<p>Mary great discussion about Sheldon’s character and role in the story. I thought it was key that he was minority himself, sensitive to many issues Henry had to juggle. I found it very unbelievable that he would be the adult to accompany Henry to the interment camps. The relationship never quite hit a realistic place for me. </p>
<p>Did anyone else think it might have been interesting had Henry lived in China for a short while ? I think it would have been an interesting journey.</p>
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<p>Yes, can you imagine your 13 year old walking out the door and saying to you, “I’m going to the bus station, I’ll be back in a few days. Don’t wait up for me.” (p. 213)? 
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<p>The only thing that makes it believable is that by that point in the story, Henry didn’t exist for his father, so there would have been no resistance there. And as ignatius pointed out, his mother had less standing in the household than even Henry, and would thus be too timid and too traditional to stand in his way.</p>
<p>As far as Sheldon being his chaperone, I think that in the real world, the two of them would have had a very unpleasant journey. A black man and an Asian boy traveling together in 1942 would likely have met with some horrible prejudice. Instead, they end up at an incredibly accepting Walla Walla, Washington, where one inhabitant invites them into the hotel to “grab a cup of something warm,” and says, “Welcome to Walla Walla, and I hope you come back and see us again.” </p>
<p>If Walla Walla and the Adventist Church really behaved that way in the 1940s, then kudos to them, but it struck me as a bit anachronistic.</p>
<p>Question #8 from the Reader’s Guide has me thinking about jazz music’s role in the story:</p>
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<p>I’m no connoisseur of jazz music, but the most basic info online tells me that:</p>
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<p>This description seems perfect for Henry and Keiko. Both characters are uniquely American, born in the U.S., but they are also “hybrids,” struggling to fuse their heritage with the influences of their new surroundings. Like jazz music, their search for identity involves some improvisation (to wear or not to wear the “I am Chinese” button) and some “shifting time” (as they try to reconcile old world traditions with modern life). </p>
<p>And more, from another website:</p>
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<p>I thought of this passage in the book:</p>
<p>“Henry did his best to communicate without words. To give his son that smile, that knowing look of approval. He was certain Marty picked up every phrase of their wordless communication. After a lifetime of nods, frowns, and stoic smiles, they were both fluent in emotional shorthand.” (p. 84)</p>
<p>Henry and Marty use instrumental music, not vocal music—they sing their melody without words.</p>
<p>Mary, well done! Nice analysis and comparison to interpersonal relationships as a Jazz melody. </p>
<p>I searched a little about the history of Jazz and Seattle. I like Jazz, have watched a few PBS specials and docus about people like Chet Baker. </p>
<p>This article is very interesting about Jazz in Seattle, and how important it was to the emerging Jazz scene in America, how it created an underground economy and culture in Seattle. </p>
<p>This description of the book about history of Seattle Jazz, almost reads as a description of Corner of Bitter and Sweet …</p>
<p>"This book is an attempt to restore that legacy. For, in the face of these obstacles – being forced underground, harassed by the authorities, ignored by the press – Seattle jazz musicians have fared remarkably well. It is good for Seattleites to know that behind the bland veil of the official story there is also this rich and expressive history. This book is a tribute – in many cases a memorial – to the musicians who lived that history, the “locals” who have kept the jazz fire alive in the Northwest for eight decades. "</p>
<p>[Seattle</a> Music Office: Jazz History](<a href=“http://www.seattle.gov/music/jazz.htm]Seattle”>http://www.seattle.gov/music/jazz.htm)</p>
<p>Another section from that link
“There is another, related and perhaps even more compelling, reason for chronicling this local history, and that is to honor the people who make the music. If, living in the West, one feels from time to time a sense of having been written out of history, it is as nothing compared with the invisibility that African Americans have experienced in general. Anyone who has done research of this kind is well acquainted with the scarcity of public documentation about black people, but I was frankly unprepared for the sweeping neglect I encountered.”</p>
<p>SJCM and Mary13: Thanks for the links. I enjoy the depth links such as these add to the book and to my overall knowledge about such a variety of things.</p>
<p>Returning briefly to the previous posts regarding Henry and Sheldon:</p>
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<p>I agree. I blame that same pesky “Henry (and Keiko) should be older” feeling that we all noted earlier. If Henry had been just two or three years older - say age 15 or 16 - then I could more easily see him hopping a bus for the weekend to find Keiko. Seventeen-year-olds enlisted and fought in WWII, and some younger boys lied about their age in order to enlist. A 12-year-old leaving with Sheldon seems sketchy somehow - and 16 years of age more in the realm of possible.</p>
<p>I’m late to the discussion because I just finished the book (my first for this club 
). I subscribed to the thread before June 1, and it’s been terribly hard not to read it until now! I’m not much on doing literary analysis, but have thoroughly enjoyed reading yours. My random thoughts:</p>
