Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (2009)

This is a potential "gift to friends" type of book, a lovely bitter and sweet story alternating between war time (1942-45) and 1986 Seattle. (I understand the need for using this year for the plot, but the Internet was not widely available at that time, but I guess that is literary license.)

Henry is a Chinese-American boy who befriends Keiko, a Japanese-American girl when they are the only non-whites in a private school. Henry's father hates the Japanese, because they have invaded his homeland. Henry and Keiko feel more American than Chinese or Japanese, but during the war, the US government saw all people of Japanese descent as potential spies, so they were moved out of their homes into internment camps. I knew about this, but never could visualize the hatred people had towards the Japanese. This well researched novel shows this in a wonderful way, through the eyes of a Chinese boy. We see three generations - Henry's father, Henry's own experience, and his son Marty. Each Chinese in his own way.

I loved the descriptions of the jazz scene in Seattle during the war. I like the way a jazz record is woven in throughout the book, though that particular recording is fictional. The friendship between Henry and the jazz musician was very touching.

The hotel in the title is an old boarded up hotel that gets bought by someone in 1986 and they find piles of Japanese family belongings from the wartime in the basement, which gets Henry thinking of his old friend. Since his wife has died, he is looking for some new meaning in his life.