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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
A great, nuanced story about culture, identity, language, connection, family…
NECESITO UNA SEGUNDA PARTE.
Me ha gustado mucho la historia pero, sobre todo, cómo la ha contado. Es una historia realista de lo que es estar viviendo en un país donde no dominas el idioma. Me ha parecido muy interesante que estuviera escrito en romani y en los idiomas asiáticos que se usan (debe de ser complicado de traducir y maquetar). Adoro a las tres protagonistas, pero me da rabia que termine tan de repente y con las tramas tan abiertas (aunque comprendo que es como un vistazo a la vida de tres extranjeras en Japón y qué viven en un corto periodo de tiempo).
No es exactamente lo mismo, pero he vivido en dos países donde no se hablaba español y me he sentido identificada con la impotencia de no poder expresarte todo lo que quieres y de la forma que quieres y tener que tirar de un léxico sencillo y una gramática básica para sobrevivir.
Me ha hecho reflexionar sobre las personas bilingües que se sienten extrañas en las dos culturas en las que viven. Muy interesante y esclarecedor. También es curioso ver cómo los asiáticos tienen otra forma de ver la vida y de vivirla, tan distinta a la occidental (aunque tras ver tantos animes y algún que otro dorama ya te deja ver esos shocks culturales).
Ojalá con el tiempo saque una segunda parte, porque yo quiero, NECESITO saber más de estas tres.
Me ha gustado mucho la historia pero, sobre todo, cómo la ha contado. Es una historia realista de lo que es estar viviendo en un país donde no dominas el idioma. Me ha parecido muy interesante que estuviera escrito en romani y en los idiomas asiáticos que se usan (debe de ser complicado de traducir y maquetar). Adoro a las tres protagonistas, pero me da rabia que termine tan de repente y con las tramas tan abiertas (aunque comprendo que es como un vistazo a la vida de tres extranjeras en Japón y qué viven en un corto periodo de tiempo).
No es exactamente lo mismo, pero he vivido en dos países donde no se hablaba español y me he sentido identificada con la impotencia de no poder expresarte todo lo que quieres y de la forma que quieres y tener que tirar de un léxico sencillo y una gramática básica para sobrevivir.
Me ha hecho reflexionar sobre las personas bilingües que se sienten extrañas en las dos culturas en las que viven. Muy interesante y esclarecedor. También es curioso ver cómo los asiáticos tienen otra forma de ver la vida y de vivirla, tan distinta a la occidental (aunque tras ver tantos animes y algún que otro dorama ya te deja ver esos shocks culturales).
Ojalá con el tiempo saque una segunda parte, porque yo quiero, NECESITO saber más de estas tres.
Bukunya heartwarming dan ringan untuk dibaca dalam sekali duduk. Suka banget sama persahabatan mereka bertiga
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Himawari House is a graphic novel that details a year in the lives of three exchange students living in Japan
Things You'll Find:
*Extremely small print*
*Lots of cooking*
*Themes of struggle and acceptance of identity*
Nao, Hyejung, and Tina are living in Himawari House in Japan for different reasons. Hyejung and Tina are both in school, but Nao has taken a gap-year break in an attempt to reconnect with her heritage.
I thought the way this book was written was pretty cool. Becker includes Japanese and English in her speech bubbles to convey both languages and how sometimes Nao, Hyejung, and Tina can struggle to understand what's being said in conversation. It added an interesting touch to the theme of them trying to assimilate into Japanese culture.
Unfortunately, this is truly a book that relies heavily on the reader being able to relate to either Nao, Hyejung, or Tina, because almost nothing exciting, plotwise, happens in this very long novel. The text also ended up being like a double-edged sword for me; because it was so small, the speech bubbles were very crowded and hard to read. Sometimes, it was difficult to discern who was speaking because they were packed in so tightly on the page.
Overall, I feel like this book probably should've been a series. As it is, it was just too crowded and too long to hold my attention without major plot advancement.
Things You'll Find:
*Extremely small print*
*Lots of cooking*
*Themes of struggle and acceptance of identity*
Nao, Hyejung, and Tina are living in Himawari House in Japan for different reasons. Hyejung and Tina are both in school, but Nao has taken a gap-year break in an attempt to reconnect with her heritage.
