Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

ISBN-13: 9780345505330
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publshed: January 2009
290 pgs

When Henry Lee sees a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, this brought him memories about his past and the war years. Besides the memories, what most intrigued him about the Panama Hotel is after it had been closed for decades, now it has a new owner and that the belongings left by some Japanese families during the WWII are discovered.

Henry Lee felt his heart race upon this discovery, and this is where the story begins as the chapters alternate between the present and the past.

Moving backwards and back during the '40s, young Henry comes from a traditional Chinese family. His father is very much obsessed with the war in China, and he wants the best for Henry by getting him into Rainier Elementary but Henry is not happy because he feels he does not belong anywhere (the white kids ignore him and the Chinese thinks he is more American than Chinese anyway). But none of this really matters after he met Sheldon, a black musician and an American Japanese girl named Keiko Okabe. Henry feels they are the one who really understand his feelings and it is not surprising that their friendship blossoms quickly. And it does not take long for Henry to fall in love with Keiko. Nevertheless, their happiness is a short-lived one as they have to face the cruelty of war and the Okabes, like any other Japanese families, are being forced to leave home and stay into internment camps out of security. Other than this, Henry's father is also not too happy about their relationship as he somewhat felt betrayed having his son to befriend a Japanese, even though Keiko is an American citizen.

Nonetheless, Henry feels he is old enough to make his own decisions (he is thirteen then) and with Keiko and her family being swept into internment camps, he could only communicate with her via mails and hope that the war will end sooner so they could see each other again. Unfortunately, fate and time have a way in creating a distance and that is where Henry lost contact with Keiko until the discovery of the belongings in the Panama Hotel has once again caused a ripple in Henry's heart after these years.

Now a widower and with the assistance from his son, Marty and his future daughter-in-law, Henry search the hotel basement hoping he could find something belonging to the Okabes and a long lost item he and Keiko used to share, while never giving up hope about meeting her again.

I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed reading this book. There are so many things about this story: love, friendship, family and war... that left a deep impression on me. The exchanges between father and son (Henry's father and Henry, and as well as Henry and Marty) also tell the readers about the gap between them and how time has changed everything.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is one great reading experience and I am very glad I bought it after its release even though I rarely buy a hardcover (due to its bulkiness and inconvenience to carry around). And when Tracee from Pump Up Your Book Promotion asked me if I want to review this book, I said yes and thinking what good timing it is.

I want to thank Jamie Ford for the wonderful book, and also thanks to Tracee for the opportunity to be part of the blog tour.

Other reviews:
A Comfy Chair and a Good Book
Bookgirl's Nightstand
Bookworm’s Dinner
Devourer of Books
Educating Petunia
Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?
Lesley’s Book Nook
Medieval Boomworm
Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Stephanie's Written Word
Stone SouP
The Biblio Brat
The Book Lady’s Blog
Trish's Reading Nook
(Let me know if I have missed yours.)