|
|
|
|
|
|
Staff
Recommends |
|
|
 This
Month's Staff Recommends
|
|
|
Book Talk: We Recommend
Recommended by Laraine Worby, Reference Librarian
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
This gentle coming-of-age novel reminds us of a recent period of painful bigotry, discrimination and fearful suspicion. As Henry Lee, a Chinese American, is mourning the death of his wife in 1986, he discovers that belongings stored by Japanese Americans before they were evacuated to internment camps in the 1940’s are being uncovered in the renovation of Seattle’s Panama Hotel. Seeing these long-lost items takes Henry back to his childhood, and as much as he tries to resist it, the pull of his memories is too strong.
The story then takes us back to the 1940’s, when Henry is the only Chinese student in an all white prep school enduring almost constant torment from his classmates. At the same time, Henry is struggling with conflict and tension in his relationship with his father and his father’s need to adhere to Old World cultural traditions. Henry forms a strong bond with Keiko, a Japanese student, and amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, their friendship and developing young love becomes the heart of the book. 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 promises made to each other will be kept.
The story succeeds in being told through the eyes of Henry both as a son and alternately as a father. Set among the rich background of the sights, sounds and smells of the streets of Seattle in the 1940’s, the vivid characters aid Henry along his journey to manhood. Ultimately, this poignant novel is one of forgiveness, commitment and enduring hope.
Top
Reviewed in 2010
You'll find more ideas on the Reader
Services Page, the Fiction
Booklist Section and among our previous Staff Recommendations.
Top
|
|
|
|
|
