Book Review: Displacement

Review by Shirley Metcalf

A graphic novel by Kiku Hughes, a cartoonist and illustrator based in the Seattle Area.

The protagonist, Kiku is “torn out of the present time” when she is on vacation in present day San Francisco. She is “displaced” to the 1940s Japanese American internment camp where her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated during World War II.

Kiku lives alongside Ernestina and other Japanese American citizens and Issei in the internment camp. During her time with them, she witnesses the lives of people who were denied civil liberties by their own government but still created a community and committed acts of resistance (gaman) in order to survive.

Kiku Hughes weaves a bittersweet tale (based on her life) that highlights the intergenerational impact of trauma and the healing power of memory.

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Note: This book is available at the Deschutes Public Library.

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