Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a historical fiction novel written by Jamie Ford. It switches between two timelines in the life of a man named Henry Lee.
One follows him as a kid during the “war years” of the 1940s. Through bits and pieces, the writing narrates his struggles as a Chinese-American child of immigrant parents. He has a hard time connecting with his parents and his peers. His only friend is a saxophone player named Sheldon, until he meets a Japanese-American girl named Keiko. Readers witness the budding, yet forbidden, friendship that then blossoms into a young love. This young love ends abruptly, however, as Japanese internment camps spring up across the United States during World War II.
The other storyline follows him 40-something years later, a widowed and retired man with a son in college. He rediscovers a part of the “war years” when it is discovered that the Panama Hotel holds the belongings of countless Japanese-American families that had to leave their lives behind. The past comes rushing back to Henry, and as he reminisces, must find a way to make everything right, to reconnect with old ties he once thought were completely lost.
Overall, I rate this book a 10/10. Sad moments mixed in with humor, friendship, and love, make this novel a bittersweet one, just like Henry’s memories of the war years and Keiko. This is a wholesome, insightful, and emotional novel that I would recommend to all.
