David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "father-son-relationships"
HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET
Were you thinking "THIS sounds like SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS" when you first read about HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET?
Well I'm sure Jamie Ford might have read that book, but HOTCOBAS has it's differences. For one thing, Henry Lee, who falls in love with a Japanese girl at the ripe old age of twelve, is a Chinese American. This is a love story but it's also about Japanese internment camps and the generation gap. Henry's parents send him to an American school where he and Keiko Okabe are the only Orientals. Henry, especially is mercilessly bullied.
Henry is not allowed to speak Cantonese in his home, despite the fact that his parents don't understand English, and his father makes him wear an "I am Chinese" button. He and Keiko work in the kitchen during lunch hour where he "befriends" the gruff lunch lady, Mrs. Beatty. She will play a major role in the story later.
Henry's father is from northern China where the Japanese persecuted his people and when he learns about Henry's relationship with Keiko he won't speak to him anymore.
Henry knows he won't be able to eat his lunch at school; he gives it to a street musician, Spencer, who is just beginning to make inroads in the Seattle jazz scene. They establish a lifelong friendship. A black man and a Chinese boy share the same heart, Ford seems to be saying.
Ford hops between WWII and the 1980's where Henry and his son Marty have a similar generation gap in some respects, although nothing like Henry and his father.
The Panama Hotel figures strongly in the story, hence the title. It's on the border between the Chinese and Japanese settlements in Seattle. We're expecting Keiko to be sent to an Internment camp eventually, and she leaves something important at the hotel.
So the big question throughout the novel is if Henry and Keiko will ever get together. The odds seem stacked against them, but Marty has a surprise in store for his father.
Well I'm sure Jamie Ford might have read that book, but HOTCOBAS has it's differences. For one thing, Henry Lee, who falls in love with a Japanese girl at the ripe old age of twelve, is a Chinese American. This is a love story but it's also about Japanese internment camps and the generation gap. Henry's parents send him to an American school where he and Keiko Okabe are the only Orientals. Henry, especially is mercilessly bullied.
Henry is not allowed to speak Cantonese in his home, despite the fact that his parents don't understand English, and his father makes him wear an "I am Chinese" button. He and Keiko work in the kitchen during lunch hour where he "befriends" the gruff lunch lady, Mrs. Beatty. She will play a major role in the story later.
Henry's father is from northern China where the Japanese persecuted his people and when he learns about Henry's relationship with Keiko he won't speak to him anymore.
Henry knows he won't be able to eat his lunch at school; he gives it to a street musician, Spencer, who is just beginning to make inroads in the Seattle jazz scene. They establish a lifelong friendship. A black man and a Chinese boy share the same heart, Ford seems to be saying.
Ford hops between WWII and the 1980's where Henry and his son Marty have a similar generation gap in some respects, although nothing like Henry and his father.
The Panama Hotel figures strongly in the story, hence the title. It's on the border between the Chinese and Japanese settlements in Seattle. We're expecting Keiko to be sent to an Internment camp eventually, and she leaves something important at the hotel.
So the big question throughout the novel is if Henry and Keiko will ever get together. The odds seem stacked against them, but Marty has a surprise in store for his father.
American Gospel
I first heard of Lin Enger after I read his brother Leif Enger's hit novel, PEACE LIKE A RIVER. He teaches English Lit at The U of Minnesota Moorhead, right next to Fargo. He was at least as good as Leif.
The review I read of AMERICAN GOSPEL implied that Enoch, the major character who predicts the Rapture was a lonely old man. Enoch is far from that. He has a vision during a heart attack during which he sees his son Peter above him ascending into Heaven.
Peter is probably more of a major character than Enoch. He is a failed baseball player who spent eight years in the minors and is now counting on a journalism career to make his mark. He doesn't believe in the Rapture, but he sees his chance as the media is giving Enoch a lot of attention. He has a secondary goal. He hopes to see his ex-lover Melanie at the Last Days Ranch, his father's property. Peter and Melanie had a child together when she was fifteen, and he was eighteen. Enoch and Melanie's parents insisted they put the child up for adoption. Peter and Melanie hope to see their son at the Rapture event which Enoch predicts will occur on August 19, 1974.
Melanie thinks Enoch saved her life when a bull stepped on her chest. He prayed and she survived. She is now an actress with a new movie coming out. Both Enoch and Peter hope that Melanie's appearance will draw a crowd. Melanie believes it actually might happen. She's fed up with Hollywood and her stage door mother, Dollie who left her husband and took Melanie to California to live with her sister. She got her commercials then parts in moves and eventually an agent.
Enoch isn't a bad person, but he's setting himself up for a terrible humiliation and Peter is determined to save him, mainly because his son Willie (Named after Willie Mays?) wants him to. Enger provides an appropriate ending.
The review I read of AMERICAN GOSPEL implied that Enoch, the major character who predicts the Rapture was a lonely old man. Enoch is far from that. He has a vision during a heart attack during which he sees his son Peter above him ascending into Heaven.
Peter is probably more of a major character than Enoch. He is a failed baseball player who spent eight years in the minors and is now counting on a journalism career to make his mark. He doesn't believe in the Rapture, but he sees his chance as the media is giving Enoch a lot of attention. He has a secondary goal. He hopes to see his ex-lover Melanie at the Last Days Ranch, his father's property. Peter and Melanie had a child together when she was fifteen, and he was eighteen. Enoch and Melanie's parents insisted they put the child up for adoption. Peter and Melanie hope to see their son at the Rapture event which Enoch predicts will occur on August 19, 1974.
Melanie thinks Enoch saved her life when a bull stepped on her chest. He prayed and she survived. She is now an actress with a new movie coming out. Both Enoch and Peter hope that Melanie's appearance will draw a crowd. Melanie believes it actually might happen. She's fed up with Hollywood and her stage door mother, Dollie who left her husband and took Melanie to California to live with her sister. She got her commercials then parts in moves and eventually an agent.
Enoch isn't a bad person, but he's setting himself up for a terrible humiliation and Peter is determined to save him, mainly because his son Willie (Named after Willie Mays?) wants him to. Enger provides an appropriate ending.
