[5RP]∎ Descargar Gratis Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet A Novel Jamie Ford 9780345505330 Books

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet A Novel Jamie Ford 9780345505330 Books

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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet A Novel Jamie Ford 9780345505330 Books

My Review: After reading, reviewing and really enjoying Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield a year and a half ago I was eager to read more about the experiences of Japanese Americans during WWII as they were 'evacuated' to internment camps based solely on their race by their own government.

Based on the title and content of the book I think that the author was going for a touching, overly sentimental read but unfortunately I didn't think he quite got there. There was an obvious Romeo and Juliet theme to the storyline but the emotion that you'd expect to be attached to the characters' experiences was lacking and I never felt a deep emotional attachment to Henry, Keiko or their families. Honestly, Keiko's family seemed overly positive for the turmoil their family had to deal with on a daily basis and their reactions just didn't ring true for me.

While I applaud the author for making people of this generation aware of the atrocities, racial discrimination and social injustices that Seattle's Japanese Americans had to endure, I do wish (and expected) the book to deal more with what life was like in the internment camps. I was hoping for a lot more information regarding Keiko's family's experiences and felt like the author missed an opportunity by not incorporating their viewpoints.

The characters, specifically Keiko and especially Henry seemed very one-dimensional and the emotional elements were thin and overly simplistic. It had more of a middle school feel to it if I'm being honest. I also think that more time could have also been used to incorporate some of the secondary characters into the storyline more. Mrs Beatty and Sheldon were the most intriguing and believable characters in the book but sorely underused.

If you haven't guessed yet, this was just an okay read for me. I was hoping for something a lot more substantial and emotional but unfortunately there were too many situations that happened far too easily for Henry throughout the book and the anachronisms -- online support groups in 1986? -- didn't win it any points with me either. Educating people about the blatant racial discrimination of American citizens during that time is the best aspect of this book for this reader.

My Rating: 3/5 stars
*** This book review, as well as many more, can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (www.thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca) ***


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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet A Novel Jamie Ford 9780345505330 Books Reviews

A beautiful book. Sad, happy, thoughtful, hopeful, all set in a turbulent time. I was born in 1950, so was not aware of the camps the American Japanese people were placed in. I remember seeing something about it on TV, but just in passing. I was in high school in the 60's, but in history classes, there was nothing regarding WWII, the Korean war, and even the Vietnam war was not discussed. This book is not only about the love of 2 young teenagers, but the love of friends and how that love can stay with you for your lifetime. Henry and Keiko are the main stars, but I think the greatest star is Sheldon. You will not be disappointed.
This is a touching story about first love and complicated family relationships. I like the way Ford develops, Henry, the main character by a narrative split in time between the early 1940s and the 1980s. The story takes place in Seattle's China town and the neighboring Japanese community. The reader experiences and feels the pain of the characters during the Japanese internment. As a first love relationship grows, we see the characters experience racism, bullying, and conflict in family relationships. What can we learn from this shameful time in our World War II history? Can we be a more accepting open society and accepting of our diverse culture instead of ruled by fear and prejudice. I recommend this book to anyone who loves sensitive well developed characters. I especially like a novel that helps me understand an historical period or event.
Henry, a 2nd generation Chinese-American, is just 12 years old and living in Seattle at the time during WWII when Japanese citizens were rounded up and sent off to internment camps. Henry has befriended Keiko, a young Japanese girl at the private school they both attend, since they are the only non-whites at the school. At the urging of his very traditional father, Henry wears a "I Am Chinese" button every day on his shirt so that he won't be confused with a Japanese person and suffer the discrimination and taunting that Japanese people were subjected to daily.

Henry's parents do not know at first that his best friend is Japanese, but when they finally learn of this, they turn their backs on him though they don't kick him out of the house. Thus begins a long, lonely period when Henry merely exists and lives in a silent household. When Keiko's family is sent off to the camps, Henry is shocked and saddened, but vows to never forget her. He somehow scrapes together enough money to get on a bus and ride all the way to Idaho to see her. They vow to write to each other, but the letters over the 2+ years that she is in the camp are sporadic and his final letter is returned, marked addressee unknown.

Years later in 1986, Henry becomes aware of the possessions from some of the Japanese families, stored in a nearby old boarded up hotel. This opens up the memories from the 1940's and begins a search for the truth of what happened in the 1940's. There are many bitter, sweet and poignant memories and scenes in this story.

The novel struck a chord with me because I have visited Manzanar and have known people who had been held in the camps. It's important to remember and read about these stories. Too many people aren't even aware of the tragedy of the incarceration of so many innocent citizens during the war.
My Review After reading, reviewing and really enjoying Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield a year and a half ago I was eager to read more about the experiences of Japanese Americans during WWII as they were 'evacuated' to internment camps based solely on their race by their own government.

Based on the title and content of the book I think that the author was going for a touching, overly sentimental read but unfortunately I didn't think he quite got there. There was an obvious Romeo and Juliet theme to the storyline but the emotion that you'd expect to be attached to the characters' experiences was lacking and I never felt a deep emotional attachment to Henry, Keiko or their families. Honestly, Keiko's family seemed overly positive for the turmoil their family had to deal with on a daily basis and their reactions just didn't ring true for me.

While I applaud the author for making people of this generation aware of the atrocities, racial discrimination and social injustices that Seattle's Japanese Americans had to endure, I do wish (and expected) the book to deal more with what life was like in the internment camps. I was hoping for a lot more information regarding Keiko's family's experiences and felt like the author missed an opportunity by not incorporating their viewpoints.

The characters, specifically Keiko and especially Henry seemed very one-dimensional and the emotional elements were thin and overly simplistic. It had more of a middle school feel to it if I'm being honest. I also think that more time could have also been used to incorporate some of the secondary characters into the storyline more. Mrs Beatty and Sheldon were the most intriguing and believable characters in the book but sorely underused.

If you haven't guessed yet, this was just an okay read for me. I was hoping for something a lot more substantial and emotional but unfortunately there were too many situations that happened far too easily for Henry throughout the book and the anachronisms -- online support groups in 1986? -- didn't win it any points with me either. Educating people about the blatant racial discrimination of American citizens during that time is the best aspect of this book for this reader.

My Rating 3/5 stars
*** This book review, as well as many more, can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (www.thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca) ***