Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

September 27th, 2010

The Adventures in Book Club group met at Kim Norton's house. Kristen, Sheila, Kim, Emily, Jessica, and Jackie were present.  We had a fantastic time! Special thanks to Kim and her mother Mary for providing us with a traditional Thai meal. They served us dinner on dishes that Mary had brought home from Japan from when she taught there.  Our first course were homemade spring rolls followed by traditional Thai soup.  The main course consisted of rice, chicken and beans, and very yummy Thai pan noodles.  For dessert we enjoyed DELICIOUS Bananas foster.  During dinner members also enjoyed tea served in authentic Japanese teapots and cups and Sake plum wine.  We also did the traditional "pouring of tea" learned in the book where you do not pour your own tea.  I have included pictures of dinner below....

Discussion of the book occurred with the help of questions that Kristen had brought. Many of us were not aware of the camps that the Japanese were forced to leave their homes to live in after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  This brought up some interesting discussion about 9/11 and the changes in our country. Many of wondered if we hadn't learned from the experiences of of WWII would our country have done some similar to those from Middle Eastern decent. 

Many of us also spoke with some family members who were alive during the time period of the these camps and found out that those that even fought in the war thought this was horrible that they did this to Japanese-Americans.  The book was fiction but was based on real historical events.  Some of the places were real in the book, the Panama Hotel for example which was a major symbol in the book. They found the belongings of many Japanese-Americans in the Panama Hotel (right) that had been left when they were forced to go into camps across the country and could only take what they could carry. 

 This book was historically informative but also had a love story.  While discussing the book, most of us believed that Henry's wife Ethel did not know of Henry's father's interference with the letters that Henry had written to his first love, Keiko while she was in one of these camps.  Henry was Chinese and Keiko was Japanese.  Henry found a jazz record that had brought him and Keiko together as children at the Panama Hotel.  This record is based on a real jazz musician Oscar Holden (below)

The book was enjoyed by all and would be recommended to interested in a good story and history.

The next book chosen is Sarah's Key byTatiana de Rosnay. Adventures in Book Club will meet at Jessica Baker's house on Thursday October 28th, 2010. 



Oscar Holden