Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Jamie Ford
Edition Published 2009

Growing up we always tend to misunderstand our parents. Even their best intentions are often met with derision.  In Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, the reader follows Henry Lee as he opens the Pandora box of his life when he searches through belongings left behind by Japanese families forced into internment camps during World War II.

Henry reminiscences of his adolescence growing up in a strict Chinese household and finding friendship with a young Japanese girl also trying to survive as the odd one out in a white world.  Henry's family forbids him to have any Japanese relations, which creates a "Romeo & Juliet" plot line.  Asians are often lumped together as the enemy following Pearl Harbor.   In addition a distrust of the Japanese after their invasion of China, Henry's family also fears any association with the Japanese may cast suspicion on them, ruining the life they have created for themselves in America.

I had heard too much positive feedback on this book, so of course it kind of fell flat.  All I could think as I read was, "Why didn't I think of this?"  It didn't help that the supporting characters weren't believable.  His budding romance serves as a vehicle for Henry to have many experiences that just didn't seem realistic.  And I just wasn't able to buy into the fantasy.

I suppose it is a good beach book, but so much more could have been done.  I like to think that I'm not just saying this because I did my Senior Thesis on Japanese Internment Camps, but maybe I am.  It is certainly an area of American History that was too quickly forgotten.