There’s a reason that The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a New York Times Bestseller. It’s GOOD.

It’s set in Seattle during World War II and 1986. The main character is a Chinese American boy named Henry (age 12 in 1942) who gets sent to an all white school as a scholarship student during the height of the anti-Japanese movement that led to internment camps. Not long after a Japanese American girl, Keiko, joins his class.

I’m not here to summarize the book, so I’ll dive into why I loved this book. First, it touches on issues that are relevant today. The WWII setting is full of racial tension. Henry describes his experiences in different parts of Seattle, from Chinatown, to the Japanese area named Nihonmachi, to the all white area of his school, to Jackson Street with its jazz clubs and colored people. Given the deep prejudices of Henry’s father, Henry’s response to the different areas is refreshing. He finds beauty and worth no matter where he is. He is one of a few characters from the war years that seems to realize that a person’s worth does not lie in the color of their skin or the shape of their eyes. Choosing to hate someone for something they have no control over is nonsensical, and Henry’s outrage and barrier breaking childhood are admirable.

A second point the book makes is that every person has a story, a history, that we simply cannot know just by looking at them. In the 1986 plot line, Henry’s son, Marty, finds himself questioning everything he ever thought about his father as he learns the truth of Henry’s childhood. He has no idea of the experiences and dangers his father experienced during the war. Like he says towards the end of the book, knowing someone’s story is “perception altering.” Our first impression is not always the right one, and if we give ourselves time to delve beyond the veneer everyone presents to society, we will develop deeper, more meaningful relationships with others.

Love and connection is another major theme in this book. How can it not be when the book is all about learning to look beyond stereotypes? It’s about the kind of love that inspires personal growth and encourages bravery in the face of hardship. Most of us don’t have to make big sacrifices to express our love. I think that’s what makes those sacrifices resonate in us when we see or hear about them. There are lots of sacrifices for love made in this book. Some are big. Some are small. Each is important. Love is the driving force of this book.

Personal growth is also a theme. Henry learns to see beyond the narrow confines of his father’s point of view. He learns the importance of choosing one’s path, of facing all the consequences of doing what he feels is right. In a world where taking the easy path is seen as okay, The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet stands as a sentinel for choosing to do what’s right in the face of seemingly insurmountable problems. We can all learn something from Henry.

If you haven’t read it, you should. The only *warning* I would give is that there is some racist language in the war years, but that’s to be expected since racism is a major theme.