love with Keiko Okabe, a 12-year-old Japanese girl, while they are scholarship students at a prestigious private school in World War II Seattle. Henry hides the relationship from his parents, who would disown him if they knew he had a Japanese friend. His father insists that Henry wear an "I am Chinese" button everywhere he goes because Japanese residents of Seattle have begun to be shipped off by the thousands to relocation centers. This is an old-fashioned historical novel that alternates between the early 1940s and 1984, after Henry's wife Ethel has died of cancer. A particularly appealing aspect of the story is young Henry's fascination with jazz and his friendship with Sheldon, an older black saxophonist just making a name for himself in the many jazz venues near Henry's home. Other aspects of the story are more typical of the genre: the bullies that plague Henry, his lack of connection with his father, and later with his own son. Readers will care about Henry as he is forced to make decisions and accept circumstances that separate him from both his family and the love of his life. While the novel is less perfect as literature than John Hamamura's Color of the Sea (Thomas Dunne, 2006), the setting and quietly moving, romantic story are commendable.—Angela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Ford vacillates between a front story dominated by nostalgia and a backstory dominated by fear. The front story struggles to support the weight of the backstory, and the complexity Ford brings to the latter is the strength of this debut novel, which considers a Chinese American man’s relationship with a Japanese American woman in the 1940s and his son in the 1980s. Although Ford does not have anything especially novel to say about a familiar subject (the interplay between race and family), he writes earnestly and cares for his characters, who consistently defy stereotype. Ford posits great meaning in objects—a button reading “I am Chinese” and a jazz record, in particular—but the most striking moments come from the characters’ readings of each other: “Henry couldn’t picture bathing with his parents the way some Japanese families did. He couldn’t picture himself doing a lot of things with his parents. . . . He felt his stomach turn a little. His heart raced when he thought about Keiko, but his gut tightened just the same.” --Kevin Clouther
Most helpful customer reviews
1003 of 1027 people found the following review helpful.
One of my favorite books ever
By L. K. Messner
I was excited to read this book because I knew it was set in Seattle during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and that's a time period that has always interested me. I expected an interesting trip through history, but what I got was so, so much more than that.
Henry Lee is still mourning the death of his wife when he learns that the belongings of Japanese Americans hidden in the basement of Seattle's Panama Hotel for decades have been discovered. Henry is drawn to the basement, and what he's searching for there opens a door he thought he had closed forever. The story switches back and forth between 1986 and the 1940s, when a 12-year-old Henry attending an American school (he's "scholarshipping" as his father likes to say) meets another international student working in the school kitchen. Keiko is Japanese American, the enemy according to Henry's father, but the two become best friends before her family is imprisoned in one of the relocation camps.
This book does a phenomenal job exploring the history and attitudes of this time period, and Ford's portrayal of Seattle's ethnic neighborhoods is amazing. But really, the thing that pulled me into this novel the most was the richness of the relationships -- Henry and Keiko, Henry and his father, Henry's mother and his father, and Henry and his own son. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET looks at the best and worst of human relationships, the way we regard others, the way we find ourselves reenacting our relationships with our parents with our own children, the choices we make along the way. Mostly, though, this book reminds us that there is always room -- and time -- for forgiveness and redemption.
I finished this book in tears, moved by the people who came to life so vividly in this story and sad that it had to end at all. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET is a perfect, perfect choice for book clubs or for anyone craving a compelling story about human nature at its worst and at its best. An amazing, amazing book. It will be one of your favorites, I can almost promise.
229 of 243 people found the following review helpful.
A story of hope
By Pippa Lee
As I wipe my teary eyes, I am amazed at the extraordinary journey I have just experienced reading Jamie Ford's "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet."
The hotel is the Panama Hotel, an old dilapidated landmark in Seattle. It's 1986 and 56-year-old Henry Lee is among the onlookers who witness the unveiling of recently discovered belongings left in the basement of the hotel by Japanese families in the 1940s. To Henry, however, the trunks, suitcases and crates and their contents are not just mere curiosities or historical artifacts. For him, they bring remembrances of the World War II years, of being twelve years old and trying to fit in an all-white school while following Chinese cultural traditions at home; of being Asian and his father's dread that he would be confused with the enemy, the Japanese. Most importantly, they bring back memories of a special friendship with Keiko, the only other kid of Asian ethnicity in school.
As Ford deftly switches the narrative from 1986 to the 1940s and vice versa, the readers are taken through a remarkable story that is both sweet and poignant. For me, it brought history to life. All too often we forget that behind the numbers, there were individuals and lives that were deeply affected by the fear, the uncertainty and the hatred. I confess that there were many moments that I was on the verge of tears, such as when young Henry looks on Japanese American families burning their personal belongings for fear that they would be accused of cooperating with Japan or when Keiko and Henry witness the "evacuation" of Bainbridge Island. I also felt moved by Henry, the adult, who is still reeling from the death of his wife. His inability to emotionally connect with his own son, and his struggle to find his own identity as both American and Chinese are familiar to me as I'm too the daughter of Chinese immigrants.
Ford's novel is a story with many layers. But I was most impressed and touched by the author's honest and unflinching portrayal of the sentiments that pervaded the years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Sentiments that led to acts and events that we would rather trivialized or forget today. The fact that they were acted out not only by adults but also by children made them more painful to read about.
I highly recommend this novel to those who remember their first love, have heard about the Japanese American internment camps, or strive to bridge two cultural worlds and to those who just love a good story. To all of you, there is a room waiting at the "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
historical, emotionally compelling and inspiring story
By Charlie Anderson
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 Players
Henry – a young Chinese-American boy torn in a world of white vs. Chinese. vs. Japanese
Sheldon – a black Jazz player Henry befriends
Keiko – a young Japanese-American girl who ends up attending Henry’s all-white school
Ms. Beatty – the school cook responsible for Henry and Keiko’s scholarshipping duties at school
Marty – Henry’s privileged son; Chinese-American living in a modern world
Samantha – Marty’s Caucasion girlfriend
The Quote
He 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 Lows
Henry’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-Away
When 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.
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