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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford (Goodreads Author)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 97,206 ratings · 12,310 reviews

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent t...more In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.(less)

Kindle Edition, 322 pages

Published January 27th 2009 by Ballantine Books

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Apr 21, 2013 Nan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, never-again, world-war-ii

Original review posted: Mar 19, 09

I have to admit that I did not like this book. Mr. Ford is a decent writer, and while he did research 1942 fairly extensively, he did a crappy job portraying 1986. I was alive in '86. I was ten, in fact. While my memory of the time is going to be different than that of a 50 year old character, I wound up being very tired of the repeated anachronisms. In one paragraph--on page four of the book, I believe--the narrator tells the readers that the main character's s...more

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view all 66 comments

Nan Hi Joan. No.

I will not lighten up.

This is a review I posted four years ago. It's been a year since I replied to any of the comments here. Despite my i...more
Apr 21, 2013 04:23pm

Mary In 1986 my family were also on the internet through my husband's university where he was a professor--unusual yes, but not unknown since all faculty a...more
May 16, 2013 06:46pm

Aug 20, 2012 Laura rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: no one

Recommended to Laura by: book club

Shelves: book-club, courtship, ordinary-life

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Okay, I am not the target audience for this book. One of my favorite teachers in high school was sent to one of the internment camps as a child. I’ve met Fred Korematsu, whose challenge to internship went all the way to the Supreme Court back in the day. I’ve read that opinion. I know several members of the excellent legal team that got his conviction vacated. I know the Justice Department lied to the Supreme Court about the “known danger” the Japanese-Americans represented. My grandmother bough...more Okay, I am not the target audience for this book. One of my favorite teachers in high school was sent to one of the internment camps as a child. I’ve met Fred Korematsu, whose challenge to internship went all the way to the Supreme Court back in the day. I’ve read that opinion. I know several members of the excellent legal team that got his conviction vacated. I know the Justice Department lied to the Supreme Court about the “known danger” the Japanese-Americans represented. My grandmother bought a house on 10th and Jefferson from a neighbor being sent away, and my boss’s family took in an ebony and ivory piano from neighbors being removed that he later, at no small expense, had restored and donated to a Buddhist temple in Wapato. I love George Takei and have exchanged tweets with him. I know about the internment camps. I am deeply ashamed.

I am not the target audience. I am no fan of the sweet and sentimental; of pathos and wistfulness; of romance and thwarted love. And I despise Orson Scott Card, who helped get this book written, for his stalwart work on behalf of homophobia. Science fiction writers who are on the wrong side of history belong in the special hell.

So I didn’t like the book, but understand, seriously, I am not in the target audience. I suspect, though I don’t know, that the author did not mean to write about the Japanese internment. He meant to write a thwarted love story. The author interview in the back of the book disclaims any political intent, which baffles me. Given the opportunity to clearly condemn – or even defend -- the internment, he evades. I don’t get that. The most he can come up with is "beloved president Reagan apologized." When asked if he saw a parallel between the calls to close the border or remove Muslim Americans, he seemed astonished that there might be one.

I do not love President Reagan. The parallel is bleeding.

If I hadn’t been reading this for my reading group, I never would have picked it up. But I did, and I finished it. It’s a quick read. It’s about a guy who meets a girl, falls in love with a girl, loses a girl to the Japanese internment and his father’s racism, and moves on to be a good husband to a different woman. Who dies. Opening up our guy to find his first love. I suspect it’s one of those books that attempts to mine those “rich veins of ordinary life” I hear that non-genre literature is lovingly mining. I almost always find such books trite and cloying. This one was no exception. (less)

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Feb 24, 2009 Lynn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book, but I had one minor annoyance with it. The author had 4 anachronisms: the book is set (in part) in 1986, and yet the son is in an "on-line" grief support group, and used the internet to look up a lost friend, and there is talk twice about digital conversion of records to CDs.

