Reviewed by Mark Schreiber "Bitter and Sweet" is not just the intersection of two streets in Seattle, but a fair description of the story behind the title. It is 1986, and Henry Lee, a retired draftsman born in the United States to Chinese parents, happens to be passing by the old Panama Hotel, condemned for demolition, when he learns of the discovery of a cache of unclaimed possessions in its basement, apparently left behind when the city's Japanese- American population was "relocated" to internment camps in 1942.
Gaining access by claiming to be of Japanese ancestry, Lee begins to sift through the dusty artifacts, and the narrative undergoes a Proustian flashback to 1942, when 12-year-old Henry is obliged to wear a badge that reads "I am Chinese," to distinguish himself from the hated "enemy."
At Rainier Elementary school, such pins are not necessarily effective; the only two Asian students, Henry and his Japanese-American classmate Keiko Okabe, are frequently harassed by white bullies and cling to one another for emotional support.