Friday, November 13, 2009

Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford


Book: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: A
For: F2F Book Club (the other one)


This is a great book about the sweet story of a Chinese boy (Henry) and a Japanese girl (Keiko)living in Seattle during WWII and the friendship they develop when they are the only two Asian kids in a white school.

It's also the bitter story of the Japanese American internment during this time and how so many people, including Henry's dad, regard them as the enemy, which, of course, causes major problems for Henry and Keiko.

I loved this story and it made me wish that I'd known about the Panama Hotel when I spent a day in Seattle last June. That would have been cool to see. This is the real hotel that the story revolves around where may Japanese Americans hid some of their stuff, with hopes of retrieving it later, when they were shipped off to the internment camps.

Some of the story was a bit predictable, and it's not without it's problems, but I didn't care and loved it despite all that.

Other reviews:

The Book Lady's Blog

Booking Mama

Book-a-rama

Literary Feline

B &b Ex Libris

Trish's Reading Nook

Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?

Rhapsody in Books

.... and pretty much every other blog I read!

Here's the author talking about his book:




7 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for the shout out. I loved this book too!

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  2. I just started Hunger Games, have you read it?

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  3. I loved this book too! Glad you liked it!

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  4. Boy Mom: Yes, I've read, devoured, loved it. We're talking about it and Catching Fire this coming week at book club. Want to come?

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  5. I really want to read this book!

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  6. Glad to hear the book is enjoyable despite the predictability aspect. I'll get this posted on War Through the Generations soon.

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

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