Published in 2009 by Ballantine Books
At first, I wasn't really feeling this book. But then about a quarter of the way through I got sucked in and couldn't put it down.
The story of a middle aged man in the mid-eighties who has just lost his wife to cancer and is recalling his first love. Growing up Chinese during the second world war and having a Japanese friend would be hard enough, but young Henry Lee falls in love and everything about his day to day life seems to change.
Follows the internment of the Japanese and the following war years, while simultaneously creating a story in the eighties about how Henry's life turned out and his relationship with his son.
Very sweet, not wonderful or life-changing but a nice read overall
Quotes:
"It was a sigh of resigned disappointment. A consolation prize, of coming in second and having nothing to show for it. Of coming up empty; having wasted your time, because in the end, what you do, and who you are, doesn't matter one lousy bit. Nothing does."
"Henry woke up feeling like a new man, even if he was only twelve"
Rating: **
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