What readers think of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, plus links to write your own review.

This is truly a gem of a book.

The relationship between a father and son of Chinese descent is only surpassed by the relationship of the young Chinese boy and a young Japanese girl in 1942 Seattle at the time of the Japanese internment camps. Historically it casts an eye on a shameful period of this countries past that is not ofter depicted in our fiction.

The book alternates between 1942 and 1986 where we meet the mature Chinese man and his son as they work to solidify their relationship.

While sounding simplistic, the book is filled with many other well developed characters which round out the book and provides many levels of plotline without being contrived or confusing

This is definitely a page turner that is hard to put down. It has enough meat to stimulate interesting conversation. As an avid reader I highly recommend this book.

This tender story between Henry, a Chinese-American and Keiko, a Japanese-American, who fall in love in Seattle during WWII and are then separated by the internment camps, is an engaging read. The book is written in alternating time from Henry's point of view as a 13 yr-old, and that of a man in his 50's in the mid-1980's who has recently lost his wife. Notably, when as here, a novel is set within two time periods, one part of the narrative often suffers by comparison. That is not so in this case, as each portion of the tale is equally strong, vivid in description, and believable in the way the characters act. Throughout the book, the tragic circumstances of what was done to the Japanese in the Pacific Northwest during the war is pointedly conveyed without overwhelming the underlying love story.
One of the strongest aspects of the novel is the author's depiction of his characters. You can feel the fierce national pride of Henry's father that motivates his hatred of the Japanese who are at war with China and causes him to treat Henry in a way that may seem inexplicably cruel to a modern reader's sensibilities. In the same vein, the reader feels the struggle of Henry's mother to support her son within the strictures of her old world relationship with her husband and the accompanying fear for her family should they viewed as supporting the Japanese in America.
In sum, I would recommend this book for the redemptive nature of the story and the vivid portrayal of the devastating effects of a period of American history not often discussed.

I wanted to like this book, since the premise of it sounded interesting to me. Unfortunately, it was mostly fluff, with lots of unbelievable plot points, ridiculous coincidences, and characters who didn't feel real. Disappointing.

Obviously written for early teens. Simple minded and unengaging. Clumsy and amateurish.

While I felt this was a well written and researched book but it was definitely flat. For me it never hit the depth that I believe the author was looking for.

I fell this is a timely subject and will be looking for something with a little more depth. Great first novel.

We had to read this book for our school. It was horrible, the most boring book I have ever read. The plot is literally this:
1. keiko gets sent to a concentration camp
2. henry finds her
3. repeat about four times
the only difference between the different times is that one time henry kisses her
this book was so boring that we literally buried it to be dug up in 5 years with a note telling the kids that if a book this bad is ever discovered, stop reading it!

I had to read this book for class and I got so tired. This story moves terribly slow. I could barely finish it because I would lose interest. The book was dull and lifeless. I would NEVER EVER recommend this story to ANYONE, even if i despised that person I would not want to wish that kind of torture onto anyone. This was the worst book I have ever had the misfortune to read. I hated every word. This story should be burned!!!!!!!!