HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford: A Touching Story

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, Jamie Ford’s first book, tells the touching story of Henry Lee, a Chinese-American, and his childhood friendship with and ongoing love for Keiko Okabe, a Japanese-American.

The book begins in 1986 with a discovery in the basement of the Panama Hotel of the old belongings of Japanese-American families who were taken from their homes and interred during World War II. The hotel is located in what was, before the Japanese-Americans were rounded up, Japantown and stood between there and Chinatown in Washington state.

Subsequent chapters in HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET are divided into flashbacks to the 1940s and continuation of 1986. In this way we discover Henry’s and Keiko’s story and a love that never ends or is forgotten in spite of bigotry, ages-old traditions, lies, and years of separation caused first by internment, then also by deception.

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET is praised by many. It was because of all the rave reviews that I read the book. But, while I don’t consider it a waste of my time, I have to admit that I was bored by the many flashbacks to 1942 with Henry’s bigoted father and nasty classmates at his “all-white” school where he went “scholarshiping” at his father’s insistence. I also found the flashbacks to be too slow and predictable.

Even so, that’s me. I’m sure most readers will find satisfying what I thought was predictable. The book is well written and full of accurate historical details. And, although I was not surprised at the ending, I think I would have been unhappy if it had been any other way.