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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really loved this book. Not much is written about the Japanese internment camps and how devastating it was for Japanese families. It's interesting to me that "white people" can't see the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and other Asian nationals. I've never heard of a badge proclaiming a Chinese person, exempt amongst Japanese people. The historical aspect of this story was very interesting and the love story was really beautiful. I felt a little shortchanged with the "modern day" story. It was too easy for the girlfriend to get all the right information so fast. And the end happened too fast to please me. But oh how I loved the sensitive sweet story.
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Bitter and Sweet pretty much describes my experience with this book, leaning more towards the sweet. It was a fairly straightforward, dual timeline love story between star-crossed Henry, a Chinese-American boy, and Keiko, a Japanese-American girl. The story alternates between 1986, and the war years of 1942-1945. Caught up in an age old ethnic rivalries, racial prejudice, and the Japanese xenophobia that was prevalent during WW2, Henry and Keiko's friendship flourishes in spite of these challenges. Eventually they are separated when her family is deported from Seattle to an internment camp in Idaho. The second timeline reveals what happened to Henry after he lost touch with Keiko, and how that loss affected him. There are a lot of complex issues touched upon in this book, but nothing is explored very deeply. In the author's note Mr. Ford states that "I did my best to recreate this historic landscape without judging the good or bad intentions of those involved at the time. My intent was not to create a morality play, with my voice being the loudest on the stage, but rather to defer to the reader's sense of justice, of right and wrong, and let the facts speak plainly." I was drawn into Henry and Keiko's story, and the sense of time and place in the earlier timeline. The injustices suffered by Japanese-American citizens, particularly their loss of home, property, livelihood, and sometimes family (apparently some families were split up and sent to different internment camps) was heartbreaking. The later (1986) timeline didn't quite capture me in the same way, but served as a framework or foundation for the central story. There were some odd anachronisms regarding Internet usage in the 1986 storyline, which struck me as odd, but not enough to disrupt my engagement with the story. Overall a solid read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia
Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, War
For me, historical fiction has to be believable. Yes, I know that it's fiction. But the historical piece of it means that it should be grounded in some fairly solid research, thereby making it more realistic than other subgenres of fiction. The ending of this book felt completely unbelievable to me.
From a historical standpoint, I felt like this novel really glossed over the trauma of Japanese internment camps and the lasting impact on families, culture, and the country as a whole. That bothered me. A lot.
It's not atypical of historical fiction to be slower paced, but this one was very slow. That's okay if it's well researched, but I didn't feel like that was the case here (see previous paragraph).
This was the January pick for my IRL book club, and I won't be surprised if everyone except me loved this book. Reserving the right for them to change my mind, of course.
From a historical standpoint, I felt like this novel really glossed over the trauma of Japanese internment camps and the lasting impact on families, culture, and the country as a whole. That bothered me. A lot.
It's not atypical of historical fiction to be slower paced, but this one was very slow. That's okay if it's well researched, but I didn't feel like that was the case here (see previous paragraph).
This was the January pick for my IRL book club, and I won't be surprised if everyone except me loved this book. Reserving the right for them to change my mind, of course.
Such an amazing read! Loved both the past and present timelines. I couldn't help but fall in love with all of the characters and dive into their stories.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Holy cow, I boo-hoo'd the last 100 pages. Awesome book.
3.5. I know I am giving extra points because of personal bias towards the subject matter. It was a pretty good read. I liked the setting the most -- 1940's in Seattle's International District and jazz clubs. It's also nice that the book shines a light on race relations at the time: Chinese vs. Japanese, the treatment of Japanese during the war, general Caucasian attitudes towards Asians, and attempted Asian assimilation into American culture.
There was definitely a lot going on with the characters that was entirely too convenient, and some of the minor characters were pretty bland. The two characters that stood out to me the most were Sheldon and Mrs. Beatty. The author mentions in the interview at the end that they were his favorites, and that definitely comes through. (I didn't realize until the interview that the author was a man!) I also liked the challenges of the main character's relationship with his father. The father's behavior makes up probably the only moral ambiguity in the novel. Other than that, the good guys mostly do good things and the bad guys mostly do bad things.
Given the weight of the subject matter, it would be easy to pick up this book, have certain expectations about its substance, and be greatly disappointed. However, I enjoyed it as a very readable story set in a very interesting time and place.
There was definitely a lot going on with the characters that was entirely too convenient, and some of the minor characters were pretty bland. The two characters that stood out to me the most were Sheldon and Mrs. Beatty. The author mentions in the interview at the end that they were his favorites, and that definitely comes through. (I didn't realize until the interview that the author was a man!) I also liked the challenges of the main character's relationship with his father. The father's behavior makes up probably the only moral ambiguity in the novel. Other than that, the good guys mostly do good things and the bad guys mostly do bad things.
Given the weight of the subject matter, it would be easy to pick up this book, have certain expectations about its substance, and be greatly disappointed. However, I enjoyed it as a very readable story set in a very interesting time and place.
I loved this book - what a great, heartwarming (if not eye opening) story. Set in Washington during WWII, it details the personal side of sending Japanese Americans to special camps through the eyes of a pre-teen and his Japanese friend. This was the kind of book that I would read whenever I had a spare minute.