mistermipsy's review
sad
medium-paced
2.25
Loved the mixing of comics with prose, but felt like the pacing ended up being kind of uneven, maybe as a side effect of that format. More importantly though, this didn't feel authentically Japanese American to me--evetything from the nicknames to the way the characters spoke just felt off--and some aspects of the history felt glossed over--like the implication seemed to be that the Japanese Americans joined the army bc they were just so pro-America and patriotic even though their families were incarcerated in internment camps, which idk, maybe some really were, but there were lots of other reasons they may have gone, like wanting to get out of the internment camps or not wanting to get arrested for draft dodging......... Also the ending was just the least satisfying ending of all time.
twiinklex's review
4.0
4.5⭐
I read most of this YA novel in one sitting. We are introduced to teenage Mari Asai and her family, Japanese-Americans who have been living in the Manzanar internment camp during World War 2. Mari decides to take a vow of silence when her brother signs on to the army as she believes it will keep him safe.
I loved the alternating POVs of compelling prose and gripping graphic novel: Mari's voice was so authentic that it felt like I was reading a memoir, while Mak's experiences at the WWII frontline was fraught with tension. I wished the book was longer as I wanted to know more about the Asais and their lives after the worst of the war. They felt so much like real people.
One thing that struck me was how the 442nd Infantry Regiment, made up almost entirely of Japanese-Americans, chose to defend and fight for their country despite all the racism and atrocities that they had been committed against them.
I highly recommend this illuminating and propulsive historical fiction that sheds light on lesser-known parts of history.
I read most of this YA novel in one sitting. We are introduced to teenage Mari Asai and her family, Japanese-Americans who have been living in the Manzanar internment camp during World War 2. Mari decides to take a vow of silence when her brother signs on to the army as she believes it will keep him safe.
I loved the alternating POVs of compelling prose and gripping graphic novel: Mari's voice was so authentic that it felt like I was reading a memoir, while Mak's experiences at the WWII frontline was fraught with tension. I wished the book was longer as I wanted to know more about the Asais and their lives after the worst of the war. They felt so much like real people.
One thing that struck me was how the 442nd Infantry Regiment, made up almost entirely of Japanese-Americans, chose to defend and fight for their country despite all the racism and atrocities that they had been committed against them.
I highly recommend this illuminating and propulsive historical fiction that sheds light on lesser-known parts of history.
kverity's review
emotional
informative
fast-paced
4.25
This book stands out because of its format. It combines prose and graphic novel text to tell the story of Mari, who is a girl who lives in Manzanar Internment Camp while her brother is overseas with the U.S. Army. She takes a vow of silence as a way to keep him safe. The graphic novel portions show her brother Mak's story, and are contrasted with the letters that he sends home. I would have liked a slightly different ending (it still felt a little unfinished) but I can recognize that there is not anything objectively wrong about the ending of the story, I just wanted it to continue a little farther. Definitely a recommend for middle school students.
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