Book Review: Comic book tells serious story well
Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis" (2003) was its improbability. An autobiography written as a graphic novel? Written in French by an Iranian woman?
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
By Marjane Satrapi
The concept, telling a serious story in comic book form, was popularized by Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Maus," which explored the effects of the Holocaust on his family. Like "Maus," Satrapi's first book - an account of her childhood in revolutionary Iran - was a surprise best seller (though not in Iran, where it's contraband).
[Click Here To Buy The Book]
"Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return" picks up where the first book left off. An account of Satrapi's teens and early 20s in Europe and Iran, it's a coming-of-age story intensified by its clash-of-cultures backdrop.
Click Here For More Information
"Persepolis 2" begins in 1984, with the 14-year-old Satrapi arriving in Vienna alone. The problem? She's free to be herself, but Satrapi has no idea who she is. She becomes a punk and a druggie, striving to fit in with European friends just as alienated as she is. At 18, homesick and defeated, Satrapi returns to Iran. But as out of place as she felt in Europe, she feels more so at home.
The most irresistible part of Satrapi's story is her stubborn and subversive streak. She doesn't just question authority figures - she fights back, then willingly suffers the consequences. She is smart and brave and outspoken; so are her friends and family members.
By the book's end, Satrapi has decided there is no future for a progressive single woman in Iran. There's little doubt there will be a "Persepolis 3."
Printed
version
Send
to a friend!
Archived on
Misc
Back
