From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Jamie Ford

Start date: October 1, 2014

Finish date: October 31, 2014

Discussion: Group Reads Discussions

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What Members Thought

Jan 30, 2011 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

I really want to say this book was bittersweet, but given the title that would be too easy. The story was heart-renderingly tender and poignant. I knew that nearly all Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during WWII, but I got a deeper glimpse into this travesty through the Okabe family's story. You sort of know how the story is going to go, yet at some point you just let yourself get lost in it and surrender your emotions. The looking at the past from the present narrative seemed e ...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Crystal rated it it was amazing

just got this book from my MIL and could not put it down. beautiful story and a way to learn more about asians on the west coast in war time

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Apr 20, 2021 Kemlo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical

This is a decent love story that had me in tears at the end, but since I borrowed the Kindle edition after seeing a reference to the title, I didn’t realize the book was aimed at young readers until after I started reading it. (The narrator is an innocent age twelve.) Just don’t expect a deep dive into history - there’s no mention of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, for example, and the forced evacuation and imprisonment of Japanese Americans is presented from the perspective of a child whose understandin ...more

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