I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is the story of a Chinese man, Henry Lee, who is an adolescent during WWII, and the young girl he fell in love with as a teen, Keiko Okabe.Keiko and her family are relocated to internment camps, but she is never far from Henry's mind -- despite his father's intense racism toward Japanese people.The years pass and Henry has married. His wife passes away and he goes to visit her grave regularly. One day, on the way home he sees the Panama Hotel being reopened and the belongings of internees taken out for the media to see (the architect is trying to find the owners). A paper parasol printed with koi brings back long-repressed memories of Keiko.The story is told in two time periods: 1942 and 1986. Some reviewers have complained that there are anachronisms; that there was no internet in 1986. Well, there was. It was not as common as we know it today, and was primarily available to DoD (where I worked) and schools (I remember the days of the bell cup modem, into which one plugged the telephone handset, very well). So, it is not at all unlikely that Marty (Henry's son) might be participating in an on-line support group ... it just would not look the same as it does now.However, that's a digression. The story is a remarkable one, well-researched and making use of real places and situations to tell a story of a difficult time in our country's history. Most assuredly worth reading.
