Guantanamo Voices is an important addition to the conversation surrounding the continued presence of detainees in Gitmo and overall presence of US troops in Cuba. Each chapter is harrowing and infuriating. I struggled with some of the graphics, but I believe this was more due to the nature of an ARC than overall quality. In some chapters the art didn't quite mesh with the story being told, but again, this may be addressed in the final version.

"Voces de Guantanamo: verdaderas historias de la prisón más infame del mundo" es una novela gráfica que recoje, a manera de antología ilustrada, varias entrevistas a personas relacionadas a la prisión establecida en 2002 luego de ataques terroristas en EEUU y que al día de hoy alberga "detenidos" (no "prisoneros") que esperan aún que se les presenten cargos criminales.

Desde antiguos habitantes liberados y detenidos que cuentan las marcas que ha dejado y sigue dejando su estadía en la prisión, abogados que siguen luchando por que se cumpla el debido proceso, hasta antiguos miembros del staff que han querido sacar a la luz lo inhumano del complejo, acarreando consecuencias serias en muchas instancias.

Al igual que los campos de concentación para ciudadanos japoneses en EEUU que George Takei recordara en la novela gráfica ganadora del Premio Eisner 2020 "Nos LLamaron Enemigo" (They Called Us Enemy) "Voces de Guantanamo" es un recordatorio ilustrado de cómo el miedo nos puede convertir en los mismos mounstros que deseamos combatir.

It's impossible to read on any of my devices, the pages are too small, can't zoom them in and the formatting of the first few pages is off too.

Guantanamo Voices by Sarah Mirk is a book which I sincerely regret postponing for so long. As I imagined, the read was infuriating and devastating. However, it was also beautifully illustrated with a clear narrative. 

I worried in the opening chapter that the book may prove too basic in its facts; I am familiar with the questionable “detention” of individuals at Guantanamo Bay and how it came about. As we delved further into the story, it became clear that this refresher was essential for understanding the intent and consequences of the actions taken in the wake of 9/11 and its aftermath.

Telling the story of those detained at Guantanamo, those charged with guarding them and their lawyers, among others, each vignette reveals the injustices, the anguish and the failed patriotism that surrounds the compound. 

Reminiscent of Palestine by Joe Sacco, the anthology is compelling - a fact evidenced by the fact that once I picked it up, I could not put it down. 

I would encourage everyone to pick this up, whether Guantanamo Bay is familiar to you or not. It’s an essential read in 2020 as we place injustices across the world under the microscope.

This was incredibly harrowing. It taught me so much about what these prisoners went through. You can't help but feel completely helpless and devastated by the atrocities that occurred. I feel like I learned a lot about the laws and the ways the government got around them to keep prisoners in Guantanamo. It's deeply depressing but a necessary read. The comic format makes it easily accessible/easy to understand. There is definitely a bit of a weird tonal balance because of the cutesy nature of the drawing and the terrible stories it is portraying and I didn't love that but I feel like maybe it will make the book easier for a younger audience to pick up.

3.5 stars.

Review Note: The copy provided for the review was an uncorrected proof. As a result, the resolution was not high. Because of this, I found some sections of the book difficult to read. The finished book will be in full colour.

When reviewing some books, it is difficult to separate one’s political convictions from playing a role in the way one views a book. When a book’s subject touches something as emotive as detention without trial, it can be easy to get carried away with one’s own righteous indignation. Simply put does a one enjoy a book because it confirms one’s own biases about a subject. This is something I grappled with while reading Guantanamo Voices.

This is a story we all know. Hundreds of detainees were held without trial or charges for years. It should turn the stomach of anyone. Guantanamo Voices examines how we got here, what went on, and, how or indeed if we can move on.

The publisher describes it as an anthology of illustrated narratives which is the perfect description. The format reminds me of a book like Penelope Bagieu’s Brazen. The trick here is that each one of the oral history’s featured is brought to life by a different artist. Given that I am reviewing an uncorrected proof, some changes to the artwork might be made. That said the artwork is gorgeous. Moazzam Begg story especially captured the Kafkaesque hopelessness that detainees faced. They were tortured, humiliated, and, imprisoned with little or no hope of freedom. Some of the stories read like absurd scenes from The Thick of It or Veep while others read like horror stories.

Some of the art styles while all individually brilliant do jar with one another occasionally, but this is only to be expected when you have a diverse array of creators working on one book—an almost inconsequential quibble given the quality of illustration throughout.

As compellingly told as the stories were, they were also grim. Most of the stories left me angry and exasperated. Was this just an effect of my own biases being confirmed or something else? This is recent. This is now. Mirk reminds the reader in the coda not to get carried away. The people running the centre are not evil. It would be easier to understand if they were moustache-twirling villains, but they are not. They were soldiers that were given lawful orders. These terrible things that people at the time tried to stop from happening.