This book is told by a 50+ year old second generation Chinese-American. It is told in two different time periods, and flows back and forth between the 1940's to 1986 seemlessly. It is the story of a young...more

42 likes · like · see review

Feb 03, 2013 Florence MacIntosh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Cultural: Asian - Chinese & Japanese

Recommended to Florence by: GR Group read - LoveOfReading

Shelves: war, awards, debut, historical-romance, 2013, lit-asian, reviewed

Switching between 1942 and 1986 this is an easy read on a complex subject. A historical romance with a Romeo & Juliet twist, this time the doomed love affair between Henry, a Chinese American and Keiko, a Japanese American; its historical focus the internment of Japanese Americans during WW2.
I loved the inclusion of Seattle’s music scene, the symbolism of the lost jazz record interwoven throughout, the passages that escalated it above a pure romance novel. (view spoiler)...more Switching between 1942 and 1986 this is an easy read on a complex subject. A historical romance with a Romeo & Juliet twist, this time the doomed love affair between Henry, a Chinese American and Keiko, a Japanese American; its historical focus the internment of Japanese Americans during WW2.
I loved the inclusion of Seattle’s music scene, the symbolism of the lost jazz record interwoven throughout, the passages that escalated it above a pure romance novel. (view spoiler)
It shone exploring the dynamics of a typical Chinese American family. Henry’s father with his clear allegiance to China coupled with his hatred for the Japanese, his mother’s struggle to bring together a husband & son so opposed in their beliefs. ’Saang Jan’ you are a stranger to me. I can’t say the same for it’s portrayal of Kioko’s family. Their stoic acceptance (bordering on cheerful resignation) over the loss of all they owned while very commendable rang false.(view spoiler) As a romance this is a 4 star read, for plot & character development a 3. I guess I wanted more substance, a little more bitter & a little less sweet.

“How could they sit back and do nothing when this many people were being taken away – when they could be next?”

“It was the record, their record. Oscar Holden’s ‘Alley Cat Strut.” It shouted at the night, louder than the storm.”

Notes: Canada also interred it’s Japanese Canadians during WW2 as told in The Jade Peony They say all is fair in Love and War - it’s understandable that alliances were questioned – Still books like these bring to light a subject worth reflecting on.(less)

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Dec 20, 2012 Ariella rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: stopped-reading

Oy vey.
I really did want to like this book. It sounded like the perfect book for my mood: Not too highfalutin or literary, but a good story I which I can immerse myself and escape to a different time and place.
As I went on Goodreads a few days ago to add the book to my list of 'currently reading' however, I came across a number of really bad reviews. Disappointed, and somewhat deflated, I nevertheless read on trying to ignore the negativity, stay positive and try to like the story and get into...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This newly-published book got a lot of hype and was favorably reviewed by authors I have read and loved (not to mention being Costco's pick of the month :]), but I was disappointed by the overly sentimental tone and predictable plot. Henry Lee, son of Chinese immigrants, has just lost his wife to cancer (it is 1986), and the book is a series of flashbacks to 1942 and his friendship with a young second-generation Japanese-American girl named Keiko, his first love. The relationship is complicated...more

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Dec 07, 2008 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, Release Date 1/27/2009, $24.00

I've just finished reading Jamie Ford's forthcoming novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and am still basking in the glow. The characters are fully realized, the title is a real attention grabber, and the story fleshed out with plenty of local and period detail. Ford provides an intimate look at life on the homefront during WWII from the uncommon perpective of an earnest Chinese-American boy and his...more

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Feb 13, 2009 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great book. I love novels based on historical fact. I finished it in just a day and a half. Hard to believe it is a first novel. I am looking forward to more from this author. I looked up some of the people and places mentioned in the book, just to see if they were real - and was pleased to find that they were. Of course if I had read the acknolwedgements at the end of the book I would have known that already.

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Mar 21, 2009 Jeff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" is as saccharine and overly sentimental as the title suggests. It is historical fiction for the Nicholas Sparks set -- an emotionally heavy-handed novel that is well told, but not particularly well written.

There are some diamonds in the rough, though: the historical aspects of the novel are very interesting; the relationships depicted in the book, while not always believable, are complex; and, the issues related to cultural identity and racial discrimin...more

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May 05, 2011 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm always a little behind the curve when it comes to reading blockbuster NYT bestsellers. I think a part of me resists because I love finding "little" books that deserve kudos and talking about them. But I had heard so many good things about THE HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET that I bought it, though I sat on it a while before I cracked it open to read. Once I did, I was hooked instantly by the wonderful character of Henry Lee, a 12-year-old boy in Seattle's Chinatown during the early...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Janelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, favorites

If this isn't an eye opening book, I don't know what is.

