Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet [Kindle Edition]

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet tells the story of a young Chinese-American boy, Henry Lee, and his lifelong love for his childhood friend, Keiko Okabe. The story is partly set in 1942, when America is at war and 'enemy' citizens (those with Italian, German but mainly Japanese heritage) are being interned in prison camps. Henry is a lonely child - sent to an almost all-white school by his stern parents, his only friend is Keiko, a young girl of Japanese descent who, like Henry, is earning her scholarship by working in the school kitchens. They are only 12 when the story begins and their friendship and blossoming romance is sensitively portrayed.

As the grip of war tightens, Keiko and her family are among the thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent who are rounded up and imprisoned, supposedly to prevent them 'spying' for the enemy, and what belongings they can't take with them are hurridly stashed in the basement of the Panama Hotel.

The story of Henry and Keiko's wartime friendship is interspersed with flash-forwards to 1986, when Henry has taken early retirement and, after a happy marriage, is alone again with occasional visits from his somewhat distant son Marty. When he learns that the belongings of those Japanese families have been unearthed from the basement of the recently re-opened Panama Hotel, it reawakens his feelings for his wartime friend and his curiosity about what became of her and her family.

This is a beautifully told story, heartwarming and beguiling but thankfully not over-sentimental or twee. In his Author's Note, Jamie Ford says that he wished to recreate the internment of Japanese-Americans "without judging the good or bad intentions of those involved at the time". It's hard not to judge, but this was wartime and the pervading atmosphere of suspicion and fear, however irrational, is convincingly brought to life. A highly recommended read which manages to educate as well as entertain, I'm not surprised so many people have already fallen in love with this book.

I have read a lot of novels based during the second world war, mostly about the treatment of Jew's during this time. This is the first novel i've read that explains what happened to the American Japanese population. I had absolutely no idea that they were all herded up and taken to camps, in an eerily similar way to the Jewish population in Germany.

The novel moves between the 1940's and the 1980's and shows clearly how much we have all moved on from the tragedies of the second world war. The 1980's situation in America seems to be much more accepting thankfully. I really enjoyed seeing the differences between the way people lived in the two time periods, although i did have trouble with how old Henry was in the 1980's. He kept coming across as much older than his 50 odd years.

This is not a fast moving novel, it's all about well described very emotional moments in Henry's life and the lives of the people around him. Definitely a book i would recommend!

This is such an enjoyable read, which deserves to be a bestseller. I haven't recommended it to anyone who doesn't agree.

Enough has been said by previous reviewers regarding the plot. Suffice to say that it is beautifully written story of thwarted young love, never oversentimentalised or mawkish. The research is impeccable and highlights the after effects of war on innocents.

There are many finely drawn supporting characters who would warrant short stories themselves.

My favourite read in 2010. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.