As if Chihuly wasn't enough of a reason to visit Washington...

Now I absolutely have to go. Stop 1....visit Tacoma and see the Bridge of Light...Step 2, visit Seattle to take a walk through the infamous Panama Hotel. This desire to roam around the West Coast occurred as I finished 'The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet', Jamie Ford's debut novel. The story opens in 1986, with Henry, a Chinese-American man, agonizing over whether to enter the Panama Hotel and peruse through belongings left behind by Japanese-Americans during World War II when all were sent to internment camps. Ford deftly moves between the 1940's and the 1980's; unraveling the tale of Henry and Keiko, the Japanese-American girl whom Henry befriends and grows to love. I do not know what was more thrilling about this book, the spot on usage of historical faction or the fairy tale love story that had me from page 1. Ford parallels the strained relationship Henry shares with his son Marty again the difficult relationship he had with his traditional Chinese father [and mother]. The irony lies in the fact that Henry rebuffed his father's attempts at cultural preservation and discipline, and then separated himself from Marty through his clinging to old traditions and superstitions. Although the description of the internment camp(s) is as objective as possible in such a tale, I found myself thoroughly reminded of and horrified by our (humans) capacity for hatred. It made me poignantly aware of today's stereotypes and racism; starkly evident throughout communities, small and large, around the country. Henry's father called to mind not just the danger of hatred, but the capacity humans have for depravity when faced with fear. Though you can smell the sadness and desperation of the characters through Ford's colorful writing style, it doesn't make the danger and small mindedness of it all any more palatable. Although I can see why some might be turned off by the slightly saccharine ending; I would fully enchanted. Given the wounds that Henry was forced to suffer through deliberate deception, hatred, and worst of all, just life at its worst, I cheered at the end.  Better than that, I consider myself to be open minded and liberal, and all loving, but this novel made me acutely aware of the small prejudices that I might carry around, a flaw and a burden. Furthermore, it helped me release them into the wind. That is a solid novel. Four stars, two thumbs up....a MUST READ.