Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet  By Jamie Ford    Part historical fiction, part love story. Henry Lee grows up in China Town of Seattle during the 1940's. WWII is the dominant theme in their lives and Henry struggles being the minority on scholarship at an all white school. Then he meets Keiko, who lives in Japantown. Their special friendship is frowned upon by Henry's father who is obsessed with the Japan China war in their mist and Americans are becoming more and more suspicious and prejudice of any Japanese people regardless of their American citizenship. A reminder of a time when Americans gathered innocent people into camps out of fear and desire to blame. These people were sadly forced to leave their homes and all of their belongings. Many of them, like Keiko, were born in the US and did not even speak Japanese. Other than the historical value of this story, the writing is rather elementary and was extremely predictable. The story was descriptive and although the characters were likeable, it lacked any real substance.