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courto875'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Animal death, War, Deportation, Hate crime, Death, Racial slurs, and Bullying
Minor: Sexism
kbucheit's review
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, War, Racism, and Violence
maks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Racism
thesupermassive's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: War, Violence, and Hate crime
alyssamakesart's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: War, Violence, Hate crime, and Racial slurs
allygator's review
challenging
emotional
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? Yes
4.75
This book is nearly perfect. It's a heart-rending depiction of life in World War II-era Japanese internment camps told from the eyes of 14 different Japanese-American teenagers.
The amount of research Traci Chee put into making this as accurate as possible is insane, and it is evident in the quality of the story she tells. You know how close she is to the story and the characters and how important it is to her that their story gets told.
The only criticism that I have is that, because there are so many different perspectives, sometimes it was hard to connect with every character at the same level. The chapters didn't fall into the most common of multi-perspective pitfalls though -- every voice was really distinct and fun to read.
This is a must-read for anyone looking to learn more about what Japanese-Americans went through during World War II, especially slightly younger audiences and anyone who is less interested in nonfiction.
The amount of research Traci Chee put into making this as accurate as possible is insane, and it is evident in the quality of the story she tells. You know how close she is to the story and the characters and how important it is to her that their story gets told.
The only criticism that I have is that, because there are so many different perspectives, sometimes it was hard to connect with every character at the same level. The chapters didn't fall into the most common of multi-perspective pitfalls though -- every voice was really distinct and fun to read.
This is a must-read for anyone looking to learn more about what Japanese-Americans went through during World War II, especially slightly younger audiences and anyone who is less interested in nonfiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Xenophobia, War, Racism, Racial slurs, and Death
dani_reviews's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement
Moderate: Deportation, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
Minor: Alcohol
joanna77_'s review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
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? Yes
4.25
โ๐๐๐, ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐จ๐งโ๐ญ ๐ ๐จ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐จ๐งโ๐ญ ๐ ๐จ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฐ๐โ๐ฏ๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ง ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ๐งโ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ.โ
This is gonna be required reading in 10 years and it needs to be required reading now. Shout out to my history teachers growing up who actually taught me about this stuff, because Iโm definitely one of the few who actually was, still though, this book added SO much depth and information to what I was taught in school.
I really loved this story. It was so hard to read at points, but thatโs what makes it so good. You get so attached to these characters and begin to realize how even though theyโre not real, what happened to them was.
I got super confused with some of the characters which definitely lessened my enjoyment of this. It definitely felt like an anthology, and I feel like technically it could be considered one because the chapters are just short stories. 14 characters was just a lot to keep track of and some of the chapters suffered from being too short while others were super long.
My favorite characters were Mas, Shig, and Stan and their chapters were the most impactful, but honestly each chapter was good. I loved how this book included pictures and documents to ground you in the story, I thought that was really well done.
Iโd definitely recommend this book. Itโs super important and like the author said in the back, history is not dead and we can still see injustices inflicted against this population even close to eighty years after these events.
Read this book!
This is gonna be required reading in 10 years and it needs to be required reading now. Shout out to my history teachers growing up who actually taught me about this stuff, because Iโm definitely one of the few who actually was, still though, this book added SO much depth and information to what I was taught in school.
I really loved this story. It was so hard to read at points, but thatโs what makes it so good. You get so attached to these characters and begin to realize how even though theyโre not real, what happened to them was.
I got super confused with some of the characters which definitely lessened my enjoyment of this. It definitely felt like an anthology, and I feel like technically it could be considered one because the chapters are just short stories. 14 characters was just a lot to keep track of and some of the chapters suffered from being too short while others were super long.
My favorite characters were Mas, Shig, and Stan and their chapters were the most impactful, but honestly each chapter was good. I loved how this book included pictures and documents to ground you in the story, I thought that was really well done.
Iโd definitely recommend this book. Itโs super important and like the author said in the back, history is not dead and we can still see injustices inflicted against this population even close to eighty years after these events.
Read this book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
the_dragon_starback's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
So this book is on the Intermediate section of the 2023 YRCA list, and having been asked if I would recommend any of the books on the list I decided to read a few more of them that looked interesting. I chose this book because it had an interesting title and cool cover and honestly went in with low expectations, but this was genuinely so good.
We Are Not Free follows fourteen Japanese-American teens during WWII as they are forced to leave their homes in San Francisco and are sent to incarceration camps. Each teen narrates a chapter, which has the potential to get very confusing and fail miserably, but I thought that Traci Chee pulled it off almost completely. Each character had their own voice, with a few creative narrating choices (one chapter was in second-person, one was in verse, a few were diary entries or letters), and while the names were confusing with all the nicknames, the roster at the beginning was very helpful for reference. But the characterization was truly excellent. I had a picture for each of them, had a sense of who they were within their group, and got a chance to know them through the eyes of the other characters and through their own voice.
Except for Kiyoshi. Literally, who was he? What was his point? Iโve got no idea what he added to the story. But other than that, great characters.
There were some moments that felt disjointed, especially when the characters get split up halfway through, but overall the book maintains that sense of the characters being a part of a group, being important to each other, like family, and that was my favourite part of the story. Whenever a character got into trouble, there was at least a few friends who had their back, and that sense of belonging and trust was conveyed so well, as was the pain and grief when that belonging felt broken.
Oh, also, I cried. So, be warned.
Favourite characters: Keiko, Akko, Twitchy, Frankie, Mas
We Are Not Free follows fourteen Japanese-American teens during WWII as they are forced to leave their homes in San Francisco and are sent to incarceration camps. Each teen narrates a chapter, which has the potential to get very confusing and fail miserably, but I thought that Traci Chee pulled it off almost completely. Each character had their own voice, with a few creative narrating choices (one chapter was in second-person, one was in verse, a few were diary entries or letters), and while the names were confusing with all the nicknames, the roster at the beginning was very helpful for reference. But the characterization was truly excellent. I had a picture for each of them, had a sense of who they were within their group, and got a chance to know them through the eyes of the other characters and through their own voice.
Except for Kiyoshi. Literally, who was he? What was his point? Iโve got no idea what he added to the story. But other than that, great characters.
There were some moments that felt disjointed, especially when the characters get split up halfway through, but overall the book maintains that sense of the characters being a part of a group, being important to each other, like family, and that was my favourite part of the story. Whenever a character got into trouble, there was at least a few friends who had their back, and that sense of belonging and trust was conveyed so well, as was the pain and grief when that belonging felt broken.
Oh, also, I cried. So, be warned.
Favourite characters: Keiko, Akko, Twitchy, Frankie, Mas
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Sexual content
saintstefan's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Another 5 star book for me. I've always known about the camps Japanese-Americans were sent to during the era of WWII, but I was never told or really taught about them. This book really got into some details on what life was like there. All of the characters felt so real and I could relate to every single one of them in a way. I definitely suggest reading this book if you're ever in the mood to teach yourself.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia