Book Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

  


Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is Jamie Ford's first novel. Henry Lee is the American-born son of a fiercely nationalistic Chinese father. The story takes place in Seattle, and jumps back and forth between 1942 when Henry is 12 years old, and 1986 when he is middle-aged and recently widowed. It is the story of Henry's friendship with Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American girl, who -- along with every other Japanese-American citizen on the west coast -- is imprisoned in a U.S. concentration camp for the duration of the war, and the impact that friendship had on Henry's adult life. 


Henry and Keiko meet as the only two non-white students at their private school; both are there on work scholarships. Both are deeply resented by the other students, who make little distinction between Japanese and Chinese. But to Henry's father, who follows Japan's atrocities against China on a daily basis, Henry's friendship with Keiko is unforgivable.


I have never given any thought to the other Asians living on the west coast at the time of the Japanese-American interment. That aspect of the book was fascinating. It was also interesting that Ford mentioned the interment of both Italian- and German-Americans, a very little known part of U.S. history.

Jamie Lee has written a heartfelt historical novel about a very compelling subject. I have to say, however, that I was not blown away by this book. There were what seemed to be historically inaccurate errors: References to being in an "online support group" and doing something "24/7" in 1986 just didn't ring true; were people routinely "online" in 1986? I don't think so. Some strands of the narrative were picked up and then dropped without explanation. I also felt that Henry and Keiko would have been far more believable had they been a couple of years older. They didn't act their ages. Finally, I thought that the writing was not particularly good.


I hate to be so hard on a book that was obviously well-intentioned. I didn't hate it, but I won't necessarily recommend it either. Maybe you will read it with a less crabby disposition than mine. Who knows?