First a disclaimer. This isn't actually a review. It's a gush. I cannot be objective about this book.

I was hooked before I ever even saw The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. He had me at "Dear Ms. Nelson."

The story is based on a fascinating historical incident: in 1986, when the new owners of the Panama Hotel in Seattle opened it for the first time in nearly half a century, they found the basement filled with the unclaimed belongings of Japanese-Americans who'd been interned in camps during World War II. It was an unintended time capsule.

Jamie Ford wisely chose to open his novel with this compelling scene, but he added a fictional twist: Henry, a Chinese American man, watches as the dusty belongings are brought into the open, and Henry believes he recognizes a bamboo parasol. It belonged to a Keiko, a Japanese-American girl he loved and lost as a boy teetering on the edge of adulthood.

Hotel is actually two stories: young Henry falling in love as the U.S. gears up for war against the very people who produced his young lady, and older Henry, grieving the loss of his wife, and wondering why Keiko never returned for her things and whether she even survived the war.

ever even saw The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. He had me at "Dear Ms. Nelson."

I became aware of this book in September 2007 when Ford's agent posted his query letter, and I knew I'd be reading it the day it was released. I watched as it edged closer to publication, and though the wait seemed interminable, eventually I held the book, cracked the pristine spine, and entered Henry's world.

I was almost afraid to start reading, knowing there was no way the book could live up to my expectations. And yet, it did. I inhaled the first half in one sitting. I laughed. I raged. I cried. I could not put it down. But as I neared the ending, I realized I was reading more and more slowly because I didn't want to be finished.

There is so much to love here. Henry is a noble character, caught between his father's Chinese nationalism and his American tolerance. Many minor characters, most notably the cook at his school and an African-American saxophone player, are equally noble and fully drawn. The historical elements are exactly right, but delivered in such an understated tone that the reader never glimpses the author's research behind the three-dimensional reality of the world in which she finds herself. And generational tension runs through the book like a rope pulled too taut, in danger of snapping: in the 1940s scenes, Henry barely speaks with his father who feels betrayed by his friendship with a Japanese girl, and in the 1980s scenes, Henry's son has little patience for his own steeped-in-Chinese-culture father. 

Hotel is not a perfect book. I was left with one big, unanswered question – though when I asked Jamie about it, his answer was exactly what I knew it would be, what it had to be. And if a character is so fully drawn that his choices are clear, they don't need to be stated. I also felt Henry acted too old for his age, both as a youth and as a man, but again, one can easily argue that young Henry is precocious and has to grow up fast, caught as he is between cultures at war. And the older Henry is prematurely aged by the decline and death of his beloved wife. So even the small criticisms I can make are weak and without power. The book really is that good.

As I read Hotel, I realized it is exactly the right book for a nation caught in a seemingly unending (and unpopular) war, and feeling sucked under by economic stress. It's positive and optimistic. The characters are noble and treat each other well, even when the personal cost is dear. And the setting is familiar – the United States at war – but different enough to still feel safe to venture into.

If you like poignant stories or noble stories, you'll love The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. If you like historical fiction, you'll love it. If you are interested in Chinese-American or Japanese-American cultures (or in culture clashes), you'll love it. Or if you are interested in WWII. Certainly if you've ever wondered about the Japanese internment camps. Or the history of jazz.

You'll love it if you've ever felt like an outsider, or if you've ever wondered about the sweet possibilities you didn't follow up as a youth. This is a universal story, a human story about a very human man who somehow embodies a spark of the divine.

You'll be hearing a lot about Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. According to the author's website, it's already targeted for a second printing – so buy that first edition first printing copy while you can get it. 

It's going to win awards. It's going to be a bestseller. And everyone you know is going to be talking about it.

It may not be a perfect book (what book is?), but it IS the perfect book for 2009.