Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet
Record details
- ISBN: 9780345505347 (paperback)
- ISBN: 0345505336 (alk. paper) :
- ISBN: 9780345505330 (alk. paper)
-
Physical Description:
290 p. ; 25 cm.
print - Edition: 1st ed.
- Publisher: New York : Ballantine Books, c2009.
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Widowers Fiction Japanese Americans Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945 Fiction Fathers and sons Fiction |
Genre: | Historical fiction. |
Available copies
- 3 of 4 copies available at Kenton County.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 4 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Covington Branch | FORD J (Text) | 33126022014371 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Covington Branch | FORD J (Text) | 33126026482863 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Erlanger Branch | FORD J (Text) | 33126022014363 | Adult Fiction | Available | - |
Erlanger Branch | FORD J (Text) | 33126026482871 | Adult Fiction | Checked out | 05/29/2024 |
- Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2008 October #1
Fifth-grade scholarship students and best friends Henry and Keiko are the only Asians in their Seattle elementary school in 1942. Henry is Chinese, Keiko is Japanese, and Pearl Harbor has made all Asiansâeven those who are American bornâtargets for abuse. Because Henry's nationalistic father has a deep-seated hatred for Japan, Henry keeps his friendship with and eventual love for Keiko a secret. When Keiko's family is sent to an internment camp in Idaho, Henry vows to wait for her. Forty years later, Henry comes upon an old hotel where the belongings of dozens of displaced Japanese families have turned up in the basement, and his love for Keiko is reborn. In his first novel, award-winning short-story writer Ford expertly nails the sweet innocence of first love, the cruelty of racism, the blindness of patriotism, the astonishing unknowns between parents and their children, and the sadness and satisfaction at the end of a life well lived. The result is a vivid picture of a confusing and critical time in American history. Recommended for all fiction collections.âJoanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Lib., Providence
[Page 56]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2019 January #1
In this moving story of innocence lost, Chinese American Henry and Japanese American Keiko form a strong friendship in 1940s Seattle but are torn apart when Keiko's family are arrested and put in an internment camp by the American government. (
Copyright 2018 Library Journal.SLJ 5/09) - School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 2009 May
Adutl/High SchoolâHenry Lee is a 12-year-old Chinese boy who falls in love with Keiko Okabe, a 12-year-old Japanese girl, while they are scholarship students at a prestigious private school in World War II Seattle. Henry hides the relationship from his parents, who would disown him if they knew he had a Japanese friend. His father insists that Henry wear an "I am Chinese" button everywhere he goes because Japanese residents of Seattle have begun to be shipped off by the thousands to relocation centers. This is an old-fashioned historical novel that alternates between the early 1940s and 1984, after Henry's wife Ethel has died of cancer. A particularly appealing aspect of the story is young Henry's fascination with jazz and his friendship with Sheldon, an older black saxophonist just making a name for himself in the many jazz venues near Henry's home. Other aspects of the story are more typical of the genre: the bullies that plague Henry, his lack of connection with his father, and later with his own son. Readers will care about Henry as he is forced to make decisions and accept circumstances that separate him from both his family and the love of his life. While the novel is less perfect as literature than John Hamamura's Color of the Sea (Thomas Dunne, 2006), the setting and quietly moving, romantic story are commendable.âAngela Carstensen, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City
[Page 140]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.