BOOK REVIEW--HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford

Reviewed by Bill Breakstone, December 29, 2010

"Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford is one beautiful novel, a first-time effort by this author. It was published in 2009 and has been on The New York Times Bestseller Lists ever since. It is the story of a young Chinese-American growing up during World War II in Seattle, his relationships with his father and mother, a Japanese-American girlfriend, an Afro-American jazz player and best friend, his Chinese-American wife, and in his middle age, his son and daughter-in-law to be.

American society has several blemishes on its historical record. Its treatment of Native Americans was among the first, along with its exclusion of Afro-Americans from the guarantees extended to its other citizens under the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Likewise is the exclusion of women as equal partners in our Democracy. The novel focuses on another American human tragedy—the internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War, and the heartbreaking effects it had on so many legal citizens.

However, the novel is not about moral injustices. It is a love story pure and simple, one to bring tears to all but the most cold-hearted reader. It is a tale of a young man, maturing within the confines of a traditional Chinese home, with its adherence to familial values and honor of elders, who must make decisions on his own, often against his parents’ wishes. It is about the young man’s love of a girl whose background is an anathema to his father, and the boy’s decision to go his own way and dedicate years of waiting to his love. And it is about loyalty, loyalty to those one loves and to a Country in the midst of war, even if that country imposes unjust limitations on its citizens.

It is a terrific yarn, beautifully written and full of surprises. Don’t miss this read!