Monday, December 9, 2013

Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and SweetIt seems that people either love or hate this book. I loved it. Oh sure, there's a few inaccuracies (which is what gets most people's undies in a knot) but I think most have been corrected in later publishings. Anyway, I don't care much about that, I'm not an editor, I review STORIES and this story was wonderful.

Prior to this book and "The Magic Of Ordinary Days" I really knew next to nothing about the Japanese "relocation" camps. It's a story that needs to be told; and yet "The HOtel On The Corner Of Bitter and Sweet" doesn't dwell on the war or even the camps. First and foremost its a love story between two Americans. A Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl, both age 12. It's a love story that took one day to begin and a lifetime to complete...


 The characters are beautifully drawn. Both Henry and Keiko feel like real people and Sheldon! Wow. Sheldon, the black saxaphone player was so real I could HEAR him speaking, both the words he used and his mannerisms were LIVING. And his music just sort of flowed through the pages like 'buddah' (and I'm not a jazz fan AT ALL but somehow the author made it sound so nice). Very well done!!


CONTENT:
SEX: None
VIOLENCE: Mild (the Chinese American boy is bullied at school)
PROFANITY: None, although racial slurs are used

MY RATING: G
SUITABLE FOR YA READERS

No comments:

Post a Comment