This is a story of a 1st generation Chinese American boy named Henry in 1942 Seattle. During World War II his father wants to ensure no one confuses him for the ostracized Japanese and sends his son to an all white school with an "I Am Chinese" button on his clothing. There he meets 2nd generation Japanese American girl named Keiko. Though Henry's father has a passionate hatred for the Japanese, Henry develops a sweet, deep and secretive f...more

8 likes · like · see review

May 12, 2010 Karla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american, china, japan, friendship, historical-romantic-fiction, historical, mourning, romance, tear-jerkers, 2010, favorites

A rich, tender, personal story so touching and full of history I should know, but didn't. Pulled at my heartstrings and made me longingly linger over and over the last few chapters.
Set durring the height of Nihonmachi district (JapanTown) area of Seattle, Washingtom. You jump from 1986 to 1942 thoughout the story. To tell the tale of Henery Lee an intelligent, brave, 12yr old Chinese American quickly growing into a man thru struggling WWII times. He has a strained relationship with his father mi...more

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Feb 15, 2009 Gail rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although this is probably one of those implausible love stories that D. Steele might have written, the story is so much bigger and deeper because the author uses a first love to describe the differences and similarities of three generations of Chinese fathers and sons and what it means to be "American".

The setting moves back and forth between Seattle's International District during WWII and contemporary Seattle. So, that gives it a special geographical interest to me. The author gives an intima...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Kip rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was interested in this novel primarily because of its depiction of anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States during the 1940s. Ford does a nice job of showing some of the injustices perpetrated against Japanese Americans, who were evacuated from their homes, stripped of most of their possessions, and sent to internment camps despite little evidence that they presented any real threat to U.S. national security. Through the eyes of a young Chinese American boy, we see the destructive effects...more

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Sep 14, 2010 Tasha enderby rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, world-war-ii

My book club read this book and when I passed the cover in an airport I knew I just had to read it. When my girlfriend found it on sale it put it on my list.

Okay this is a do not pass up book, the reading is light goes quickly but the story is deep. I can't help but think of my very first real crush I had in the seventh grade, it my first attempt at understanding the very adult feeling I was having towards Tony. The funny thing is I can't tell you my husbands birthday but I can still remember th...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Christina White rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, love-stories

3.5 stars

I really liked this story. The characters were well developed and the scenes were so descriptive I felt like if I listened hard enough I would hear jazz playing in the background. It's the story of a young Chinese boy and Japanese girl during WW2 who find a soul mate in one another. They are separated when the U.S started relocating the Japanese into camps. They spend most of their lives apart and married to other people, only to find one another later in life after their spouses die. I...more

5 likes · like · see review

Apr 06, 2012 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely couldn't put this love story down. An ill-fated romance falls victim to racial segregation and social mores yet survives in the soulful times of jazz clubs, and World War. A must read! I cried!!!

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 23, 2011 Jennifer Lane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

I tend to enjoy novels that flash back and forth from past to present, and this novel was no different (though "present" is 1986). The story features Henry, a Chinese man in his fifties who lives in Seattle. The bulk of the events take place in the early 1940's during the heart of WWII, when Henry was only twelve. His Chinese parents enact several harsh rules for their son: sending him to an American school where he's beaten and teased for being Chinese, insisting he speak to them only in Englis...more

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Jan 31, 2009 Claudine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Hotel made me cry, made me laugh and brought me joy. It's a beautifully written and tender story about first love, the human experience surrounding racial divides, generational conflicts, and the internment of Japanese Americans. You won't be disappointed with Hotel.

14 likes · like · see review

Feb 08, 2009 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, romance

I fell in love with the main character of this book from the first chapter. A wonderful story of love told through the lens of racism, prejudice, and war. Good storytelling combined with memorable and endearing characters. Highly recommended.

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Jan 13, 2011 Deana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Deana by: Bev

Shelves: 2011, wwii, 4-5stars

What a beautifully written book! But also so sad and eye opening. I had, of course, heard of the Japanese interment camps in the western US during WWII, but I had no idea what was involved, really. It's so difficult for me to imagine that such things went on right here in my own country. I do think the book has the wrong title, although I have no idea what title I would give it. I just don't think the title conveys much about the book, or the right impression of what is inside.

I cried multiple t...more What a beautifully written book! But also so sad and eye opening. I had, of course, heard of the Japanese interment camps in the western US during WWII, but I had no idea what was involved, really. It's so difficult for me to imagine that such things went on right here in my own country. I do think the book has the wrong title, although I have no idea what title I would give it. I just don't think the title conveys much about the book, or the right impression of what is inside.

