Book summary: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

This story is told from the point of view of Henry, a Chinese-American, both as a boy in 1942, and as a man in 1986. 

The 1942 narrative takes place as Japenese-Americans in his neighborhood in Seattle are being evacuated into internment camps.  Henry befriends Keiko, a Japenese-American girl at his school, before she and her family are taken away.  This narrative focuses on Henry's coming-of-age, coming to terms with the war and its repercussions, and his relationships with Keiko, his friend Sheldon, and his parents. 

The 1986 narrative takes place in the same neighborhood.  Artifacts have been discovered in the basement of an old hotel, that were stowed away by Japense-American families during 1942, in hopes that they could be recovered when the war ended.  Henry searches through these relics, hoping to find something of Keiko's.  This narrative focuses on Henry's relationship with his son, Marty (and their mutual alienation from each other), his grief over his wife's recent death, and his search for closure from the events that happened to Keiko and her family.

The following posts are my candid thoughts on some of the themes that this book touches on. They are biased from my personal experiences, though they don't necessarily reflect my personal experiences. I realize that they are a small part of a very large picture - the panorama of human experience.  We humans (and animals) are different in many ways, but probably share far more.  If you are up to sharing your thoughts on these issues or on others, I would love to hear them and would be very grateful for the chance to hear them.

With love....
Llama