Mirk does a fantastic job of reminding us how urgent the story of Guantanamo Bay still is. It is also a reminder that graphic novels have an essential part to play in journalism. Guantanamo Voices should be mandatory reading for anyone who has doubts about voting this year. Even putting aside my perceptions of Gitmo before reading the book, Guantanamo Voices is a fine non-fiction graphic novel that I would highly recommend. I’ll be buying a copy once it is released.

25/30

The book give a stunningly deep insight in Guantanamo. Everyone needs to go through this emotional tale. This book deserves to be bought

Reminiscent of Maus and Persepolis, Guantanamo Voices is a graphic novel that tells the stories of the prisoners from the infamous GITMO prison, sometimes through the eyes of the prisoners themselves and sometimes through the prosecutors, lawyers and defenders who tried to help these men get a trial or freedom.


The shocking truth about these ‘worst of the worst’ men is that they were innocent, or weren’t charged of a crime. Picked up from random places due to the CIA’s bad information or bounty, these people were tortured and left to rot in the prison cells indefinitely where they slowly lose their hope. Only a handful have been released and some sent to countries they have never been to before. They were the lucky ones. How a country has been allowed to build a prison in foreign soil, to detain and torture people they have no evidence on, is unbelievable! I am appalled but considering the state of affairs all around the world (including my own country) right now, I am not surprised that this place and the people who encourage these atrocities exists.


This topic was well-researched by Sarah and her team. And the twelve artists have done an excellent job in telling the story. The Kindle version was a bit difficult to read. But this is a book I will recommend to everyone. Even if you don’t generally read graphic novels, this book must be on your TBR.


Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC.

A 5 out of 5 stars!


This book will be out on September 8, 2020.
A must read!

"Guantanamo Voices" depicts non-fiction accounts of real events that took place in the U.S. government's concentration camp on Guantánamo Bay. With beautiful illustrations, the author leads the reader through the complexities rarely told and heard accounts, hidden and whitewashed in the very recent of U.S. history. I recommend this book be placed in all high school libraries.

It's unfortunate that the children I teach are too young for this, because the harrowing and highly emotionally charged tale of Guantanamo needs to be told.  This is so important and the way that this was told in such an easy to read way just means that everyone needs to read this.

This reading gave me a very sad perspective, but real at the same time of Guantánamo, I really liked the way of telling each story and the art is great.

The resolution of the images wasn't good, sometimes it was hard to read it.
Overall, I liked the message and delivery. Book is detailed and full of easy infographics.

Guantanamo Voices by Sarah Mirk is a tough, but necessary read. Being born right before 9/11, I have always been aware of GITMO, but this graphic novel really opened my eyes to the horrifying reality of the prison. The different art styles were intriguing but became a bit jarring as the novel progressed. It took me out of the reading experience and made it harder to retain the information because I was constantly readjusting to the different illustrators.

Something like Guantanamo Voices is a difficult thing to review, much like Art Spiegelman's "Maus", it exists as a documentation of the horrors that humans can carry out on each other, like Maus, it's not intended to be "enjoyed", its there to educate, using a medium that many (wrongly) associate with being juvenile, and thus circumventing the reader's expectations? However, unlike Spiegelman's diary of his father's experiences of being a Polish Jew during the Second World War, it's unlikely to be held up as being something that everyone should read, and that's because it will be far too easy for it to be brushed aside as being unpatriotic by its American audience, an audience who aren't comfortable with challenging the behaviours of their own country and its leaders.

This comic book/graphic novel is a mirror, its intention is to be held up in front of people who defend their countries actions, not just Americans, but other members of the Allied forces that invaded Afghanistan and Iraq after the events of September 11, 2001. It isn't an attempt to say the occupations of those countries was incorrect, its entire purpose is to show that just because a nation declares that they are the good guys, it doesn't mean that they can't or won't commit atrocities, war crimes and take things way too far, it exists to show us that in amongst all of this, the torture, the secrecy, the breaking of the Geneva Convention, there were also still people questioning everything they saw or were asked to do and it's hard not to see how political changes and attitudes from that period in history have also led us down the path we're currently on in regards to Police Brutality.

This isn't just one person's tale, and it's not one-sided either, Mirk has been cautious to collate together interviews from people who served in Guantanamo, people who were supposed to be responsible for its detainee's (and an important distinction is made early on that people held there were never, ever regarded as prisoners as no charges were held against them) and the detainee's themselves, stats are used in order to tell the history of the location, including that Cuba has been trying to take the land back from the US since the '50s.

Now, this collection of interviews could have been collected into a paperback that laid everything out on the table, with no visual's to give the reader an idea of the conditions at the Detention Centre, but the choice to use the medium of a graphic novel works in its favour, early on we hear the story of Mark Fallon who is listed as being "Former Chief of Middle East Counterintelligence Operations for Naval Criminal Investigative Service", who thought his responsibility was to be in charge of interrogation techniques used upon the detainee's, he discovers early on though that the people being held there had been reported to have links to Al'Qaeda, that these links were unfounded and often untrue, in fact, none of the people held was even on the list of people NCIS knew to be members of al-Qaeda. We see first hand his dismay as he finds his powers taken away from him and his attempts to try and prevent evidence being destroyed and its thanks to Gerardo Alba's artwork that we feel the tension he must have felt at going against the actions of the country he had sworn to protect.