I thought the way this book was written was pretty cool. Becker includes Japanese and English in her speech bubbles to convey both languages and how sometimes Nao, Hyejung, and Tina can struggle to understand what's being said in conversation. It added an interesting touch to the theme of them trying to assimilate into Japanese culture.
Unfortunately, this is truly a book that relies heavily on the reader being able to relate to either Nao, Hyejung, or Tina, because almost nothing exciting, plotwise, happens in this very long novel. The text also ended up being like a double-edged sword for me; because it was so small, the speech bubbles were very crowded and hard to read. Sometimes, it was difficult to discern who was speaking because they were packed in so tightly on the page.
Overall, I feel like this book probably should've been a series. As it is, it was just too crowded and too long to hold my attention without major plot advancement.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What makes something real? Is it only real if you can touch it? Is it only real if someone agrees that it is? Is it only real if it lasts forever?
⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖
˚୨୧⋆｡tropes
↳found family
˚୨୧⋆｡plot
Nao returns to Tokyo for a year to reconnect with the heritage she left behind when she moved to the States. There she meets Hyunjung and Tina. They all live together in Himawari house with two boys. The girls form connections, reminisce the past, and hold each other up through bad times.
˚୨୧⋆｡characters
The characters felt alive and were really in depth, they each had their own backstory and something they struggled with throughout the story, the main obstacle being not being able to understand/speak Japanese clearly.
˚୨୧⋆｡thoughts
I really enjoyed this story, though my eyeballs started sweating towards the end. I really connected with these characters, mainly Nao, alot and the ending felt like just what this book needed. Though I'm still requesting a sequel where they all meet again and live happily ever after
⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪pre read
reading this in honor of asian american and pacific islander heritage month!
A beautiful slice-of-life, coming-of-age tale, a story about community and the struggles of fitting into a new culture while learning the language, Harmony Becker’s Himawari House is a moving feat of visual storytelling. Becker, who previously worked with [a:George Takei|260482|George Takei|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] for the artwork in [b:They Called Us Enemy|42527866|They Called Us Enemy|George Takei|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541125895l/42527866._SX50_.jpg|66245778], has a real gift for bringing her wonderfully written story to life in graphic form through a fluid art style that is able to represent the spectrum of emotions and keep a relatively introspective story engaging and forward moving. Himawari House follows the lives of five college-aged students living under one roof in Japan as they take classes, work various jobs, bond with one another and share their cultural traditions. Becker perfectly captures the youthful journey towards identity formation, one already fraught with pitfalls of self-doubt that are only enhanced for many of the characters as they struggle to find their place both culturally and socially living in a foreign country. Quietly powerful, Himawari House is an exquisitely empathetic look at language barriers, the nuances of identity and finding strength in friendship all told through an art style that will keep you constantly entertained.
‘I feel like I'm mourning a twin I lost in childhood. A twin who never got to grow up... but who always... always... waited for me to come back.’
While the story weaves between the lives of the three women—Nao, Hyejung, and Tina—living in Himawari House, the book is framed around Nao’s arrival and time there. Nao, having moved to the United States at a very young age, is caught feeling too Japanese while in the US (growing up facing many racist comments and microaggressions from peers), yet too American to feel she can fit in now that she lives in Japan to study the language. Each character experiences feeling out of place (their growing language skills making them often a target of derision from unruly customers at work), missing their homes and struggles of identity but find their shared space can also mean sharing one another's struggles and successes as they come closer together. While there are initially language barriers (the dialogue is written in both Japanese and English to show they are speaking in Japanese, with words occasionally blurred out when a character does not understand them), or, for one character, embarrassment that keeps him mostly silent, their support of each other helps each blossom. They spend much of their time sharing their customs, such as Chinese New Years, and especially the foods from home.
Becker’s art really steals the show here. Based in manga art, Becker deftly moves between realism and more loose, cartoon caricature styles to best capture the emotions of the characters and keeps things fresh, fun, and often funny. She is able to convey so much with the art that illuminates the characters' interior lives beyond what the words can express, and as a friend pointed out, this book feels that it opens up more and is so well suited for visual representation that a prose novel couldn’t convey as well. There is a definite sense of them within the world and society around them. It also expands upon the theme of finding the most effective way to communicate across language or emotional barriers, something most directly touched upon in an interview with a pop singer that Tina is smitten with when he discusses how he can be best understood through his music more than he could put in words.
