Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (2003)
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Genre: Graphic Novel (Memoir)
Book Summary:
This autobiographical novel tells the story of Marjane Satrapi’s childhood in Tehran. The story commences in 1979 when Marjane is 10-years old and wearing the veil has recently become mandatory due to the Islamic Revolution. Marjane, an only child, lives in a very progressive household where dissent is common and more than one of her relatives has been imprisoned due to his Communist beliefs. The story captures Marjane’s (also known as Marji) childhood from when she was ten up until her adolescent years of fourteen. Her personal life at home is inextricably bound to the downfall of the Shah, the Islamic Revolution, and the war with Iraq. However, her personal life is also contradictory to what she learns at school and what she sees on the news. By the time Marjane is 14, she has become rebellious and the regime has only gotten more repressive. One day she returns home from shopping for jeans and discovers that an Iraqi missile has bombed the family next door. No one in the family survived. Shortly after this occurrence, her parents decide to send her to Austria to live with friends of the family and to attend a French school.
Geographical Setting: Tehran, Iran
Time Period: 1979-1984
Series: First in the Persepolis series
Appeal Characteristics:
The character of Marji Satrapi is young and evolving. At the tender age of ten, she is unsure of her beliefs, but learns about herself and the realities of the world around her throughout the story. Though very serious, her antics are occasionally humorous, in a reflective manner. The minor characters are well-defined, but serve primarily to provide background and better understanding of Marji. The pace moves quickly through the novel as the reader watches Marji grow older and mature. This quick pace is directed mostly by political events that evoke a reaction in Marji and her family. This is the crux of the storyline, understanding the political conflict as filtered through a young impressionable mind. This develops a mixture of character-driven storyline and events directed, though tragic, storyline. Neither can be exclusive as the reader understands the characterization through direct reaction to the events. The frame primarily dark. The context offers opportunity for discussion of torture, imprisonment, riots and protests. Seeing this through the naivety of the main character, this is somewhat lightened by the livelihood and misconceptions inherent in youth, however, the majority of the novel is quite dark. Marji's writing style is concise and straightforward. She is able to take a devastating event and succinctly provide a family varying response, then move on to the next event without further concentration. Yet, in this, the reader is also able to see how earlier events continue to affect Marji's changing responses later in the novel. The art is simple - straightforward and succinct. Black and white simple drawings lack detail, but serve to offer the most basic of understanding the events and reactions in the story. For anyone who experienced adolescence in the early eighties, you may appreciate references to Michael Jackson, Kim Wilde, and Iron Maiden.
Read-alikes: This 2004 Alex Award-winning graphic novel has a sequel, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, that should not be missed. Persepolis 2 recounts Marji’s experiences in Vienna and her return to Iran. For a similar read, try Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco. In this nonfiction graphic novel, Sacco recounts his experiences immersed in the every day life of Bosnia from 1995-1996. This novel features a similarly dark tone, mixing in the slight humor of daily life happenings amidst devastating times. Further, the story line is a good match as well, developing an overview of the political happenings through the relationships and reactions of every day people. If you are looking for a novel that is both autobiographical and historical in nature then you must read Art Spiegelman’s, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History. This is one man’s depiction of the holocaust based on his father’s testimonials as a survivor. The novel also deals with Spiegelman’s difficulty and adjustment as a child of survivors. The sequel to this novel, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale 2: And Here My Troubles Began should not be missed either. This novel details his parent’s horrific experiences in Auschwitz, their release, and their eventual immigration to the United States. It should be noted that the characterization in this novel depicts Germans as cats, Jews as mice, and Poles as pigs. If you are specifically interested in autobiographical novels about childhood and coming of age then you should try David B.’s, Epileptic. This novel recounts the story of B.’s childhood in the early seventies in France and his brother’s severe epilepsy that took center stage in the family. Another novel that falls in this category is Phoebe Gloeckner’s, A Child’s Life and Other Stories. This autobiographical novel fearlessly explores child abuse (physical and sexual) and contains stories that revolve around Minnie who is also known as Mary and Penny. Joe Sacco’s, Palestine, should not be missed if you are looking for a work of political and historical nonfiction. Although it is not autobiographical, the novel is based on research and an extensive trip he took to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the early nineties. Sacco also conducted interviews while on his trip to compile this novel that chronicles the lives of prisoners, refugees, farmers, and families whose lives have been forever transformed by the Palestinian conflict. Like Persepolis, it portrays the lives of people living under an oppressive regime. This novel was originally released in two volumes but has recently been combined into one volume. Another great memoir about the lives of modern Iranian women is Azadeh Moaveni's Lipstick Jihad: Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran. Moaveni, who is the American-born daughter of Iranian immigrants writes about her life in Iran, covering the pro-democracy demonstrations in 1999 and the reactions