It is incredibly rare to find a historical fiction novel about World War Two that isn't set in Europe! Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" is as saccharine and overly sentimental as the title suggests. A 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. I suspect more families should get a mediator or a family therapist, if that is what it takes to TALK openly. Even though Jamie Ford didn't know it at the time, his childhood friend's father was sent to an internment camp just like Keiko and her family.

I think a part of me resists because I love finding "little" books that deserve kudos and talking about them.A story of lost love, childhood, prejudice and war, but also of endurance and acceptance and resignation that life doesn’t always turn out the way you would want it to. He has a strained relationship with his father mirroring that as a grown man in his fiftys he also struggles to open communications with his own grown son Marty. In one paragraph--on page four of the book, I believe--the narrator tells the readers that the main character's son is seeing a grief counselor and participating in an Internet support group.

The treatment of the Japanese people, the internment camps and the subsequent loss of identity is a terrible thing, yet the stoicism and acceptance of the people shines through in this story – the whole book captures the resilience of humans. I never had kids, so as an outsider I have seen SO many unnecessary parent/child/life dramas because of lack of communication! His father makes him wear an "I Am Chinese" button so he will not be mistaken for a Japanese boy in the heightened racist climate of World War II Seattle. The bitter aftertaste of how you watch and can do nothing as whole communities are moved and destroyed. Was a powerful look into American history as hearts and humanity broke down, inflicted by war and the damage to repair years after as relationships try to mend.It is a historical fact German prisoners-of-war captured in the fighting and transferred to American prisoner camps received better housing, medical care and humane treatment than did the Japanese-Americans living in their designated camps.

Random Things Through My Letterbox ' Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet', by Jamie Ford is a novel to recommend, one of those rare stories which would appeal to so many. Jamie Ford’s ‘Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet’ has already been a world-wide sensation since it was originally published in 2009.There have been countless books telling stories about people unable to live out their romances because of prejudices and politics, and in terms of subject matter, this is no different. They are treated in school as such, and have to do all the menial tasks such as helping with the school lunches, cleaning, emptying bins – that is their role in school. With the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941 and the declaration of war between the USA and Japan, there is an overwhelming division between the Japanese and all other communities.