It is when Henry’s father finds Keiko’s possessions in his room that he finally stops speaking to him altogether. Her parents treat her differently, she cannot even speak Japanese but she is not made to choose between being Japanese or American. The finding of Japanese American belongings in the basement of the Panama Hotel isn't something Jamie Ford made up—it really happened. It is the story of their friendship/love, and also that of the other relationships that the boy has: his Chinese parents, a local black jazz musician, and later with his own son and son's fiance. Historical Novels Review 'The ripple effect of wartime failures also lies at the heart of Jamie Ford’s The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

He decides to find an item that had special meaning to both of them, a symbol of their love for one another and their shared passion for jazz. Imagine being born in a country and to all intents and purposes being an American Citizen but having Chinese descendants makes you different. Ford wrote a new short story, Only Keiko, to accompany the 10-year anniversary reissue of the novel. When I heard that my debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, was going to be published in Persian, my first thought was, “Fantastic! I had pretty much decided to abandon this book unfinished when I received notification that the audiobook I had requested from the library was now available for download.Not some weird aggregated bit of web-content, just little ol’ me, the author, sitting here in my favorite Batman pajamas (yes, I have several pairs) writing this note in my cozy home office, dog at my feet. This could have been a wonderful historical novel but it ended up being a cute love story and perhaps I expected too much from the book in the first place and therefore was disappointed with the read. Random Things Through My Letterbox ' Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet', by Jamie Ford is a novel to recommend, one of those rare stories which would appeal to so many. And because I believe readers—lovers of books, wherever they live, are the best kind of people—curious and compassionate, creative and filled with boundless hope.

The setting for the book is historical in the fact that the Japanese internment did happen in America and this is adequately described and portrayed, the writing is such that you can see the vivid imagery that is evoked. I’ve met Fred Korematsu, whose challenge to internship went all the way to the Supreme Court back in the day.The subtitle on the cover of the book states: THE BOOK A MILLION PEOPLE HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH and I must add my name to that long list. The story alternates between following the child Henry as he contends with the conflicting motives and prejudices of his father during World War II, and the grownup Henry who is learning to live without his wife. America was created with a written Constitution defining us as a Republic democracy with certain laws. The emotional heat that should have brewed within a story of this nature, considering the volatile subject matter, failed to materialize.