<p>As a former Seattleite, reading the book made me homesick!</p>
<p>I don’t generally like books that skip back and forth in time; I find it jarring to get caught up in one era and then be plunked into another. But it worked for me here; the transitions were gentle, and illuminating.</p>
<p>Regarding the pre-teen Henry and Keiko, I agree that their dialog was a bit mature at times. But as far as their actions, Henry’s father left home at 13 and it seems reasonable that Henry regarded that as the age of adulthood. So I don’t find it startling that he was prepared to make a commitment to Keiko as he approached, and then reached, his 13th birthday. And Keiko’s parents welcomed Henry’s courtship of their daughter, although I don’t know if this was typical of the Japanese/Japanese-American culture at the time.</p>
<p>Henry’s tree is an ume tree, his father’s favorite, taken from a cutting in Kobe Park. “Grafted the night his son was born, from a Chinese tree in a Japanese Park.” Was Henry trying to reconcile his Chinese family/culture to his great love? And to pass the reconciliation down to Marty?</p>
<p>LasMa, welcome so good to have you join in, and I would love for all the others who have read the book to participate in these “book chats”. Many CCers post they are excited about the selection, so I know they are out. </p>
<p>Good point that Henry’s father left home at 13, a time when childhood wasn’t as precious as it is now. More was expected of children earlier and Henry is repeating this pattern. And, Keiko’s parents welcomed the courtship! </p>
<p>Interesting point about the Ume tree, symbolic of the union of the Asian cultures
.[Japanese</a> Plum (ume) Blossoms](<a href=“http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2013.html]Japanese”>Japanese Plum (ume) Blossoms)</p>
<p>As a Seattlelite, you bring a unique perspective. (note in the early 1980’s on a visit to Seattle, I remember having an authentic Japanese breakfast, sort of a bento box breakfast, which at the time was very exotic. Even sushi was not a popular food for American at that time so this was an adventure. I recall visiting the King Tut exhibit which was touring the US for the very first time and a big deal) Seattle is a great city-especially the seafood area filmed in Sleepless in Seattle —oh the crabs. </p>
<p>So Las Ma, did you learn about the relocation/ internment program in school ? Were you aware of the importance of Seattle and history of Jazz in US?
What else struck you about the book’s depiction of Seattle? </p>
<p>Let me welcome your participation, again :)</p>
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<p>I think you’re right on target. And it’s sort of…well, the only word to use is bittersweet …that the relationship between Henry and his father eroded so much from the promise of that loving gesture on the night Henry was born. </p>
<p>The significance of the Ume tree, per Wikipedia: </p>
<p>“The Chinese see its blossoms as both as a symbol of winter and a harbinger of spring. The blossoms are so beloved because they bloom most vibrantly amidst the winter snow, after most other plants have shed their leaves, and before other flowers appear. They are seen as an example of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity.” </p>
<p>[Prunus</a> mume - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_mume]Prunus”>Prunus mume - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>That symbolism fits in nicely with the trials of Keiko and Henry, and their struggles to survive the traumas of both war and family dynamics.</p>
<p>We can’t imagine a 13 year old traveling but I bet it did happen in the 40’s. My dad was always telling about how he traveled here and there as a teen ( and even as a child) and my fil traveled by himself at 15 from Michigan to Alabama to see his brother. Different times.</p>
<p>^ Onward, that’s true. Childhoods were shorter then, especially during the World Wars.</p>
<p>My 89 year old mother said to me the other day (after I sent a “checking up on you” text to my daughter), “You know, your dad and I never really had any idea where any of you were or what you were doing.” My sibs and I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and in the summer time, we went outside to play in the morning, and my mom rang a cowbell on the back porch to call us home at dusk. I wasn’t sneaking into jazz clubs or carrying on a clandestine romance, but I could have been and she would have been none the wiser. :)</p>
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<p>I also thought the transitions were well done (and again, reminded me of Water for Elephants). The author usually employed some sort of subtle segue. </p>
<p>For example, the last sentence of the chapter “The Basement (1986)” is:</p>
<p>“Henry hesitated, then pressed his nose to the page, inhaling. He thought he had imagined the smell at first, then he inhaled again. He was right the first time—the pages smelled like smoke.”</p>
<p>Turn the page and the next chapter, “Executive Orders (1942),” begins:</p>
<p>“Henry woke the next morning to the delightful smell of siu beng, basked sesame buns—a breakfast favorite of his father’s a real treat since sugar coupons were in short supply.”</p>
<p>Nice. The reader is carried from the description of one pungent smell to another, with a sentence that leaves no doubt as to the era we have just entered.</p>
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<p>I like the CC Book Club for many reasons, but you mention one of my favorite: you can add to the discussion whenever. I finished Cutting for Stone well after the discussion started and added my thoughts at that time. (And for what it’s worth, I can’t claim literary analysis as a strength. 
