Reviews tagging 'Death'

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

31 reviews

klsreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a sweet story, a mix of fact and fantasy. Kiku writes and illustrates her journey as a mixed-race, queer Japanase-American unearthing her family history in WWII internment camps. (She refers to interment camps as incarceration camps throughout the book, and rightly so). A magic fog transports her back in time to experience the racism and fearmongering about Asian Americans in the 1940's. Kiku is incarcerated in a room next to her grandmother and great-grandparents and follows their life while cultivating her own in the camp. This is a story about alienation from culture, generational trauma, and the moored "otherness" of multiply marginalized identities. It moved a bit slowly at some points, but it's rich with history, and the art is beautiful. Shamefully, I learned a lot from this short graphic novel. It's a beautiful and real tale of resistance and reconnection. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Police brutality, War, Racism, Grief, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Confinement, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Violence, Cancer, and Death

samchase112's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

4.25

A powerful history lesson and family story wrapped up in a beautiful volume. Review to come!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Confinement, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Religious bigotry

Minor: War and Murder

justcallmeemily's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Murder and Racial slurs

olive_ia's review against another edition

emotional informative sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Murder and Death

mel_muses's review

emotional informative inspiring 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? Yes

4.75

This was incredibly well done from the art to the writing and the messages. An essential read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

handful_of_frogs's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Forced institutionalization, War, Xenophobia, Deportation, Police brutality, Cancer, Death, Gun violence, and Medical content

theabee's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

Beautifully and poignantly written and illustrated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Murder, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Racism

Minor: Death

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

readingwithkaitlyn's review

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

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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.