carriepond's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
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
4.5
Displacement by Kiku Hughes is a graphic novel about a girl, Kiku, who is pulled back in time to the Japanese internment camps where her grandmother's family was forcibly relocated. Kiku's displacements are even more jarring juxtaposed with her present day, where then-President Trump and his Republican peers defend Muslim travel bans and family separation policies.
Hughes notes that she drew inspiration from Octavia Butler's Kindred, which I love. Though it doesn't match the genius of Butler's novel, Hughes deftly applies the forced time travel concept to explore the forcible relocation of her family and thousands of other American citizens, which isn't something that was discussed much (if at all) when I was a teen. I like how Hughes also ties the displacement to memory and familial connection, serving as a reclaiming of history that her family felt they had to abandon to gain acceptance and safety in the U.S.
Hughes notes that she drew inspiration from Octavia Butler's Kindred, which I love. Though it doesn't match the genius of Butler's novel, Hughes deftly applies the forced time travel concept to explore the forcible relocation of her family and thousands of other American citizens, which isn't something that was discussed much (if at all) when I was a teen. I like how Hughes also ties the displacement to memory and familial connection, serving as a reclaiming of history that her family felt they had to abandon to gain acceptance and safety in the U.S.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Racism
Minor: Death
sweetsouthwest's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Deportation and Confinement
Minor: Islamophobia and Cancer
smilagros's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
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? N/A
5.0
“ Being in the future meant very little when my education on the past was so limited“. This is one of my favorite graphic novels of all time. I wish more people would talk about it because wow. It was beautiful illustrations and the story was not a history book even though it’s about history. I cannot recommend this graphic novel enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Terminal illness, War, Cancer, Deportation, Confinement, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Xenophobia
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
sweetsimplenothing's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Confinement
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Grief
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.rebekkaemmi's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Loved the art and the writing style
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, 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
christineazopf's review against another edition
emotional
informative
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
A powerful graphic novel about the importance of remembering the past
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia