foggy_rosamund 's review for:

Himawari House by Harmony Becker

3.0

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Nao was born in Japan, but she has lived in the USA for so long that she's forgotten her mother tongue. At 19, she takes a year out before college, and stays in Himawari House in Tokyo. She takes Japanese classes and attempts to reconnect with her memories of Japan. She is lucky to find two kind and loving housemates when she arrives: Hyejung, from Korea, and Tina, from Singapore, are also learning Japanese, and have come to Japan to make sense of their own lives. The book is full of Japanese dialogue with English translations, and both Hyejung and Tina bring their own dialects of English. This book gives a real sense of what it's like to learn another language, and of how communication works through different languages. The strongest part of this graphic novel is the emphasis on language learning and friendship. It's lovely to see how the three girls connect with one another and rely on each other. But I found other parts lacklustre: the romances felt tacked-on to a plot that didn't need them, and though we begin the story from Nao's perspective, I didn't feel that she had a proper emotional arc in this story, and I was left feeling like I never really got to know her.