HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET

Thanks to Feodor Chin's flexible voice and agile tones, what could be an overly sentimental look at a dark period in American history becomes a tender reminiscence. Twelve-year-old Henry Lee, a Chinese-American boy, feels an immediate, if taboo, connection to Keiko, a Japanese-American girl. During WWII Japanese-Americans were persecuted, placed in internment camps, and separated from loved ones. When Keiko is interned in Idaho, Henry promises to wait for her. Forty years later Henry stumbles upon relics from the past, rediscovering Keiko through memory and flashback. Occasionally clunky writing is softened by Chin's character portrayals and narration. Henry's difficult relationship with his father, his changing feelings for Keiko, the turmoil of adolescence, the sting of prejudice—all are precisely drawn by Chin's sensitive performance. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2009]