I cried multiple times during the course of the book, but really enjoyed reading it. I absolutely loved the characters of Sheldon and Mrs. Beatty - the author's favorites as well :) And I loved reading the interview with the author at the end about his family and his research, and also the short story he wrote (for Orson Scott Card, no less!) that eventually became this book.

For those who don't know the basic idea - Henry (born in America to Chinese parents) and Keiko (born in America to Japanese parents) become best friends as the only two Asian students in an otherwise all-white school. They bond over their similarities and their love for jazz. Henry's staunchly traditional Chinese parents (his father in particular) do not approve of his friendship with Keiko because he considers the Japanese to be "the enemy", and actually end up refuses to speak to his son for years because he persists in the disgraceful friendship even after Keiko and her family are placed in an interment camp. The story is told in both the 1940s and the 1980s, alternating, which for me really enhances the tale. Oh, and you get a lot of fun stuff to read about the jazz scene in Seattle in the 1940s, which is maybe the best part!

The only real qualm I have is near the end when his son [does something that I won't say because it's a SPOILER] and it says "... but to Marty, a few hours on his computer, a few phone calls ..." A few hours on his .... COMPUTER?! In 1986?! I -might- have gone for that in 1996... but 1986? No.

But I suppose it's a small thing. Read the book anyway.(less)

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Mar 11, 2009 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, wwii

I really wanted to rate this book a 5 and if I gave half ratings I suppose I'd give it 4.5. This book just drew me into the setting of Seattle during the 1940s and the internment of American citizens who were of Japanese decent during WWII. This book, in fact, made me cry which is an effect that few books have on me. I tend to be a fairly stoic person and that carries over into my reading but by the time I was finishing this book I was all weepy and glad no one was around to see me working my wa...more I really wanted to rate this book a 5 and if I gave half ratings I suppose I'd give it 4.5. This book just drew me into the setting of Seattle during the 1940s and the internment of American citizens who were of Japanese decent during WWII. This book, in fact, made me cry which is an effect that few books have on me. I tend to be a fairly stoic person and that carries over into my reading but by the time I was finishing this book I was all weepy and glad no one was around to see me working my way through a box of tissues.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet tells the story of Henry Lee through transitions in time between the 1940s and 1986 in Seattle. Henry is the son of a Chinese nationalist obsessed with the war between China and Japan. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor Henry's father decides that his son needs to become more American and will no longer allow Henry to speak any language but English at home even though it breaks down the communication between Henry and his Cantonese speaking parents. Henry is also sent to the exclusive Rainer Elementary where he is the only Asian student and is ruthlessly bullied by the other students. Henry's one friend is Sheldon, a young black jazz musician who plays a saxophone on the street corner.
Amongst the confusion of war and prejudice, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a new Japanese American Student at Rainer. Always fearful of his father's reaction Henry forges a strong bond of friendship with Keiko. As more Japanese people are arrested and rounded up in raids, Henry fears for what will happen to Keiko and her family. When the order for the removal of all Japanese people in Seattle comes down Henry is torn trying to do what is right while struggling to understand what the right thing is. Should he be loyal to his Chinese nationalist family or should he follow his feelings and help Keiko?
The other side of the story takes place in 1986 as Henry, now a widower, is trying to bridge the gap in his relationship with his son and between his past and present life.
This is Jamie Ford's debut novel and while I really enjoyed it, there were some inconsistencies and a bit of redundancy. The use of the Internet in 1986 had me a bit puzzled. Yes, the Internet existed at the time but was not really being used in the ways described in the book.
Perhaps a little heavy on the sentimental side at times, I really enjoyed this thoughtful look at the tragic events surrounding the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII and the glimpse into the Japanese internment camps.(less)

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Nov 07, 2008 MK Brunskill-Cowen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Amazing - simply amazing! I couldn't put this down. I loved Henry, a Chinese-American boy during WWII, trying to figure if he's Chinese or American, really being neither, and falling for a Japanese American girl. Beautifully written.

