Amy B. (BaileysBooks) reviewed Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Large Print) on + 491 more book reviews
My excuse for reading this book: My book club made me do it.
First, this book is full of really annoying errors. The most glaring goof occurs at the very beginning. Who in 1986 had access to an online grief counseling chat group? From that point on, it was just more difficult for me to take this book very seriously.
For me, the only highlight of this book was the fact that it made me more aware of the atrocities that were faced by Japanese-Americans through their forced internment during WWII. I read this book shortly after reading Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand. It was an incredibly interesting contrast to see how horribly the American POWs were treated at the hands of the Japanese, and how horribly these Japanese-American citizens were treated by their own country.
Other than that, the rest of the story was more fluff and sap than I prefer. It was entertaining enough to see through to the end, and the characters were not entirely forgettable. But I did not like how the ending was written, as it felt totally contrived and was highly unrealistic.
Other than walking away from this book with a decent pseudo-history lesson on the Japanese internment, I found myself mostly unimpressed. I find it easiest to sum up this story in just one word: Meh.
First, this book is full of really annoying errors. The most glaring goof occurs at the very beginning. Who in 1986 had access to an online grief counseling chat group? From that point on, it was just more difficult for me to take this book very seriously.
For me, the only highlight of this book was the fact that it made me more aware of the atrocities that were faced by Japanese-Americans through their forced internment during WWII. I read this book shortly after reading Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand. It was an incredibly interesting contrast to see how horribly the American POWs were treated at the hands of the Japanese, and how horribly these Japanese-American citizens were treated by their own country.
Other than that, the rest of the story was more fluff and sap than I prefer. It was entertaining enough to see through to the end, and the characters were not entirely forgettable. But I did not like how the ending was written, as it felt totally contrived and was highly unrealistic.
Other than walking away from this book with a decent pseudo-history lesson on the Japanese internment, I found myself mostly unimpressed. I find it easiest to sum up this story in just one word: Meh.
