Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

In Jamie Ford's debut novel, we meet Henry Lee shortly after his wife's death. As he walks past Seattle's famous "Panama Hotel" ,which is being refurbished , he spots a Japanese parasol. Could it belong to Keiko ? The book then flips back forty years earlier where Henry, of Chinese heritage and Keiko, of Japanese heritage become close friends as the two foreign students in the all white school. World War II is in full swing and soon the government rounds up all the Japanese, sending them to internment camps.

As the story unfolds, the reader, Henry's son and Henry himself learn about what made him the man he is today. Henry's father and mother, Keiko and her family, his friend Sheldon, the black saxophonist, and the decisions Henry had to make; all determining his character. Sometimes decisions can be bitter sweet.

Reveiw written by Denise R

This book can be found at http://www.newberglibrary.org/