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Feb 03, 2013 Stella rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, fiction

I loved this book so much. I am glad I didn't read any of the reviews before I downloaded the Kindle sample. By the end of the sample I was hooked and purchased the book and no bad review could have ruined it for me. (people seem to be really upset about a few errouneous references to the internet in the 80s. Yes, I got that, too, but it really didn’t ruin the book)

Apart from the historical setting of Japanese internment during the World War 2, something I didn’t know much about, I was truly int...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Susan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kent-island-book-club, audiobooks, historical, institute-of-adult-learning, culture-differences

I read this with my book club. I felt it was too elementary a treatment for my knowledge of the subject.

7 likes · like · see review

Jan 19, 2009 Mahbod rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great book.... a lovely story told in a wonderful voice...

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Apr 07, 2011 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: woodland-reads, celebrating-books-club, ridge-street-book-club, world-war-ii

It is hard to believe that this was a debut novel written by Jamie Ford. He did an outstanding job writing this story, and the book will make you feel, think, cry and smile. I found this gentle tale of love and friendship and loyalty between unlikely classmates to be delightful.

The date was 1942 and Henry was the only Chinese student in an all white school. One day a new person enters the story. It is Keiko, a Japanese girl who will work with him in the school cafeteria since the are both schol...more It is hard to believe that this was a debut novel written by Jamie Ford. He did an outstanding job writing this story, and the book will make you feel, think, cry and smile. I found this gentle tale of love and friendship and loyalty between unlikely classmates to be delightful.

The date was 1942 and Henry was the only Chinese student in an all white school. One day a new person enters the story. It is Keiko, a Japanese girl who will work with him in the school cafeteria since the are both scholarship students. The story of Henry and Keiko and the relationship between a Chinese boy and his female Japanese classmate are set in when there was a climate of fear and anger during the time of bombing in World War II. It demonstrates the power of friendship, loyalty and love in many different ways.

Henry’s complicated relationship with his father is pivotal in understanding the tensions within families during that time as well as those that exist in many families today. Henry’s wonderful friendship with the sax playing Sheldon help bring the Seattle setting to life and adds an entire glimpse of the history of jazz in Seattle that I was unaware of before reading this novel.
As the Panama Hotel (where the history is both ‘...Bitter and Sweet...’) enters the scene and it is filled with untold history and mementos that are a focal point for the story.

Ford writes in a way that draws the the reader in and I became involved with the characters and their lives and really began to care about what was happening to them. This story shows that relationships can surmount even the harshest of prejudices and serves as a model for us all. It reminds us of the struggle between generations particularly when they are of different cultures.

There is much truth and fact underlying this book and it is at times difficult to remember it is a work of historical fiction rather than a nonfiction story. I recommend this wonderful book for all to read, young adults and adults alike and give it an unconditional 5 stars. I am looking forward to his next book with great anticipation.(less)

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May 11, 2011 Noce rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa-americana

Ne abbiamo lette a migliaia di storie d'amore impossibili, difficili, romantiche ecc.
Perciò, per quanto riguarda la trama è inutile dilungarsi.

Elencherò solo le impressioni nate casualmente mentre leggevo.
La frase a pag.0, contenente una citazione di Duke Ellington mi ha indispettito. Mi secca da morire vedere la lingua italiana maltrattata dall'oralità, dal gergo giovanile, e dagli inglesismi, francesismi eccetera.. Ma dai libri, di solito mi aspetto una cosa diversa. Perciò veder tradotta la...more Ne abbiamo lette a migliaia di storie d'amore impossibili, difficili, romantiche ecc.
Perciò, per quanto riguarda la trama è inutile dilungarsi.

Elencherò solo le impressioni nate casualmente mentre leggevo.
La frase a pag.0, contenente una citazione di Duke Ellington mi ha indispettito. Mi secca da morire vedere la lingua italiana maltrattata dall'oralità, dal gergo giovanile, e dagli inglesismi, francesismi eccetera.. Ma dai libri, di solito mi aspetto una cosa diversa. Perciò veder tradotta la frase "My poor heart is sentimental/Not made of wood/I've got it bad/And that ain't good" con "Ho il cuore tenero, non è mica di legno, me l'hanno spezzato DI BRUTTO, e questo non è bello" mi ha già predisposto maluccio.

Fino a pag. 186 non ci sono grandi colpi di scena, in realtà neanche dopo, è una storia facile a immaginarsi, e come tutte le storie d'amore, non è tanto la storia che conta ma il modo in cui viene raccontata. Ma da metà libro, questo sapor di zenzero si incomincia a sentire finalmente... e non è una cosa spiacevole, anzi.

