Name: We Are Not Free
Rating: 4.364864864864865 (37 reviews)
ISBN: 9780358131434

Traci Chee

"A beautiful, painful, and necessary work of historical fiction." --Veera Hiranandani, Newbery Honor winning author of The Night Diary

We Are Not Free

amelia <3

Jackie Lu

** spoiler alert **
           If I could really customise this book on Goodreads to go beyond 5 stars, I would give it an infinite amount of stars. This was beautifully written, the way that the charachters thoughts become your own, like as if you’re living out the anger, the sadness, the joy, the pain, it made me feel some way and this is the feeling I love when I get into a good book. This was more than a good book, it was an experience. The amount of times I’d read this on the bus and tear up and stop myself from allowing the tears to roll out, the way I sobbed for Twitchy. It felt like I was there, like I was a host for each of the charachters spirits as they lived through these gruelling, challenging times. As an POC, an Asian and a second generation immigrant myself, I felt so seen and so heard. It sucks that this happened back then, makes me realise that I have it much better today but work still needs to be done. Reading this made me realise that people don’t talk about Japanese relocation camps enough as well as the Japanese battalions that fought for America during WW2, I had only seen photos on Instagrams that posted Western historical content. We do not talk about the sacrifices that Asians and POC have made for the West. I would love to read and see some more ways that they are represented in the future hopefully. I do admit that I did get a bit confused with the charachters every so often but that was most likely due to the fact that I had a few months where I stopped reading. The Japantown kids made me feel like I was part of the group too, and really got me thinking of my own friend groups. Ugh, all in all I loved this book so much I really really liked it, everything about it was amazing. Great storytelling and I really appreciated Chee’s research and just her ability to write well. 1000000000000+/10 I’m seriously so impressed right now I am so in love with this book and i am so sad and heartbroken that i’ve finished it

Nadine 

The next time someone asks for a “coming of age” book from a diverse perspective- this is the one I’d put in their hands. Ditto historical fiction. Ditto a war story. A romance. 
Yes there are a lot of POVs and yes it is perhaps a little long but these stories have been long in coming.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: We Are Not Free

Author: Traci Cee

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Japanese MCs and side characters

Recommended For...: history buffs

Publication Date: September 1, 2020

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 14+ (war mention, racism, calling out an author for being racist (Dr. Suess), POWs, romance, and slight sexual content, violence)

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Pages: 400

Synopsis: From New York Times best-selling and acclaimed author Traci Chee comes We Are Not Free, the collective account of a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, whose lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II.
 
Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco.
 
Fourteen teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted.
 
Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps.
 
In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart.

Review: For the most part I thought this was an excellent book! I loved the multiple (14) povs and the story of these kids. The book did well to convey the horror of the real life situation Japanese people went through. The book also gave me information that I didn't have due to the poor American education system. I highly urge people to read this. We should know about the horrors we inflicted on our own people.

The only issue I had with the book is that the POV switches can be weird. You start really liking a character then have to go to a new one.

Verdict: Highly recommend and required reading!

Jeni Enjaian

I really wanted to like this book more than I ended up liking it. Chee builds this character-focused narrative of a found family, multiple Japanese American families relocated due to the abhorrent actions that our government took following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The plot weaves its way through all these different characters who each have their own voice. Even with these narrative shifts, Chee does not let the plot thread drop, until we reach the section narrated by Twitchy after he has shipped out to fight in the European theatre. I did not immediately react negatively since I could see how Chee could make this work. However, Twitchy's wartime narration lasts far too long. It kept going beyond the point where it could sustain this delicate woven narrative thread, too far separated from the other characters and the situation back in the United States and the American version of concentration camps. The narrative became a World War II battlefield story which, as much as I love history, does not interest me. I felt such relief when the narrative shifted away from Twitchy, for reasons I will not spoil, but it took so long to pick those threads back up. Chee redeems herself with Tommy's narrative towards the end of the book. I loved that section. So beautifully portrayed. 
I still recommend this book but not as strongly as I would wish to. Over on thestorygraph, I plan to give this 3.75 stars because they appreciate nuanced ratings.

Ainsley Lamont

I thought this book was super unique! 14 teens and 14 different perspectives. I was worried that it would be confusing going from character to character, but Chee did it seamlessly. I also loved how the different perspectives showed different paths. I haven't read many books about Japanese American relocation, so this book was a great addition to my knowledge. Overall, I loved it a lot and would 100% recommend it to everyone. 

*Spoiler*
Although I am a little sad Bette didn't get her romance, her fabulous time in New York made up for it.

Isabel 

Courtney

* NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * PRINTZ HONOR BOOK * WALTER HONOR BOOK * From New York Times best-selling and acclaimed author Traci Chee comes We Are Not Free, the collective account of a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, whose lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II. Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco. Fourteen teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted. Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps. In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart.

We Are Not Free

Reviews

Highlights