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.

"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.

I had to DNF this book after 40 pages, it was just getting too difficult for me to actually read this on my kindle and clearly see what the text was saying. Unfortunately it was too distorted and causing me headaches.

I did however, gather how important this graphic novel is and the story it is telling and therefore will be rating it 3 stars.

I can imagine my rating would be higher than this had I been able to finish the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me a copy of this graphic novel to read and review.

First things first, this is an important read. I came in not knowing a whole lot about Guantanamo and came out a whole lot angry and the injustice that has occurred there and how the current administration undid any plans to get rid of the prison. This graphic novel tells important stories from people who have either been to or have worked with some aspect of the prison. It's not a fluffy, lighthearted read. It is graphic in language and what it talks about at times (torture, injustice, etc.), But nonetheless, it is important and informative.

First, I want to thank NetGalley and Abrams ComicArts for making this ARC available for me to read and review.

The one thing that was a negative to me about reading this ARC was that the image quality was rather poor so it took a lot of effort to make out the text on each page; however, I assume that the published version will have excellent image resolution.

However, despite that issue, the information and human stories conveyed in these pages drew me in enough that I read every page. Part of what drew me to want to read this book was the fact that not too long ago the podcast RadioLab did a 6 episode series on one of the people held at Guantanamo: Abdul Latif Nasser (who is actually mentioned in this book as well).

This is by no means a comprehensive volume about people who are connected to Guantanamo for the time they have spent there - including those who only visited, worked there, as well as those held there. But, it is a topic that feels so big that it can be hard to know where to begin. And this is a great book to begin with. The illustrations do a lot to help convey more than sometimes words can do by themselves. This includes the decision to have each person's story illustrated by a different artist. Every person has their own voice and this change in artistic style from story to story helps the reader make the shift to a new voice,

Content Warning: lots of mentions of torture, though it doesn't go into very specific details

I was born in 94, so most of what I had heard about Guantanamo was when I was quite a bit younger. I have only really had a vague sense of what was going on there. I have believed it should be shut down due to illegal interrogation methods. But I was also under the impression that the prisoners there had concrete ties to terrorist groups. I mention all this to tell you that this book made me so much more informed about the topic. And I am devastated that this has been going on for so long, with so little evidence that 90% of these prisoners even had anything to do with a terrorist organization. This was a supremely difficult read, but I am glad I did it. I think it's important that others read this too. Especially in light of the camps immigrants are being held in. It's hard to hope that America will ever learn it's lesson and stop imprisoning people due to misplaced fear and extreme ignorance. I hope this book serves to educate others in the way it has me and also remind us that we always need to be fighting for the unjust treatment and imprisonment of people in our country. Especially those from marginalized communities.

Thank you to Abrams and Netgalley for providing with with a free copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

I'll admit I was nervous to read this book. Nervous that it would be too much. Nervous I would have to face uncomfortable truths. And while these ended up being true, it was all an important discomfort. The topic of Guantanamo Bay is a fraught one. Every adult should read this book and sit in their discomfort.

Firstly thank you to Abrams Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

I have always wanted to obtain some detailed information and knowledge about Guantanamo Bay, its history, formation and prisoners. And this book was just what I was looking for.

It is anthology of illustrated narratives by journalist Sarah Mirk about the prison,former prisoners, lawyers, social workers, and service members. It depicts the horror of the place and the lives that it has affected.

This book is so well written and it just invokes so much anger and sadness within you about the cruelty and injustice that the prisoners have faced. Im a believer of justice and I hope and pray these prisoners get justice because while it is important to punish the guilty, it is also equally important to protect the innocent.

You know, one of the most eyebrow-raising things for us humble book reviewers is to see a book say not once but at least twice what it's not going to do. This one said it was not going to take a side for or against the continued existence of Guantanamo Bay's prison for alleged Islamist terrorists, held without trial. And it actually didn't, to my surprise. Put a damp flannel in its gob for a while and it would certainly say it disliked the stats of the place – the high percentage of people there because others had taken a bounty from the US military to accuse them, the excessively low percentage of successful charges being handed out, the remarkable cost and staff-to-inmate ratio of maintaining it. But, like it or not, decades after the post 9-11 administration bent the rules on military imprisonment to fly what they thought were Islamist terrorists to southern Cuba, and certainly years after Barack "Yes we Can" Obama said he'd shut it down (no, he couldn't), it is still there. 40 people, seemingly there for life. There are now more walkers and hospice-styled rooms than the earlier photos of be-bagged prisoners in red jumpsuits would have you assume.

This book, plainly and unshowily presented, sometimes dramatises an interview without editorialising, and other times presents it very journalistically, but always tries to talk about the place at hand, whether from the point of view of the key-holders or not. It goes for a factual visual approach too (this is no extraordinary rendition lol), even with a cleverly reduced palette, but does manage to put a lot of life into stultifying hours of sol-co.

However, what the book says what it's not doing is one thing, what it does is another, and what it does not do is a third. It features Moazzam Begg, one of the most notorious inmates, due to his speaking English, due to his use of a singular British lawyer to get the whole habeus corpus issue into the light, and one of the people most easily linked with known terrorists, terrorist funding, and terrorist sympathising, before and after his confinement. Oh, and the chap that allegedly inspired this book, as an ex-Gitmo guard? Yup, one of his literary collaborators. Anything is sullied by working with Begg, it's fair to say – but the book doesn't dare mention he might have a rum side. But then, "facts matter less than the stories we tell ourselves".

Overall it's easy too to see problems that are not unique to these pages, but spread universally about comment on Guantanamo. More than one reference to Nuremberg is made – yeah, you think in this day and age we'd have still sped through the Nazi trials within a couple of years? That's piffle – whatever the regulations standing these days, the equivalent would be spread out over years of investigation and sitting on things; many are the murderers with multiple eye witnesses and instant pleas of guilt who don't see a courthouse for months. Everyone is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but too often the idea of 'lack of proof of guilt is no proof of innocence' is swept under the carpet.

Oh, and look out for the tortuous use of Marilyn Manson lyrics twelve years before they were written. The place is a time warp, don't'cha know.

Sarah Mirk makes powerful use of the graphic novel form. Guantanamo Voices is literary in the work it does, even with the deceptive simplicity of words and pictures. There is much in this book to continue thinking about.

The problem with Americans is that we have a short attention span. It does not help that the media does too. And although I like to think that I keep uπ on current events, and that I have followed everything that happened with Guantanamo, this book revealed that I have not, and do not, and could not know all.

This very detailed non-fiction book follows some of the men imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, who have never been charged with a crime. Which is against the constitution. But because we are holding them on Cuban soil, somehow we get away with it? Never mind that Cuba has been trying to get us to leave since Castro first came to power.

Sarah goes there and interviews some of the workers there, who are told the same line that these are the worst of the worse. And yet, how long has it been that they have been held there? With no trail? With no charge?

Each section is drawn by a different artist. Some concentrate on stories of the prisoners themselves. Some focus on the people who have tried to help the prisoners.

Sad. Gripping. This book shines a bright light on information that the current government would rather keep buried.

Even if you think you know all there is to know about Guantanamo, you should pick up this book to see just what is going on in reality.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Thank you Abrams Publishing and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy

Available September 8th 2020

Guantanamo Bay is, as President George Bush famously declared it, an example of the "worst of the worst" in that it shows the dark side of American History. In Sarah Mirk's graphic anthology, "Guantanamo Voices", the malignant and horrific truth of the events that took place in Guantanamo come to life. With accounts from guards, defense attorneys, prosecutors and ex-detainees, Mirk places a face and a story to each of the 7600 page human rights violations committed on Guantanamo. It is a brutal read. I cried several times, especially at the story of Mansoor Adayfi, a prisoner who risked his life trying to protect the animals at the camp. To honor the memories of those who have suffered and continue to suffer endlessly under the American surveillance state, "Guantanamo Voices" is a necessary read.

Thank you for writing this! I’ve always known about Guantanamo but only on the surface and being able to read really encounters of those actually there and their thoughts and experiences has been truly eye opening.

I wish more people would pick up this book and try to have an open mind about the people held there.

For me this was an incredibly well written and insightful story with such purpose, albeit a frustrating read (thanks to those in US GOV!)

Really something that will stay with me for a while. I’ll be adding this to my library when it’s out!

This book made me incredibly angry. You think you know how insanely horrible a place Guantanamo Bay is, you think you've heard the worst, and of course it turns out this is a deep, deeeeep well of sorrow.

The book is a collection of transcribed interviews with all kinds of people connected to the prison at Guantanamo - from actual prisoners who were released (or former 'detainees', in the US government's Newspeak), to lawyers trying to get prisoners out of there, to soldier's who have served there. Each interview is illustrated by a different artist, and it helps to see real (well, illustrated real..) faces to ground the stories that are told.

And what stories they are.. people like to chirrup "it's Nineteen Eighty-Four!" at the drop of a hat, but Guantanamo actually qualifies to be called Orwellian. A seemingly impenetrable house of mirrors, a shaky structure of rules recurving on itself, without a visible exit. And towards the end of the book, just when you are at your angriest and simultaneously feel completely helpless, you are reminded not to give up, that giving up hope is exactly what 'the other side' wants. It helps, a tiny bit.

Read these stories, don't let them get away with this.

A harrowing and informative non fiction account of Guantanamo bay. Really enjoyed the art style and how it changed slightly throughout the different accounts, something I’ll be thinking about for a while 5/5