By: Jamie Ford
Genre: Fiction
Stars: 4 out of 5
A tale of forbidden friendship, this novel shows the Japanese relocation project during World War II from the eyes of a twelve year old Chinese boy. Forced into a white school he meets the only other Asian – a Japanese girl. Henry and Keiko form a friendship that Henry’s traditional Chinese father does not approve of in the slightest. Jamie Ford offers real events and locations in Seattle during the 1940s and the prejudice that the Japanese had to endure.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel that Ford produced. With his accuracy within the Seattle community at the time and present day – since the book goes back and forth from present day to WWII – the novel is truly authentic and readable. This novel shows that despite what circumstances a person might endure a friendship can survive. I especially loved how Ford invoked a desire in me to actually go visit the Panama Hotel here in the International District of Seattle where an essential part of the novel takes place. And I was not disappointed with the tea room and the display of suitcases, books and toys not yet claimed by the Japanese families who left them in the hotel for safe keeping. If you want a Chinese-Japanese take on the classic story of Romeo and Juliet than you should pick this up.
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