Leggendo questo libro ho fatto un'altra interessantissima scoperta, è un po' come quella dell'acqua calda, ma ve la racconto ugualmente. Ho scoperto che i libri scatenano la fantasia e l'immaginazione ancora prima di rendercene conto. La quarta parola del romanzo, introduce il protagonista. Si chiama Henry. Bene, voi direte, interessante, embé?
Beh, siccome si chiama Henry e non Chun, e non Lin, e non Yan, e non Huxian, voi non avete idea dello sforzo che ho dovuto fare, per buona metà del libro, per togliermi dalla mente l'immagine di un anziano di razza caucasica con quella di un asiatico con gli occhi a mandorla. No, questo giusto per sottolineare quanto le "parole" si coniughino perfettamente col verbo "insinuare" specialmente se nella mente.

Poi, un'altra cosa; nell'edizione della Garzanti, sulla parte di copertina che "rimbocca" il lato posteriore del libro, viene descritto il "caso editoriale", e tra le date che segnano il successo e l'ascesa del romanzo ve n'è una che recita: «Estate 2009: Il gusto proibito dello zenzero è uno dei romanzi più letti sulle spiagge di tutta l'America.» Ora, mi fa veramente sorridere, che una storia che tratta di razzismo strisciante, di pregiudizi, di filo spinato ecc, possa essere letta mentre ci si spalma l'olio al cocco sul corpo, e quando l'unica preoccupazione è quella di impiegare il tempo tra l'ultimo morso di uno snack e il momento in cui ci si può tuffare in acqua senza correre il rischio di un'indigestione.

Insomma sembra paradossale, anche un po' irrispettoso nei confronti della storia, anche se a ben pensarci, forse può essere la lettura stessa di un buon libro, che eleva una banale giornata al mare allo status di "giornata degna di nota".

Ok, lo so, mi rendo conto che anziché recensire il libro, vi ho fatto una puntuale elencazione delle mie sciocche sensazioni da lettrice.. forse dovrei dirvi qualcosa per invogliarvi a leggerlo.
Beh, sicuramente posso dirvi che siamo così abituati a collegare i termini "deportazione", "ghetto" ecc. allo sterminio nazista, che ci dimentichiamo o ignoriamo del tutto che certe bassezze e brutture si sono ripetute ciclicamente un po' ovunque, e a volte con modalità simili, e hanno colpito occhi, visi e popoli uguali a noi nel modo di subirle. E questo romanzo ce ne illustra uno spicchio. E poi posso dirvi ancora che, guardare e ripercorrere come fa il protagonista in questo libro, un amore vissuto e sentito, come se fosse la vita di qualcun altro, con dolcezza, obiettività e malinconia, è come infilarsi una felpa in una sera di Settembre, quando il caldo del giorno fa posto ai primi freddi dell'autunno. Una sensazione piacevole e confortante, che al tempo stesso ti ricorda che l'estate è finita. E che si deve guardare avanti.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Feb 02, 2011 Krisanne Stewart rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First of all, I am so proud of myself for finishing a book club book before book club meets! Secondly, I loved this book! I loved the slow, unfolding of Henry's life, while at the same time being dumbstruck by what happened here in America during the Japanese internment camps. We grew up hearing about the Nazi atrocities, but little is taught about the camps we had here. In fact, when a student was researching concentration camps prior to the reading of Anne Frank, and found Crystal City, Texas...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 04, 2011 Destinee Sutton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: grown-up-books, seattle, historical-fiction, war, book-group-worthy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Things I liked about this book:

It is really fun to read a good book that takes place in the city where you live. It makes everything seem more real and you can always make conversation about it when you pass by a place mentioned in the book. For example, I learned a lot about Seattle's jazz history reading this book and now when I go to the I.D. to do Karaoke I will pretend I am Ray Charles. Also fun: tragic love stories with redemptive endings. Indeed. Another thing I enjoy: well-researched hi...more

6 likes · like · see review

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My name is James. Yes, I'm a dude.

I’m also the New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet—which was, in no particular order, an IndieBound NEXT List Selection, a Borders Original Voices Selection, a Barnes & Noble Book Club Selection, Pennie’s Pick at Costco, a Target Bookmarked Club Pick, and a National Bestseller. It was also named the #1 Book Club Pick for...more

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