Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

It 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