It's the artwork, then, that makes this stand out amongst other literature about America's War on Terrorism, an with each interview being illustrated by a different artist, we get a variety of unique styles, some typical Indie comic book whilst some wouldn't look out of place as political cartoons in a newspaper, and as a whole, the work comes together to create a disturbing look into a political power that will do absolutely anything in order to keep its grip on protecting its "freedoms".

Prior to reading Guantanamo Voices I knew VERY little about Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. I knew it was a sort of prison used by the US mainly for terrorists. I didn't even know that it wasn't actually in the US. 
With all the legal and political aspects of the detention camp and it's prisoners a non-fiction book could end up very dry. But what Guantanamo Voices manages to do is incredible. This being a graphic novel meant that it was more of a snapshot of Guantanamo but information is presented in a very clear and interesting way. The brief perspectives of various people from prisoners to former guards to lawyers gives an overview of what is actually happening there. Reading this graphic novel left me with so many questions and things that I want to go away and read more about which is EXACTLY what a great non-fiction should do. It has taught me so much and has left me wanting more. What more could you ask for as a reader? 
Reading Guantanamo Voices I was left feeling angry, frustrated, sickened, and shocked. It truly was a ride in to hell! Part of me wishes that I hadn't had the curiosity that made me read this book because then I wouldn't have discovered another example of how horrendous the human race can treat each other. I think everyone should read this but I think people also need to be very aware of how this book can affect you emotionally and mentally.

I received an eBook copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.  

As a fan of historical graphic novels, I was interested to get this artist's take on a sordid area of history which I wasn't completely familiar with. The story itself is an interesting one and decidedly moving as one would expect. The kinds of atrocities committed in the name of the war on terror is just horrifying and it is a hope that this will change for the better in the future.  I felt that the author's desire to give a voice to those who were voiceless was admirable and there was a sense of her own confusion at the injustice.

As a graphic novel, it was an interesting depiction of true events. There is a degree to which the lens is partisan, but at the same time, the soft artwork and colouring creates something of a switch with the tragic backdrop. I found it interesting to read and also engaging as a result.

Overall this might not be everybody's first choice, but if you want to explore history through this medium, it's a good option.

This book is a tough read. This is a compelling graphic novel telling the story of the detainment camp. This book was very informative and quite emotional. Many awful things happen to the prisoners, and it was painful yet enlightening to know about them.

"We created an entire new legal system for brown men. If these were white men from France or Germany, there is no way Guantanamo would exist", "racism is the reason for it. And nobody wants to talk about that"

"they're in there for a reason", "What is the reason? Often, facts matter less than the stories we tell ourselves."


This graphic novel packed such a punch in less than 200 pages. Guantanamo Bay is something that gets referenced in popular culture quite often but isn't something I've ever really known about. This book manages to tell so much factual information but this format makes it more digestible than a non-fiction book ever could.

Without being preachy or info-dumping, this book presents the truth of Guantanamo from the perspectives of 10 different people involved with the prison including former prisoners, lawyers, security guards, and journalists among others. What they show collectively is the severe and unjust treatment of the individuals unlawfully detained at the prison. There is so much that can be learned and discussed on the American political and justice system, race, nationality, prejudice, the principles of democracy, secret services and so much more. Above all else, what i took away from this is that people on all sides of the War on Terror are not so dissimilar, both are responsible for horrific war crimes and wrongdoing.
What especially resonates at the time of reviewing in June 2020, with the Black Lives Matter movement, is that the US political system has unchecked and unparalleled power. They can - and do - use to stop activists from doing the right thing if it so happens to contradicts the stance of the government, or in any way would make them look at fault. They uphold abuses of human rights and sustain racist practices in order to save their own face. These aren't stories i will forget anytime soon.

Each chapter follows a different story and has art by a different illustrator which i really loved! They all have their own unique style but are also cohesive as a collection. My favourite art style was by Maki Naro and my favourite story was chapter 7 about the animals at Guantanamo Bay. Some of the imagery is graphic but doesn't shy away from the truth which i thought was important for conveying the experiences of those imprisoned there.

The only thing i can complain about is my ARC copy - thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! - but the imagery and the text was of poor quality and made parts a struggle to read, with numbers being near impossible to make out! I don't hold it against this graphic novel because that is an issue with the ARC copies but not the actual book.

Guantanamo Voices is a compelling graphic novel telling us the stories from the detainment camp. These stories are illustrated by several different artists , each adding to the stories. I found the whole book incredibly informative and emotional and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more.

A lot of awful things are documented here, as this is just a window into a very secretive place. The focus, however, is not just the torture, but the individual stories of those imprisoned and those who stand guard over POWs that have not been charged with any crimes. It is unjust how the law is bent and distorted to justify Guantanamo's existence.