Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: The international bestseller and word-of-mouth sensation

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This is a well written novel, full of memorable characters such as the black sax player, Sheldon and the school lunch supervisor, Mrs Beatty. The universal themes in Ford’s novel, told in a fresh way and set during a reprehensible episode in American history, are as relevant today as they were in 1942. Was a powerful look into American history as hearts and humanity broke down, inflicted by war and the damage to repair years after as relationships try to mend.

I found the relationship between Henry and Keiko difficult to accept as these were children 12 years old the relationship and emotions are way too advanced for children of this age and I feel that for me this is where the author got it badly wrong. Unfortunately, diversity is difficult to tolerate in actual practice, particularly when cultural differences are perceived as putting others of different cultures in mortal danger. I found a LOT of inaccuracies in this book and many logical incongrities, but since I was driving while listening, I could not make notes on them.

This is an entertaining and often illuminating tale that no doubt will be appearing at a cinema near you soon. In moving all Japanese-Americans to horrible camps, away from friends, jobs and their legally purchased property, Japanese-American citizens lost everything they owned and all of their hard-earned wealth besides their Constitutional rights. He wonders if by some miracle, in amongst the boxes of dusty treasures, lies a link to the Okabe family, and the girl he lost his heart to so many years ago. Henry’s father is terrified that someone will mistake him for a a Japanese boy – America is at war and the Japanese are the enemy, even those that were born in America. Rather than send him to a Chinese school, Henry’s parents enroll him at Rainier Elementary — a predominantly white school.

Both the Chinese and especially the Japanese districts of Seattle (and the people who move within them) come alive in Ford's moving story. That friend is Keiko, a Japanese-American girl who lives in Seattle’s Nihonmachi (Japantown) district. It meant he had to communicate in sign language with his parents, except on occasion when he had to translate for them.

So while we opened by saying, "Let's talk history," what we really meant was let's talk about the present. These are messages to the wider world that adults shouldn't really be imposing their racist, prejudicial fears on their kids.

I think a part of me resists because I love finding "little" books that deserve kudos and talking about them. She makes it her mission to match cusomers with the special something that they are missing, a talisman to bring them what their heart desires. The real event is the discovery in the Panama Hotel of the belongings of some of the Japanese families living in Seattle, who were sent to the camps. I never had kids, so as an outsider I have seen SO many unnecessary parent/child/life dramas because of lack of communication!

I think Henry and Keiko are two of the most engaging characters I've come across in a long while and I will not soon forget them, nor Sheldon, the saxophone player who befreinds them. Keiko and her family are sent to ready-made internment camps where they will stay for the next three years or so.