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carolpk 's review for:
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford creates a clash in my mind. What is an easy story to read, due to the author's flowing narrative style, contrasts with its underlying serious subject of a world in conflict. On the one hand, it could be a simple love story, on the other, it's a gut-wrenching view of America in the early 40's. At first I thought, "oh no, not another World War II story!". I'm glad to say that Ford's take on this is fresh, if not entirely new.
"I Am Chinese" proclaims the button Henry's father insists he wear to his predominantly white school which he attends on scholarship, meaning he works in the kitchen for the honor of his education. Here he meets Keiko, an American girl of Japanese heritage, also attending on scholarship. A strong friendship is formed between the two. Simple. If only! Keiko and her family are among the more than 120,000 ethnic Japanese rounded up and interred in war camps. Just as well, Henry's father thinks as he does not approve of Henry's relationship with Keiko. After all, the Japanese are his enemy and America's as well.
Ford's characters paint a thoughtful picture of a father and son at odds, one where cultures, obedience and loyalty collide. Truth, friendship, love, what it means to be American; these themes are drawn with Seattle's jazz scene and the hotel of the title as its backdrop. Bitter...Sweet. You decide.
"I Am Chinese" proclaims the button Henry's father insists he wear to his predominantly white school which he attends on scholarship, meaning he works in the kitchen for the honor of his education. Here he meets Keiko, an American girl of Japanese heritage, also attending on scholarship. A strong friendship is formed between the two. Simple. If only! Keiko and her family are among the more than 120,000 ethnic Japanese rounded up and interred in war camps. Just as well, Henry's father thinks as he does not approve of Henry's relationship with Keiko. After all, the Japanese are his enemy and America's as well.
Ford's characters paint a thoughtful picture of a father and son at odds, one where cultures, obedience and loyalty collide. Truth, friendship, love, what it means to be American; these themes are drawn with Seattle's jazz scene and the hotel of the title as its backdrop. Bitter...Sweet. You decide.