Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel

by: Jamie Ford

Published by: Ballantine Books (January 27 release)

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

In 1986, Seattle’s Panama Hotel, shuttered since the 1950s, is undergoing a major renovation. Lifelong Seattlian Henry Lee is passing by when he come upon the news crew in front of the hotel. The new owner has found a treasure in the basement–the personal belongings, stacked almost to the ceiling, of Japanese-American families who were forced into internment camps after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. Henry recognizes the Japanese parasol that once belonged to his childhood friend, Keiko Okabe. Could the Okabe’s things still be there?

And so begins Jamie Ford’s lovely debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Alternating between 1942, when Henry was ten years old, and 1986, Ford presents the life of Henry Lee as he struggles between three worlds–the Old World customs of his Cantonese-speaking parents, the world of a Chinese-American during the war years, and his new role of widower.

At home as a child, Henry is forced to speak only American, thereby cutting off most dialogue with his parents. He is also forced to wear an “I am Chinese” button so that he won’t be mistaken as an enemy. Henry attends an all-white school on a scholarship, the terms of which have him working in the kitchen during lunch and cleaning the school after. Henry meets Keiko when she also receives a scholarship and is assigned to help Henry with his chores.

Panic about the Japanese-Americans sweeps the country. Keiko and her family are forced to leave everything they own–and can only take two suitcases each.

In 1986, Henry asks for, and is granted, access to the basement warehouse. He wonders what has happened to Keiko after all these years and if a lost recording by jazz great Oscar Holden could be among their things–a recording of the song that Holden made and dedicated to Henry and Keiko.

Jazz suffuses the background of this remarkable tale of ethnic neighborhoods, forbidden love, history, family, fathers and sons, and sacrifice. Ford brings the era to life in the Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

This is one of the best books I’ve recently read.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a wonderful book–an interesting look at that time in our history. A MOST IMPRESSIVE debut novel.

Author’s Web site: http://www.JamieFord.com