Satrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis.
New York, NY: Pantheon.
Summary: In the book Persepolis, Marjane grows up in Iran in the 1970s and lives during the time after the Iranian Revolution. Marjane goes to a secular French school that is then shut down as it becomes illegal under the new law. Her parents and modern and pretty secular with their beliefs. They are often dismayed by the new laws and leadership of the new Islamic Republic. Her parents become even more weary when a new law is passes that all women are required to wear veils. Marjane quickly learn of the issues that have gone on in her country even to her own grandfather, a persian prince. She learns that her grandfather was often taken and tortured because of his status. Over the next couple of years, Marjane quickly see the human rights abuses that are taking place in her country. Assassination, imprisonments, totures, and executions. She begins to believe that nobody in her family are heroes and she starts to idolize a couple of the released prisoners who helped in the war. After seeing the assassination of her uncle, Marjane completely rejects God and her religion. Marjane's family decide to stay in Iran and she further sees the cost of war and the devastation that comes along with it. She sees the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War and begins to feel a strong sense of pride for her country. But after she sees the fleeing of refugees and the death of her best friend, Marjane becomes more outwardly spoken about her feelings towards the war and the government. Eventually, her beliefs and her words become so strong that her parents decide to send to school in Vienna where she would be free to speak her mind and have the freedom she has always wanted.
Strengths: Persepolis is a memoir about a woman who grew up in Iran. The book's strengths are how she portrays daily life in her country. A country where there are public punishments, war and political corruption. She uses black and white images to show the starkness and contrast of where she grew up and the difficulties that her family and people had to face during the war with Iraq among other conflicts. This books really shows how the human spirit can triumph even through the most difficult times.
Author Interview:
Movie Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PXHeKuBzPY
Similar Books:
- City of Glass by Paul Karasik
- Dropsie Avenue by Will Eisner
- The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert
- Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang
Other books by Marjane Satrapi:
- The Sigh
- Monsters Are Afraid of the Moon
- Embroideries
LSSL 5385 Requirement Met: Read Persepolis
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