to the 2002 "Axis of Evil" label. Readers might also like Craig Thompson's Carnet de Voyage, another memoir in graphic novel form. A manga that deals with surviving a war is Barefoot Gen, by Keiji Nakazawa. This events in this work are loosely based on the personal experiences of the author during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the United States. Another suggestion for readers interested in another personal account of life in Iran before, during, and after the Islamic Revolution is Tales of Two Cities: A Persian Memoir, by Abbas Milani. Milani, a professor. Though not a graphic novel, this book details the author's experiences participating in anti-Shah protests, being arrested, and living under the Islamic Revolutionary Regime. Though not set in Iran, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, is also a personal memoir of childhood experiences. The story revolves around the author's relationship with her father. For those who found themselves most drawn by the coming of age story and social commentary, Daniel Clowes' Ghost World--the story of two working-class teenage girls struggling to accept change--might be interesting (although much more explicit in terms of language and sexual situations). Fans of Persepolis' simple but expressive art and extremely humanizing look at the "Axis of Evil" should look into Guy Delisle's Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, which tells of the author's adventures while supervising the animation of a North Korean children's cartoon show. Finally, if you want to try a book without illustrations but which still deals with women's experiences in Iran from a first-person perspective, Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran is the true story of an Iranian professor who resigns from her university post but then invites seven of her best female students to make a weekly study of Western literature in her home. You may also enjoy reading about Katin, and her struggles to understand life after escaping the Nazis in Budapest in We Are on Our Own: A Memoir by Miriam Katin. This graphic novel features hardship told from a child's point of view as they flee Nazi regime. The framing of the poignancy of a child narrator amidst devastations and writing style make this a good match. Though darker, one might appreciate viewing the frame of a similar atrocity, the genocide in Rwanda through Deogratias, a tale of Rwanda by Jean-Phillippe Stassen. In this story, a teenage boy wavers within sanity as he encounters the devastating horrors of the genocide in Rwanda. The framing of everyday life amidst a major political conflict and the tragic storyline make this a good match.
Red Flags: There are some graphic depictions of violence and war, some profanity, and death.
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (2004)
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Genre: Graphic Novel (Memoir)
Plot Summary:
Marjane Satrapi is sent to Austria around the age of 14 to escape the post revolution in Iran. She gets overwhelmed because of the new customs and new language. As she tries to identify who she is, she feels excluded due to her nationality, and then becomes friends with a group of radical kids and begins to try new things, such as drugs. As she develops new friends and has more experiences in Europe, she is eventually reduced to poverty and lives on the streets. She decides to return home to her family in Iran, where she has to re-adjust herself to fit within the strict codes of behavior. SPOILER: She ends up getting married and going to college in Iran. In the end, she gets a divorce and moves out of Iran.
Geographical Setting: Austria and Iran
Time Period: 1980s
Series: Book 2 in Persepolis Series
Appeal Characteristics:
The art work in this book is clean lined, simple, monochromatic, and not very concerned with details. The main character is very highly developed, because of the nature of the memoir, but most other characters are not given much precedence. The story line moves quickly as it does not develop side characters and is based mainly on the events of Marjane's life. The frame of this book is a strong appeal characteristic because it deals with self discovery and post-war events.
Read-alikes: If you liked the art work and heavy tones of Persepolis 2 you might be interested in Maus by Art Spiegelman. This graphic novel is also a memoir of wartime as Artie, the main character, finds out gradually through the book exactly what his father went through during the holocaust as a Jewish survivor. On the same heavy note as Persepolis 2 andMaus, Reading Lolita in Tehran:A memoir in books by Azar Nafisi, though not a graphic novel, also deals with war and specifically the same time period and same location as Persepolis 2. This book tracks the life of the author, as she deals with turbulent times in Iran with the revolution and with the restrictions placed on the people of Iran afterward. This book has the same tones and same frame as Satrapi's Persepolis.
Palestine by Joe Sacco also has these same characteristics. The darker tone and heavy subject matter with the same frame of describing an area a the end of an uprising, gives the reader the same feelings that Satrapi gives in her work. Joe Sacco lived with the Palestinians for two years and describes how the Israeli domination effected his friends there. This compelling story will have you enthralled.
If you liked more of the self discovery motif and the artwork that Satrapi created in her book, you might be interested in Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, which depicts the story of two young girls and their friendship. They have a hard time fitting in and have to find themselves through the story. This book was also made in to a movie, for those of you who liked that Persepolis also was made into a motion picture. Now if you felt very inspired by Satrapi's artwork you might like David B.'s Epileptic, which also has the same simple, monochromatic, little detailed style. This book is also very fast paced as it tells the story of his family and dealing with his brother's epilepsy. They all learn a lot about themselves and about their family as they work they work through the hard times and laugh through the good.
Red Flags: Drug use, sexual innuendo and cursing
|top|
|
