NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut that explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle era during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love."--Lisa See In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment ...
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut that explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle era during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love."--Lisa See In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s--Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel's basement for the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country. Praise for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet "A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. This is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more important, it will make you feel." --Garth Stein, bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain "Mesmerizing and evocative, a tale of conflicted loyalties and timeless devotion." --Sara Gruen, bestselling author of Water for Elephants "A wartime-era Chinese-Japanese variation on Romeo and Juliet . . . The period detail [is] so revealing and so well rendered." -- The Seattle Times "A poignant story that transports the reader back in time . . . a satisfying and heart-wrenching tale." -- Deseret Morning News "A lovely combination of romantic coincidence, historic detail and realism that is smooth and highly readable . . . Ford does wonderful work in re-creating prewar Seattle." -- The Oregonian
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Add this copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Audio Cd) to cart. $24.95, good condition, Sold by Meadeco Media rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from VINE GROVE, KY, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Rand House Audio.
Great story around downtown Seattle and the Japanese internment
Jane E
May 1, 2014
Excellent insight into a period that shames all of us Americans.
Judy H
Mar 28, 2013
Excellent Historical Novel
This novel gives a rare perspective on how disrupted Americans of Asian descent were treated after the Japanese attacks on Allied forces during WWII. Through the eyes of the major characters, the author brings a clear understanding to readers and to the modern generation of Asians portrayed in the novel.
Charlene C
Mar 31, 2012
Book gave you a personalized look into the life of young America at a time of war and how it affected personally two groups of citizens their lives.
Good read
Marcia B
Aug 4, 2011
Reminder of time gone by
This is a truly charming story, but don't let that
put you off!
It takes you to the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor...and then moves you into the lives of Asian American families living in Seattle.
It a wonderful reminder that as children...we do not know all the stories our parents have to tell.
