We Are Not Free by Traci Chee (a review)

We Are Not Free by Traci Chee commonplace book entry.

We Are Not Free by Traci Chee

Published: September 1, 2020, Clarion Books

Genre: Young Adult Histroical Fiction

Format: Audiobook narrated by a Full Cast

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Bookshop | Libro fm 

Book Description

We Are Not Free, is 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 is an absolute must read. When it comes to historical fiction set during World War II (WWII), there's a lot regarding the holocaust or specific battles from the war. Less frequently do you find historical fiction about the Japanese American experience during WWII. I'll admit, as a Japanese American myself, I know only the basics about the Japanese American internment during WWII.

Chee masterfully crafts a story that follows a friend group of fourteen teens over the span of three years. Each chapter is from a different perspective, with only one perspective repeating twice (the chapter at the start of the book and the chapter at the end). By following fourteen teens, Chee is able to capture many aspects of the Japanese American experience, including the initial placement into internment camps (perhaps more properly termed as incarceration camps), the separation based upon their answers to a loyalty survey, the creation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the eventual release of Japanese Americans from the camps. The narration is seamless despite the multiple POVs.

And I get it, finally. 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.

From We Are Not Free, Chapter 2.

I originally read this story in 2021, and I recently acquired the audiobook and reread it. The audiobook narration adds an extra layer of emotions to the story that made me cry multiple times. We Are Not Free is a story I know I'll revisit often. I think the story is particularly impactful right at this moment in 2025 because although the situations are different, there are similarities between the Japanese American experience and those being arrested by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today, namely the uncertainty of their status and questioning of their identity. I think there's a lot that can be learned by reading the varying perspectives of We Are Not Free.

They were American boys once, fearless, patriotic, wholesome, polite, but then the evacuation, then the camps, then segregation, and if these things did not happen to American boys, then they could not be American boys, but they wanted to be something. Not American? Okay, then, Japanese.

From We Are Not Free, Chapter 15.

The plot of We Are Not Free isn't unique considering that it is largely based off of real events, but it quickly provides readers with an overview of the varying experiences the Japanese Americans had during this time and adds a human, emotional aspect to it that one may not feel when simply researching WWII. If you haven't read it yet, I hope you'll consider picking it up this May to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander voices.

Do you have any unique historical fiction recommendations that I should check out?