I recently read two books on the Japanese internment in the U.S. during WW II. The first was a fictionalized account set in Seattle called On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The protagonist was a Chinese boy who befriends a Japanese girl that eventually gets sent to an internment camp with her family. The second book, Farewell to Manzanar, is a memoir that reads like a novel about 7 year old Jeanne Wakatsuki who was sent with her parents and 9 siblings to Manzanar, an internment camp in California.
Farewell to Manzanar
This was by far the better book in my opinion. It’s 1942 and Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese in December 1941. The United States enters WW II. They are now fighting the Germans and the Japanese. After the U.S. entered the war, many Japanese immigrants on the West Coast (and their American-born children) were rounded up and sent to internment camps. Jeanne Wakatsuki was aged 7 and an American citizen living in California. Jeanne and her family were sent to Manzanar which was one of the first Japanese internment camps that opened. They stayed there around 3 and a half years.
This book contains the true life remembrances of Jeanne Wakatsuki of her over 3 years in Manzanar. It does such a good job of bringing her experience to life. She talks of her family life before the internment and the way her family adapted to their internment. There are definitely parts that made me sad, but overall I thought it was a story of how she overcame this trauma. I can’t recommend this book enough.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Henry is the twelve year old son of Chinese immigrants. They live in Seattle. Unlike many of his peers that attend Chinese schools, Henry attends a local prep school that is predominantly white. He helps in the school’s kitchen during lunch, and the story opens with a new Asian student attending Henry’s school named Keiko. Keiko is of Japanese descent and the two become fast friends. Then the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and everything changes. Some time after this event, Keiko and her parents are rounded up and sent to an internment camp.
The book is primarily set in Seattle. It was interesting to learn the history of Japanese immigrants in Seattle as well as the complex relations between the Japanese and Chinese that lived there. Like Farewell To Manzanar, it was also sad to know what was taken from the Japanese because of their internment. The one part of the book that I found a little off-putting was the romance between the two twelve year olds, Keiko and Henry. At times, it seemed way over the top especially given their age. Overall, however, I can definitely recommend the book.
