robinks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I had a feeling this book would be quite sad and informative about history, but I was surprised by the incorporation of current struggles and recognition of various forms of resistance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence, Police brutality, Deportation, War, and Excrement
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, Blood, Murder, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Colonisation, Grief, and Hate crime
Minor: Cancer, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, War, and Death of parent
Incarceration camps, disconnection, WWII, Donald Trump, Pearl Habor, Anti-Muslim rhetoric (critical stance), Anti-Black racism, Pearl Habor, Civil Rights Movement, cigarettes, starvation, suffering, poor living conditions.sallytiffany's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Wow. This was a quick and engaging read. It helped me learn a lot of history and had a powerful message of generational trauma. I really loved this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deportation, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, and Hate crime
Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, War, Violence, and Death
emily_mh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
This story is about Kiku, a displaced girl who is landed in the displacement of a whole group of people, namely Japanese-Americans in WWII. She’s on a journey learning about why she feels so disconnected from her Japanese heritage; that it’s because her ancestors were forcefully disconnected from theirs. Her story is about generational trauma and how this can reach through time to affect the present and future. Hughes draws parallels between the generational trauma of Japanese-Americans from WWII, and the generational trauma being generated right now in the US with racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic immigration policy that lands people in border detainment/incarceration.
Hughes also emphasises the power of memory, of remembering. Both are galvanising and unifying and instructive. I particularly loved this quote on the topic: “But when a community comes together to demand more, when we do not let trauma stay obscured but bring it up to the surface and remember it together - we can make sure it is not repeated.” I also loved this quote, how it implies the consequence of not remembering the past: “Being from the future meant very little when my education on the past was so limited.”
Overall, this story provided a massive learning curve for me regarding the incarceration camps. This is the first book I’ve read on them and I learnt so much. The book is written with Kiku as both MC and narrator which works well, as the story she tells is deeply informative and takes you through all kinds of aspects of the incarceration. Specific facts that have stuck with me are the information about No-Nos, and the discussion on how white people used Japanese-Americans’ history of incarceration camps to feed into model-minority myth in the 60s.
I think that in terms of the medium, there could have been a bit of editing of the panels. There was an excess of landscape and context panels that was unnecessary and led to repetition. But the art style was good; I particularly liked the cleanness of the lines and the fact that the panels weren’t overcrowded.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia
Moderate: War, Death, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Cancer, Islamophobia, Racial slurs, Confinement, Vomit, Drug use, and Gun violence
Major: Japanese-American incarceration camps Moderate: forced separation fro loved ones, loss of a loved one Minor: nuclear warfaremerle_bookdragon's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Displacement tells the story, or rather part of the story, of the Japanese Americans that were detained in incarceration camps by the Americans following the attack on Pearl Habor. The author Kiku Hughes follows her own family roots in this semi autobiographical story.
We follow the main character Kiku, who gets "displaced" multiple times throughout the story. She experiences memory flashbacks loosely following the trail of her grandma, who was detained in the camps with her parents.
The third time Kiku "travels back through memory" she seemingly stays for numerous month in the memory and experiences the camps for herself. She learns that much of what she learned through school and her mom was incorrect or falsified, but most of what she experiences in camp is entirely new to her because the events are barely talked about. Both by the American administration to cover up their crimes but also by the Nikkei community itself.
When Kiku returns to reality only a few minutes seem to have passed and she speaks to her mom about her experience who admits that she went through the same experience when she was younger. The story is framed by TV news of Donald Trump running for president and the announcement and coverage of new regulations and detention camps affecting the Muslim and Latinx communities of the US.
This graphic novel is certainly not a light read but I still enjoyed it very much. It taught me (a German person) more about the camps than I ever learned before and while it was sad and heartbreaking most of the time, it was important too. I found this story through a university class I am taking about teaching literature at school and we discussed the applicability of this novel in a classroom environment. While I am not studying to become a teacher I would certainly recommend this graphic novel as it covers an important historical event in a very approachable manner. Both the art style and the language are simple enough to understand even for lower class students or English beginners while not taking anything away from the story itself.
We follow the main character Kiku, who gets "displaced" multiple times throughout the story. She experiences memory flashbacks loosely following the trail of her grandma, who was detained in the camps with her parents.
The third time Kiku "travels back through memory" she seemingly stays for numerous month in the memory and experiences the camps for herself. She learns that much of what she learned through school and her mom was incorrect or falsified, but most of what she experiences in camp is entirely new to her because the events are barely talked about. Both by the American administration to cover up their crimes but also by the Nikkei community itself.
When Kiku returns to reality only a few minutes seem to have passed and she speaks to her mom about her experience who admits that she went through the same experience when she was younger. The story is framed by TV news of Donald Trump running for president and the announcement and coverage of new regulations and detention camps affecting the Muslim and Latinx communities of the US.
