Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I finished this book this morning and it has been awhile since a book touched me so deeply on so many levels.  I was recommended this book by a man that has the rare ability to discern the beauty in all things.  I opened the first pages with great anticipation.  As those who know me well,  Know that I am a really fast reader.  I also retain a lot of what I read for a long time.  With this book it was the rare exception that I relished every single written word on the page.  It is a bit sentimental but that is part of who I am at the core.  I love connections that continue from the past to now to the future.

This book is set right after Pearl Harbor in the city of Seattle,  where a young Chinese boy, Henry, meets a young Japanese Girl, Keiko, at an all white school that they attend.  I love the poignant innocent friendship they have and the love and compassion they show for each other.  This book is told by a 50+ year old second generation Chinese-American. It is told in two different time periods, and flows back and forth between the 1940's to 1986 seamlessly. It is  also the story of the other relationships that the boy has: his Chinese parents, a local black jazz musician, and later with his own son and son's fiance.   It talked about the attitudes and superstitions of that time when the world was at war.  The realities of what happened to the different cultures and races of people.  The picture of the time was painted so well and beautifully that it felt at times that you could smell the salt from the sea and feel the humidity of the air.  The emotions of the young are so volatile and consuming that if you have every loved, lost, found, suffered, and found such amazing joy in a friend that you could feel it all right there.  

I did catch a couple of nuances that could not be,  for example the internet was not around in 1986 and neither were digital CD's.  But I am willing to forgive that because from the first page you are already rooting for Henry and wanting to know more.  The characters and story are just brilliant, captivating and entirely lovely.