Language is central to this book, and I really appreciated the different techniques Becker uses to demonstrate language barriers and learning. ‘I love accents,’ Becker writes in the afterword, ‘I think that they add depth and character to one’s speech—a sense of place.’ She discusses how she uses them not only to reflect the reality of learning a language but to subvert the long history in Western media to portray Asain characters with accents for the purpose of ‘comic or exotic effect…this legacy has cemented the idea that to have an accent is to be laughable, to be stupid, to be “other”.’ She reminds us ‘what is an accent but proof of the ability to speak more than one language,’ and uses it in the book to show characters tripping over grammar but reminds us it is a mark of pride because they are learning.
While this is marketed as YA, this is a story that anyone can engage with and it brought me right back to my college days and the early struggles of living on my own. This so perfectly captures the way one learns so much about themselves by being unmoored from their typical routine, and the way the characters miss home but find new enjoyments helps them see what they wish to retain about themselves but also how they’d like to grow. There is also a lot of emphasis on interpersonal relationships, such as crushes and friendships. Something that I really enjoyed was the depiction of a crush that does not work out, but the characters handling the awkwardness appropriately and being able to move forward with remaining friends. It is a charming book that moves at a comfortable pace with plenty of story and insight to make it a multi-sitting reading. Fun, moving, and insightful, Himawari House is a delight.
4.5/5
‘I feel like I'm mourning a twin I lost in childhood. A twin who never got to grow up... but who always... always... waited for me to come back.’
While the story weaves between the lives of the three women—Nao, Hyejung, and Tina—living in Himawari House, the book is framed around Nao’s arrival and time there. Nao, having moved to the United States at a very young age, is caught feeling too Japanese while in the US (growing up facing many racist comments and microaggressions from peers), yet too American to feel she can fit in now that she lives in Japan to study the language. Each character experiences feeling out of place (their growing language skills making them often a target of derision from unruly customers at work), missing their homes and struggles of identity but find their shared space can also mean sharing one another's struggles and successes as they come closer together. While there are initially language barriers (the dialogue is written in both Japanese and English to show they are speaking in Japanese, with words occasionally blurred out when a character does not understand them), or, for one character, embarrassment that keeps him mostly silent, their support of each other helps each blossom. They spend much of their time sharing their customs, such as Chinese New Years, and especially the foods from home.
Becker’s art really steals the show here. Based in manga art, Becker deftly moves between realism and more loose, cartoon caricature styles to best capture the emotions of the characters and keeps things fresh, fun, and often funny. She is able to convey so much with the art that illuminates the characters' interior lives beyond what the words can express, and as a friend pointed out, this book feels that it opens up more and is so well suited for visual representation that a prose novel couldn’t convey as well. There is a definite sense of them within the world and society around them. It also expands upon the theme of finding the most effective way to communicate across language or emotional barriers, something most directly touched upon in an interview with a pop singer that Tina is smitten with when he discusses how he can be best understood through his music more than he could put in words.
Language is central to this book, and I really appreciated the different techniques Becker uses to demonstrate language barriers and learning. ‘I love accents,’ Becker writes in the afterword, ‘I think that they add depth and character to one’s speech—a sense of place.’ She discusses how she uses them not only to reflect the reality of learning a language but to subvert the long history in Western media to portray Asain characters with accents for the purpose of ‘comic or exotic effect…this legacy has cemented the idea that to have an accent is to be laughable, to be stupid, to be “other”.’ She reminds us ‘what is an accent but proof of the ability to speak more than one language,’ and uses it in the book to show characters tripping over grammar but reminds us it is a mark of pride because they are learning.
While this is marketed as YA, this is a story that anyone can engage with and it brought me right back to my college days and the early struggles of living on my own. This so perfectly captures the way one learns so much about themselves by being unmoored from their typical routine, and the way the characters miss home but find new enjoyments helps them see what they wish to retain about themselves but also how they’d like to grow. There is also a lot of emphasis on interpersonal relationships, such as crushes and friendships. Something that I really enjoyed was the depiction of a crush that does not work out, but the characters handling the awkwardness appropriately and being able to move forward with remaining friends. It is a charming book that moves at a comfortable pace with plenty of story and insight to make it a multi-sitting reading. Fun, moving, and insightful, Himawari House is a delight.
4.5/5
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No