Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I just finished this book and absolutely loved it! I am fascinated by that time period in history anyway, but this book really brought out the simple dignity of the Japanese people during WWII in the US while the internment camps were being filled. There was such a fear of the unknown, and it is so sad to think of these hardworking citizens being judged by who their ancestors were. The racism was heightened by the negative feeling between many of the Chinese and Japanese immigrants. That being said, there is the "sweet" to the "bitter" and that is the way that children can see through the color of our skin, shape of our eyes and weight of our ancestry to what is truly important. Dignity, honesty, music, love and laughter. I almost never read books more than once, but this is one that I will read many times over. The joy outweighed the sorrow in it. The characters had many layers, so that you were able to understand the "why" of certain behaviors even if you don't agree with them. This would make a wonderful book group book. If anyone reads it, let me know what you think!