)</p>
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<p>Great example.</p>
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<p>True. My mother finished high school at age 13 and went on to college. Young, yes, but not as noticeably so back then as such an achievement would be now. On the flip side, my father-in-law quit school after fourth grade to work on the farm. Different times.</p>
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<p>Mary, Henry planted that ume tree, not his father.</p>
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<p>The fact that Henry plants the tree stuck with me because I felt sad for Ethel. The night of Marty’s birth, Henry thinks of Keiko and, in a way, includes her in Marty’s life. </p>
<p>The ume tree may have been a favorite of Henry’s dad, but I doubt Mr. Lee even had a tree. The family lived in an apartment building - not even on the first floor. Plus Mr. Lee dies before Henry and Ethel marry, much less have a home. Ethel lies to Marty about the roots of that tree. Still it’s a good story to tell a young boy - and more palatable than the truth: Henry still thinks of Keiko. </p>
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<p>Count me in as one of those who felt the book lost something by having Henry and Keiko reunite in the end. I think that was a forced, Cinderella moment, and that it would have been more natural and more emotionally effective for the book to end with Henry having just accepted his life with Ethel. The broken record would have been a perfect metaphor - of having the physical thing unable to be fixed, but rather the memories being what are truly the important thing.</p>
<p>Speaking of Ethel - I felt she was a character not developed enough. I think Ford probably painted her as too positive. She was too perfect, and the ending of the novel in a way kind of jilted her. What if we got to see another side of Ethel? Perhaps, then we as readers could have been more satisfied in knowing that Henry truly was meant to be with Keiko in the end.</p>
<p>But otherwise - I thought this was a solid book, one I enjoyed greater than Water for Elephants or Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. Like the former two - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet offered easily accessible prose but was able to, IMHO, strike a deeper emotional nerve even though the other two also attempted to tackle deeper themes beyond its surface simplicity.</p>
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<p>Thanks for the correction. I remembered the line about “the tree came from a branch of your father’s tree” and was thinking that Mr. Lee had originally planted it, forgetting that that was Ethel’s fairy tale.</p>
<p>I have a very nit-picky question:</p>
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</p>
<p>Am I just overtired or does that sentence from Henry sound like English as a Second Language? I thought that the first time I read it, and then again when ignatius posted it above. But Henry is a native English speaker so that wouldn’t make any sense.</p>
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<p>I agree that the happy ending was a bit too pat. I do think that Keiko had to reappear at some point—the reader definitely had that expectation—but maybe her letter to Henry would have been enough.</p>
<p>Do you think Jamie Ford sacrificed some realism for marketing purposes? I don’t mean to suggest he’s a sell-out, but perhaps he had a particular niche audience in mind when he was writing, and he wanted to please them by reuniting Henry and Keiko.</p>
<p>It would have been interesting to have parallel chapters of Keiko’s life in 1942 and 1986, in order to see her journey. But that would have been a much longer book!</p>
<p>The older Keiko didn’t fit with my image of her as a child. At 12, she was precocious, subversive, and very wise and intuitive. So I felt a little cheated when virtually the only bit of dialogue we hear from her at the end is, “Can I get you something, some ice tea?” (p. 284)</p>
<p>^ In fact, if I had my druthers, I would edit that awkward final chapter in the apartment. I would keep everything up to and including Henry’s arrival outside the door and the line “Then he knocked.” (p. 283)</p>
<p>And then I’d cut straight to the final sentences. Keiko would open the door after the knock and, with the two of them on either side of the threshold, we’d read:</p>
<p>“They stood there, smiling at each other, like they had done all those years ago, standing on either side of that fence.
‘Oai deki te…’ She paused.
