Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
A Novel, Nominiert: Washington State Book Award, 2010
(Sprache: Englisch)
"Sentimental, heartfelt .the exploration of Henry s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to...
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"Sentimental, heartfelt .the exploration of Henry s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don t repeat those injustices."-- Kirkus ReviewsA tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel."
-- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain
Jamie Ford's first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love. An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut.
-- Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
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
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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.
BONUS: This edition contains a Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet discussion guide and an excerpt from Jamie Ford's Songs of Willow Frost.
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.
BONUS: This edition contains a Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet discussion guide and an excerpt from Jamie Ford's Songs of Willow Frost.
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Lese-Probe zu „Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet “
The Panama Hotel (1986)Old Henry Lee stood transfixed by all the commotion at the Panama Hotel. What had started as a crowd of curious onlookers eyeballing a television news crew had now swollen into a polite mob of shoppers, tourists, and a few punk-looking street kids, all wondering what the big deal was. In the middle of the crowd stood Henry, shopping bags hanging at his side. He felt as if he were waking from a long forgotten dream. A dream he d once had as a little boy.
The old Seattle landmark was a place he d visited twice in his lifetime. First when he was only twelve years old, way back in 1942 the war years he liked to call them. Even then the old bachelor hotel had stood as a gateway between Seattle s Chinatown and Nihonmachi, Japantown. Two outposts of an old-world conflict where Chinese and Japanese immigrants rarely spoke to one another, while their American-born children often played kick the can in the streets together. The hotel had always been a perfect landmark. A perfect meeting place where he d once met the love of his life.
The second time was today. It was 1986, what, forty-plus years later? He d stopped counting the years as they slipped into memory. After all, he d spent a lifetime between these bookended visits. A marriage. The birth of an ungrateful son. Cancer, and a burial. He missed his wife, Ethel. She d been gone six months now. But he didn t miss her as much as you d think, as bad as that might sound. It was more like quiet relief really. Her health had been bad no, worse than bad. The cancer in her bones had been downright crippling, to both of us, he thought.
For the last seven years Henry had fed her, bathed her, helped her to the bathroom when she needed to go, and back again when she was all through. He took care of her night and day, 24/7 as they say these days. Marty, his son, thought his mother should have been put in a home, but Henry would have none of it. Not in my lifetime, Henry said, resisting. Not just
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because he was Chinese (though that was a part of his resistance). The Confucian ideal of filial piety respect and reverence for one s parents was a cultural relic not easily discarded by Henry s generation. He d been raised to care for loved ones, personally, and to put someone in a home was unacceptable. What his son, Marty, never fully understood was that deep down there was an Ethel-shaped hole in Henry s life, and without her, all he felt was the draft of loneliness, cold and sharp, the years slipping away like blood from a wound that never heals.
Now she was gone for good. She needed to be buried, Henry thought, the traditional Chinese way, with food offerings, longevity blankets, and prayer ceremonies lasting several days despite Marty s fit about cremating her. He was so modern. He d been seeing a counselor and dealing with his mother s death through an online support group, whatever that was. Going online sounded like talking to no one, which Henry had some firsthand experience in in real life. It was lonely. Almost as lonely as Lake View Cemetery, where he d buried Ethel. She now had a gorgeous view of Lake Washington, and was interred with Seattle s other Chinese notables, like Bruce Lee and his own son, Brandon. But in the end, each of them occupied a solitary grave. Alone forever. It didn t matter who your neighbors were. They didn t talk back.
When night fell, and it did, Henry chatted with his wife, asking her how her day was. She never replied, of course. I m not crazy or anything, Henry would say to no one, just open-minded. You never know who s listening. Then he d busy himself pruning his Chinese palm or evergreen houseplants whose brown leaves confessed his months of neglect.
Now she was gone for good. She needed to be buried, Henry thought, the traditional Chinese way, with food offerings, longevity blankets, and prayer ceremonies lasting several days despite Marty s fit about cremating her. He was so modern. He d been seeing a counselor and dealing with his mother s death through an online support group, whatever that was. Going online sounded like talking to no one, which Henry had some firsthand experience in in real life. It was lonely. Almost as lonely as Lake View Cemetery, where he d buried Ethel. She now had a gorgeous view of Lake Washington, and was interred with Seattle s other Chinese notables, like Bruce Lee and his own son, Brandon. But in the end, each of them occupied a solitary grave. Alone forever. It didn t matter who your neighbors were. They didn t talk back.
When night fell, and it did, Henry chatted with his wife, asking her how her day was. She never replied, of course. I m not crazy or anything, Henry would say to no one, just open-minded. You never know who s listening. Then he d busy himself pruning his Chinese palm or evergreen houseplants whose brown leaves confessed his months of neglect.
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Autoren-Porträt von Jamie Ford
The son of a Chinese American father, Jamie Ford is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels Songs of Willow Frost and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. Having grown up in Seattle, he now lives in Montana with his wife and children.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Jamie Ford
- 2009, 304 Seiten, Maße: 24,409 cm, Gebunden, Englisch
- Verlag: Ballantine
- ISBN-10: 0345505336
- ISBN-13: 9780345505330
- Erscheinungsdatum: 02.02.2009
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut that explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle era during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love. Lisa SeeA tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war not the sweeping damage of the battlefield but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. This is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more important, it will make you feel. Garth Stein, bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain
Mesmerizing and evocative, a tale of conflicted loyalties and timeless devotion. Sara Gruen, bestselling author of Water for Elephants
A wartime-era Chinese-Japanese variation on Romeo and Juliet . . . The period detail [is] so revealing and so well rendered. The Seattle Times
A poignant story that transports the reader back in time . . . a satisfying and heart-wrenching tale. Deseret Morning News
A lovely combination of romantic coincidence, historic detail and realism that is smooth and highly readable . . . Ford does wonderful work in re-creating prewar Seattle. The Oregonian
Heartfelt . . . a timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don t repeat those injustices. Kirkus Reviews
Ford s story of an innocent passion across racial barriers and of the life of a man who forsook the girl he loved is told with an artistic technique that makes emotion inevitable. Louis B. Jones
A beautiful and tender masterpiece . . . a book everyone will be talking about, and the best book you ll read this year. Anne Frasier
A heartwarming story
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of fathers and sons, first loves, fate, and the resilient human heart . . . marvelously evocative. Jim Tomlinson
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