Read July 2022 - Zoom Reading Circle
This was a book for my Zoom Reading Circle group. I'm so glad we chose this to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a slow moving book - truly one that is about the journey - but I sailed right along with it cherishing each bit.
It is one of those books that goes back and forth in time from the 1940's World War 2 years to the mid-1980's. I love that type of book so that never puts me off. The story is told from the eyes of Henry Lee, a chinese man who lives in Seattle - in the same general neighborhood where he grew up. Henry is a gentle quiet man who seems unassuming and always does the right thing. As the story goes on and we see more of his childhood experiences, we discover that he has a true strength of character and has since he was a young boy. We learn about his first love, a Japanese girl named Keiko Okabe who, along with her family, was sent to a Japanese internment campe in Idaho during the war. This book does a good job of illuminating that period in our nations dark history. I was aware of this because my own Mama grew up in Powell, WY where the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp was located and she remembers well the Japanese men who would be allowed out in the community by day to work for area farmers - including her own father.
The author stated in an interview that he did not set out to write a morality book explicitly stating what is right and what is wrong. He felt he could simply tell the story with the facts and allow the reader to discern. I think that is a powerful way to get the story, and all its pain and sorrow, through to people. It is also true that in any bitter, there is always some sweet. This is a Chinese confucian saying, apparently, but I have always found that to be true in my own life. This book touched my heart. I felt the joys and the sorrows of the characters and also felt that it was so true to life. Things aren't always wrapped up neatly - but there can always be hope. I feel Jamie Ford left us with a great deal of hope at the end of this book.
I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars. Zoom Reading Circle rated it 4.2.
Below are some things I shared with the Zoom Reading Circle group...
I'll share this video link here because it is too long to play for the group tomorrow. But some of you might be interested in it - I was! It is about Oscar Holden and the jazz scene in Seattle in the 1940's. I didn't realize, until I went looking for videos, that Oscar Holden was a real person and not just a great character in The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. https://youtu.be/ISj4ObElhG0
And one more link to an NPR interview with author Jamie Ford. While the story itself is not 'true' it is certainly based on true events and has some elements of the author's family life woven into it. So interesting.
Another link...
And just one more
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