Citizen 13660 by Mine Okubo Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Citizen 13660
Book Review: A Reply to the story of the whole, not the individual
Summary: 5 Stars
I, personally, have never been into comic books, but since reading Maus I and Citizen 13660 I have found a new appreciation for art mixed with text. This graphic novel is excellent. I disagree with the idea that we need to know the "deep insight into the feelings of the author"; that is what makes this novel so powerful. She intentionally leaves the emotions up to her audience. This is not necessarily a story about woe is me. It is a story about survival, when life hands you lemons you make lemonade and you share it.
I do agree with the dark sense of humor within this novel. And I must say I like it. Life was hard for the Japanese. These camps were not easy and sometimes rather inhumane. The weather was extreme, the food was scarce, and there was absolutely no privacy. But Mine Okubo is able to take some terrible scenarios and laugh at her characters, which enables her audience to laugh. It also made me think about what it means to have freedom and privacy. Today, people rarely even talk to their parents and siblings, let alone, their neighbors. As depicted in this novel people were practically living on top of one another. And to be to find a sense of humor through it all shows an amazing sense of character.
Overall, I think this novel is a thoughtful, selfless, piece of art. It shouldn't lose credit for being a graphic novel, or lacking drama. It should be applauded for the value of the factual, overall picture painted within it. It should be applauded for allowing its readers to be affected in anyway that it may, the book world is full of tear jerkers, we don't need anymore soap opera text filling our minds with junk.
Book Review: A story of the whole, not the individual
Summary: 3 Stars
I find I'm not all that attracted to graphic novels of this type. I tend to focus more on the text of books, and leave the pictures up to my own mind. With this, you lose your own visual interpretation of the text, and since I'm focused on the text, I didn't spend enough time really looking at the art. I glanced at the art on each page, but I feel if I spent more time on each illustration, I might have a better appreciation for the book.
I also didn't really appreciate the text much. Each paragraph was more like a caption, with constant passive voice as well as mostly simple sentences. This was that. People did this. There was something here. It didn't engage me in a literary sense. We didn't learn a deep insight into the feelings of the author; she didn't often tell us what she felt or thought. That made it harder for me to connect with the experience too. This book seems strictly to be a record of life in two camp, not the reflections and thoughts of someone who lived in one. It is a story not of an individual, but of everyone who was interned.
The text was littered with irony and humor though, which prevented the story from becoming too dark. Without the levity occasionally provided, this book would have been harder to keep reading. Sometimes the humor shows in the drawings, such as her sticking out her tongue or tripping over a bush, but more often the text provides a dry humor and could bring a subtle smile to your face.
Book Review: A unique memoir
Summary: 4 Stars
Mine Okubo, a Japanese-American art student when WWII broke out, created this singular study of the plight of Japanese interned in the United States following the attack at Pearl Harbor. Illustrated with drawings of a primitive, yet engaging, style Citizen 13660 goes through Ms. Okubo's experiences from her designation as a member of Family 13660 (in the United States!) to everyday life life in camps hastily put together to house internees to her departure from the system in 1944. This is a great first-hand account of a chapter in American history in which we failed to meet our own high standards for human rights.Book Review: Citizen 13660
Summary: 5 Stars
In her book Citizen 13660, Mine Okubo describes life in the Japanese-American internment camps established by the U.S. government soon after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. The camps were for all people of Japanese origin in the United States, both citizens and noncitizens. Mine, a college student, and her brother were taken by train to temporary barracks, then later they were moved to their permanent quarters at Camp Tanforan. Life at the camp was hard; living quarters were small and nearly without privacy, people fought over the scarce supplies and they had to line up to eat, use the bathroom, and wash. It was stiflingly hot in the summer, and it grew surprisingly cold for a "desert" in the winter. Mine, however, made it through the internment years and soon returned to "normal" civilization. Soon after the war, she wrote and illustrated her book, Citizen 13660. Her story takes you inside the internment camps and shows you what life was really like for an American of Japanese descent in 1945.Book Review: Eyewitness history with pictures
Summary: 4 Stars
Okubo's book is a valuable eyewitness account of a sad period of U.S. history, the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans during WWII. I don't know anything about Okubo's life, but her book suggests she was one of those relocated. The book is illustrated on every page with great, expressive pen-and-ink drawings, and each picture is accompanied by a caption thoroughly explaining the scene depicted. The story begins with her family awaiting relocation orders, being sent to two different camps in the interior valleys of California, and concludes with her release. She does a great job documenting daily life in the camps, like the ways the prisoners created a community by organizing school for their children, publishing a camp newspaper, staging performances, etc. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Okubo's book is her lack of anger and bitterness. One would think forced relocation would spawn a lot of anger, but she emphasizes positive aspects of life at the camps, and even expresses some wistfulness about leaving upon her release. I'm not sure how we should read that--is it the genuine response of a young, resilient woman who was able to see the whole experience as an adventure? Her attempt to dignify the prisoners by emphasizing how well they made the most of the oppressive conditions? Or, seeing that the book was first published in 1946, a conscious effort not to voice more outrage than mainstream America was willing to tolerate from a Japanese-American woman so soon after our war with Japan? I wish I knew. In any case, Citizen 13660 is a very important document, which deserves a place next to other illustrated accounts of prisoner camps like Art Spiegelman's _Maus_ and _The Book of Alfred Kantor_.
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