‘Ureshii desu,’ Henry said, softly." (p. 285)</p>
<p>The End. That would leave everything about Keiko to the imagination, which is preferable to the stilted description of how she looked and what belongings she had in her apartment. Unfortunately, Ballantine Books forgot to hire me as an editor. :D</p>
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<p>I agree that Ethel was two-dimensional, although Henry’s relationship to her illness was well-developed; the cancer was almost another character. My take is that this was intentional. This was the story of Henry and Keiko, and Ethel was in a sense a 30-year intruder on Henry’s enduring love. He was a good husband to Ethel, and I know how much he loved her by how much he misses her. But after she was gone, I could root for Henry in his pursuit of Keiko (through his pursuit of her possessions and history), precisely because I didn’t know Ethel very well. He was free to follow his heart at last.</p>
<p>SJCM, I was in Seattle for 15 years, beginning as a freshman at UW, so I didn’t go through the public schools there and don’t know how the Japanese internment is/was taught there. UW was my first exposure to Asians in large numbers, but to me, they were students and peers, and of course thoroughly Americanized. We were busy studying and partying, and the whole subject never came up; due to cluelessness on my side, and on their side, I don’t know – perhaps it was something they preferred not to talk about. But at my first job, one of my fellow entry-levels was the son of parents who had been at one of the camps. We talked about it only once, and he was clearly uncomfortable. I remember being shocked that such a thing could happen here. Apparently I didn’t learn about it in HS.</p>
<p>I’m ashamed to admit that I had no idea about the jazz scene in Seattle, although it doesn’t surprise me. There is something in the Seattle air that fosters creativity of the revolutionary sort, from music (Jimi Hendrix and Curt Cobain were both sons of Seattle), to performing arts (Frances Farmer), to commerce (Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks). </p>
<p>The book is mostly set in a part of the city that was outside of my normal stomping grounds, although of course I recognized street names and landmarks. I was in the Pioneer Square area on a regular basis, and have been to the Puyallup Fairgrounds (having NO idea about its wartime history!). But the cemetery where Ethel is buried is on Capitol Hill, where I lived for 7 or 8 years, and Ford’s descriptions of that area, and of Lakeview cemetery itself, are quite accurate. I savored Henry’s visit there; it is a beautiful place. I also liked that Marty goes to Seattle U, rather than the more obvious UDub. SU is my other alma mater, and I’ve even been inside Marty’s dorm, Bellarmine Hall. </p>
<p>I had my first sushi around 1984; a friend dragged me to try this “new” food at a restaurant on Capitol Hill, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I also saw the Tut exhibit when it was there, and the China exhibit a few years later – fabulous. And the crab …</p>
<p>As a latecomer to this group, I just want to thank whomever for starting it! I am between book groups (although we’re aiming to put another one together for September) and always at a loss for what books to read. I was killing time one evening and walked into the bookstore and saw this book and remembered it from CC Parents Forum, I really enjoyed it and am very much enjoying the comments. So, thanks to you all!!!</p>
<p>amtc, welcome! Please jump in and share your comments—the more the merrier! </p>
<p>If you are looking for good books to read, check out our previous discussions. I think everyone who has participated has a different favorite:</p>
<p>2009:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/722812-cc-june-summer-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/722812-cc-june-summer-book-club-selection.html</a> (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/739173-dreamers-day-july-cc-summer-book-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/739173-dreamers-day-july-cc-summer-book-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/756770-sarah-s-key-august-cc-summer-book-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/756770-sarah-s-key-august-cc-summer-book-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/775489-american-wife-october-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/775489-american-wife-october-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/802971-thirteenth-tale-december-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/802971-thirteenth-tale-december-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p>2010:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/839908-help-february-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/839908-help-february-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/874004-shadow-wind-april-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/874004-shadow-wind-april-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/921062-elegance-hedgehog-june-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/921062-elegance-hedgehog-june-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/950434-let-great-world-spin-august-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/950434-let-great-world-spin-august-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/983235-cutting-stone-october-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/983235-cutting-stone-october-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1017662-moonstone-december-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1017662-moonstone-december-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p>2011:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1051496-major-pettigrew-s-last-stand-february-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1051496-major-pettigrew-s-last-stand-february-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1088114-water-elephants-april-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1088114-water-elephants-april-cc-book-club-selection.html</a> </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1128229-hotel-corner-bitter-sweet-june-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1128229-hotel-corner-bitter-sweet-june-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>