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dstricker98's review
3.0
3.7 - I don't think I I don't think I have much to say on this, but I thought the writing was interesting, new, and expansive. I can't tell if I liked having so many POVs because that's what it provided, so many perspectives, or if it made the book too confusing. I think I should have gone into the book thinking of it as a short story collection?
yourlocal_nychotdog's review
medium-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? No
4.0
14 Characters are way too many to keep up for me but the way the author flushes the world out and its characters feels very real. I love how every character has a story to tell and they all connect to one another. The last time we see a chapter with Twitchy being the main character of said chapter broke me. At first I was quite annoyed with how long it was but at the end I was close to sobbing in front of my friends. I would recommend this book to my friends when I can.
lingfish7's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
🎧This book should be required reading. For such a huge piece of history, there are still many Americans who don’t know about the Japanese concentration camps our country setup during world war 2. I think I learned about this in high school, but I know many have not learned about this until after college.
This book is so well done. The author’s own grandparents were teenagers when they went to the camps. In this YA historical fictional novel, the author takes 14 different teenagers who all initially went to the same camp (Camp Topaz) from 1942-1945 and rotates the POV between each kid.
I didn’t realize that the U.S. government gave the families a survey to “test their loyalty.” The ones who answered “no” to two questions that essentially asked “would you be willing go to war for this country?” were sent to separate, segregated camps for the “disloyal japs.” The obsession our government had with this project is insane. Not only did they forcibly incarcerate more than 120,000 people, but the hatred against Japanese spread everywhere in America. Japanese were denied services, rent, etc. even after they left the camps when world 2 ended.
Another thing I didn’t realize is they tried to recruit soldiers from the camps to “prove their loyalty.” Imagine being 17 and forcibly removed from your high school and community to go to a concentration camp, only to risk your life to fight for the same country that incarcerated you.
Eleanor Roosevelt even visited some of the camps (not the disloyal ones which were arguably more like prisons and inhospitable) and explained why they needed to be incarcerated. She said the Japanese weren’t as “integrated” with the rest of American society as the Germans or the Italians. Whose fault is that if Japanese weren’t allowed to rent anywhere but Japanese neighborhoods? I’m still amazed that FDR and Eleanor did this. It was motivated by nothing less than racism.
This book made me tear up, it’s both informational and heartbreaking. 💔I love how this author brought this historical event to light through such a gorgeous novel.
“In tulle lake you are guilty even though you have committed no crime… you are too yellow, too slow… you are arrested anyway, beaten anyway.”
kdailyreads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, War, Blood, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Violence, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Vomit
alexsemihiatus's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
2.75
scavengercat's review
5.0
Wonderful. I loved every page. It’s shocking how little I knew about this history. I will definitely be reading more on the subject.
tuabaxl's review
5.0
Heartbreaking account of the Japanese American experience during the period of forced incarceration after the Pearl Harbor bombing from the perspective of a group of teenagers from the Japantown neighborhood in San Francisco. Incredible use of many interrelated characters to provide a multitude of perspectives of their experience, the injustice, the inhumanity and the challenges they faced both externally and internally. Highly recommend.
roseleaf24's review
5.0
This is a heartbreaking read about the internment of the Japanese during World War II. The multiple viewpoints allows for a fuller understanding of the effects and experiences of this horrible party of our history, but as they reach get one solid chunk of the narrative, it's not confusing at all. The love between friends, the community that develops wherever you are, and the desolation of grief are all shown here in beautiful ways. There is so much here that applies to our country today, as well. And as I have in the last five years heard this imprisonment and relocation used as an example of what it is okay for us to do to those we distrust for no legitimate reason, I have to say it is an important book that I hope everyone reads.
katsbooks's review against another edition
emotional
informative
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
“Gaman. The ability to hold your pain and bitterness inside you and not let them destroy you. To make something beautiful through your anger, or with your anger, and neither erase it nor let it define you. To suffer. And to rage. And to persevere.”
“I want to believe in right and wrong. Here is what's right. Here is what isn't. Here is the line. Here is the question: If I go to war for America, if I kill for America, if I support an America that doesn't support me, and I supporting my oppressors? Am I killing their enemies so they can later kill me?”
“We could do everything right, and they’d still think we were dangerous.”
“We are not free. But we are not alone.”
“I want to believe in right and wrong. Here is what's right. Here is what isn't. Here is the line. Here is the question: If I go to war for America, if I kill for America, if I support an America that doesn't support me, and I supporting my oppressors? Am I killing their enemies so they can later kill me?”
“We could do everything right, and they’d still think we were dangerous.”
“We are not free. But we are not alone.”