When We Were Flowers

by Catori Sarmiento

In 2011, Tara Larson was told that her English teaching contract would not be renewed. Taking a chance, she packed herself up and moved from her small-town Minot, North Dakota, to be an Assistant Language Teacher in Tokyo, Japan for a year. Having barely traveled outside her home state, Tara navigates her way through the Land of the Rising Sun and by chance meets Ami Kishiguchi. The two immediately share an inexorable bond. However, disaster strikes. First the Tohoku earthquake and nuclear disaster. Then the floods back home in Minot. And most jarringly, Tara must come to terms with the death of one of her students. Filled with doubts and anxiety, Tara must decide if she will continue the adventure in Japan-and her relationship with Ami-or leave for the safety and comfort of home.

288 pages, Paperback

Published February 8, 2023

Reviews

[Cyrene Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uncaged Review: Tara loses her teaching job in her small town in North Dakota, and takes a position as a teacher in Tokyo, Japan. Never being far from home, this becomes quite an adventure. Soon after she arrives in Tokyo, she meets Ami. Ami had a Japanese father and an American mother, so she speaks both languages fluently. Ami helps Tara navigate the country and they become lovers.
The book deals with how Tara learns more about Japan and their customs and the differences. There are a couple tragedies that strike, an earthquake with a tsunami along with the damage to a nuclear plant Fukushima. So it follows along with that incident during the same time period as the book is set in. The one thing I didn’t like quite understand is that Tara quit wanting to listen to the news, and mostly tried to ignore it. I would have wanted to know everything. This story shows how a person can overcome and start anew, even amongst some heartbreak.
This is a nice read, I will say that the cover of this book does not convey what is in the book at all. This is a sweet romance, and the cover doesn’t take the book seriously, and although the saying is “don’t judge a book by its cover” is true, it should at least represent the story inside. 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Cyrene

[B.J. Sikes · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not much of a story and the characters are mostly sketches but the details of an American living in Japan were fascinating. The comparison of cultures between a small town in the Midwest versus Tokyo was compelling. This book is described as a romance but the relationship doesn't have much to it. They meet and over a year, fall in love. There's no tension, just a couple getting to know one another. It was worth reading for all the food descriptions, of which there are many. The sprinkles of Japanese language was at times confusing, especially when there were several phrases one after the other because I had to guess at what they were saying.