This graphic novel is certainly not a light read but I still enjoyed it very much. It taught me (a German person) more about the camps than I ever learned before and while it was sad and heartbreaking most of the time, it was important too. I found this story through a university class I am taking about teaching literature at school and we discussed the applicability of this novel in a classroom environment. While I am not studying to become a teacher I would certainly recommend this graphic novel as it covers an important historical event in a very approachable manner. Both the art style and the language are simple enough to understand even for lower class students or English beginners while not taking anything away from the story itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia and Confinement
Moderate: Gun violence
sofiefarmer's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
WOW! I started off thinking this book would be a solid four stars. It has beautiful art, a gripping and powerful plot, fascinating characters, and a unique take on a memoir (of sorts). I was captivated by the story and moved by Kiku's experiences. What really sold this book for me was the ending. Hughes could have left this as just a story of a girl who travels in time to experience what her grandmother went through in the Japanese incarceration camps; however, her decision to make the displacements a way of experiencing memories due to generational trauma was so powerful. It made this book all the more special and bumped it up to 5 stars.
I highly recommend this book for people wanting to learn more about Japanese incarceration camps and the impacts of generational trauma.
I highly recommend this book for people wanting to learn more about Japanese incarceration camps and the impacts of generational trauma.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Gun violence, and Death
jaycloud's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia and Racism
Moderate: Gun violence
I learned a lot from this book. i love the ending and how it looks for a better futureSpoiler
i love the scene where her and her mom are making signs at the end. And drawing parallels to what's happened in the past to what's happening nowbrookey8888's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is a really great graphic novel if you want an easier to digest history of the Japanese Camps. I did learn a lot and it also refreshed the knowledge I did have. At first I was confused about the going back in time but how the author tied that in was good. There was also LGBTQ+ representation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
ehmannky's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A beautifully drawn work that blends memoir and historical fiction and magical realism into a poignant look at the way that communal trauma, especially the trauma that is not spoken about or addressed, can continue to have incredibly damaging impacts generations afterwards. The metaphor Hughes uses of time travel and physical and temporal displacement to emphasize the ways that Japanese-Americans were torn away from everything and everyone due to racism and wartime hysteria is beautifully done. It's just a lovely read all around.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, and Confinement
Moderate: Grief, Racial slurs, and Death of parent
Minor: Death and Gun violence
harukoreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
This book, about a yonsei teenage girl traveling back in time to relive her grandmother and great-grandparents experiences in the Japanese American Incarceration Camps, is one of the best graphic novels I've ever read.
The illustrations are crisp and clean, with expressive line work and a muted color palette that perfectly reflects the somber yet hopeful tone. The story itself goes into detail about the day-to-day realities of Camp as well as the intergenerational trauma and activism that resulted from this human rights atrocity.
As an OwnVoices reviewer (I'm a mixed yonsei woman who's grandparents were in the Camps just like the author/main character - not to mention a queer visual artist too!) I appreciated the nuance in this story, particularly the focus on how Camp had a lasting effect generations later. Like Kiku, my grandparents were in the Camps when they were young, and the violent anti-Japanese racism of the time discouraged them from passing down both language and Japanese culture to their children and grandchildren. And like Kiku, my family has watched the revival of American incarceration camps in the past few years and spoken out against them, knowing that just as they were wrong in the 1940s, they are wrong today. I appreciated how this book specifically highlighted the racial justice work of Japanese organizations Densho and Tsuru for Solidarity, and thought the focus on racial justice was done well (the descriptions of the model minority myth and Japanese anti-Blackness were particularly well done!).
Overall, this is a thoughtful, thorough, emotional account of Japanese incarceration through a modern lens. If you've never heard anything about the Japanese Incarceration camps, this is an easy entry point that is also visually stunning and poignant.
The illustrations are crisp and clean, with expressive line work and a muted color palette that perfectly reflects the somber yet hopeful tone. The story itself goes into detail about the day-to-day realities of Camp as well as the intergenerational trauma and activism that resulted from this human rights atrocity.
As an OwnVoices reviewer (I'm a mixed yonsei woman who's grandparents were in the Camps just like the author/main character - not to mention a queer visual artist too!) I appreciated the nuance in this story, particularly the focus on how Camp had a lasting effect generations later. Like Kiku, my grandparents were in the Camps when they were young, and the violent anti-Japanese racism of the time discouraged them from passing down both language and Japanese culture to their children and grandchildren. And like Kiku, my family has watched the revival of American incarceration camps in the past few years and spoken out against them, knowing that just as they were wrong in the 1940s, they are wrong today. I appreciated how this book specifically highlighted the racial justice work of Japanese organizations Densho and Tsuru for Solidarity, and thought the focus on racial justice was done well (the descriptions of the model minority myth and Japanese anti-Blackness were particularly well done!).
Overall, this is a thoughtful, thorough, emotional account of Japanese incarceration through a modern lens. If you've never heard anything about the Japanese Incarceration camps, this is an easy entry point that is also visually stunning and poignant.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Racism
Minor: Death, Gun violence, and Hate crime
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