Title: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Pdf
Author: Jamie Ford
Published Date: 2009
Page: 301
“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 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. This is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more important, it will make you feel.”—Garth Stein, bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain“Mesmerizing and evocative, a tale of conflicted loyalties and timeless devotion.”—Sara Gruen, bestselling author of Water for Elephants“A wartime-era Chinese-Japanese variation on Romeo and Juliet . . . The period detail [is] so revealing and so well rendered.”—The Seattle Times“A poignant story that transports the reader back in time . . . a satisfying and heart-wrenching tale.”—Deseret Morning News“A lovely combination of romantic coincidence, historic detail and realism that is smooth and highly readable . . . Ford does wonderful work in re-creating prewar Seattle.”—The Oregonian“Heartfelt . . . 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“Ford’s story of an innocent passion across racial barriers—and of the life of a man who forsook the girl he loved—is told with an artistic technique that makes emotion inevitable.”—Louis B. Jones“A beautiful and tender masterpiece . . . a book everyone will be talking about, and the best book you’ll read this year.”—Anne Frasier“A heartwarming story of fathers and sons, first loves, fate, and the resilient human heart . . . marvelously evocative.”—Jim Tomlinson Jamie Ford 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. Ford is an award-winning short-story writer, 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 with his wife and children.
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
Bitter, Sweet and Poignant Memories of the Japanese Internment During WWII Henry, a 2nd generation Chinese-American, is just 12 years old and living in Seattle at the time during WWII when Japanese citizens were rounded up and sent off to internment camps. Henry has befriended Keiko, a young Japanese girl at the private school they both attend, since they are the only non-whites at the school. At the urging of his very traditional father, Henry wears a "I Am Chinese" button every day on his shirt so that he won't be confused with a Japanese person and suffer the discrimination and taunting that Japanese people were subjected to daily.Henry's parents do not know at first that his best friend is Japanese, but when they finally learn of this, they turn their backs on him though they don't kick him out of the house. Thus begins a long, lonely period when Henry merely exists and lives in a silent household. When Keiko's family is sent off to the camps, Henry is shocked and saddened, but vows to never forget her. He somehow scrapes together enough money to get on a bus and ride all the way to Idaho to see her. They vow to write to each other, but the letters over the 2+ years that she is in the camp are sporadic and his final letter is returned, marked addressee unknown.Years later in 1986, Henry becomes aware of the possessions from some of the Japanese families, stored in a nearby old boarded up hotel. This opens up the memories from the 1940's and begins a search for the truth of what happened in the 1940's. There are many bitter, sweet and poignant memories and scenes in this story.The novel struck a chord with me because I have visited Manzanar and have known people who had been held in the camps. It's important to remember and read about these stories. Too many people aren't even aware of the tragedy of the incarceration of so many innocent citizens during the war.First Love and Growing Up during War I learned about this book from an article over the Panama Hotel in Seattle (National Parks Magazine). Mr. Ford lyrically weaves together three elements: A Bildungsroman of Henry, the main character; a retelling of Romeo and Juliet between Chinese and Japanese families; and an unsparing exposition of the paranoia and racism that led to the internment of Japanese-American families during WWII. This is storytelling at its best.Highly recommended I loved every page of this book. I couldn't go to sleep all night until I finished it! The main character, Henry, is 56 years old as his story unravels, and his wife has just passed. Jamie Ford leads the reader carefully through each incident/story, always creating curiosity.. The book is based on real places and facts in history which I loved, having learned yet a new perspectives of WWII. I've never considered what it would be like for the Japanese who were living in America after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and I never understood the reason for the interment camps. Having friends from each culture, I have observed the confusion in America about the two totally different cultures. This read promises to entertain and enlighten. After reading, I was still curious about the jazz and searched the internet to learn about Oscar Holden. I'm sorry to be finished with this story and hope Jamie Ford doesn't disappoint in the next book!
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