Book Review: Persepolis and Persepolis 2 -Updated
Jan 10th, 2008 by jeremy
Updated 1/11. I added a list of other reviewers at the end of the post.
This is kind of a cheat, but it seemed like an easy way to catch up so I could stick with the idea. So this covers book one and two in Jamie’s 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.
The Persepolis books are graphic novels that cover Marjane Satrapi’s life as a young child to young adult growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. The artwork is simple but expressive, the style has recently been used in the upcoming movie based on the books.
Persepolis begins when Marjane is ten, the Islamic revolution is changing the people around her and suddenly her life as a care-free girl is transformed into a bleak time where she sees a lack of equality wherever she turn. Eventually her parents send her to Europe for her own safety, they fear her rebelious attitude and love for Western culture will lead to trouble.
The most interesting part of the book is being able to see the change in the country through this young girls point of view. She describes the first time they’re required to wear veils and the fear she feels by keeping posters of rock stars. The amount of detail she recalls is amazing, and combined with the illustrations and characters expressions, it isn’t hard to understand how much of a change she was forced to go through.
Persepolis 2 continues her story. She is returning to Iran from Europe after living with friends, selling drugs for her boyfriend, and being homeless for a time. She is forced to once again start wearing a veil and ive under the regime she had left years earlier. Again the artwork is fantastic, the story not so much. Part of the problem may be the first book. The excitement and interesting descriptions of her life in Iran were so perfect in the first book, in the second the tone turns almost whiney. Still, it kept my interest as it examined how lonely she becomes upon her return, as well as looking at the feelings she had toward the people she had previously left behind. She has a real talent in being able to help me relate to the sacrifices the people in the regime made while trying to keep their sanity while so many changes were taking place.
Both are books I want to read to my daughter in the next year or two. The changes that took place during the revolution affected women in many ways that I think would interest her.
Don’t let it scare you away that these are graphic novels or comic books, they’re as good as any biography I’ve read. Persepolis 5 out of 5, Persepolis 2 4 out of 5. Feel free to borrow it from me, or checkit out at the Library. Davis County has 3 copies.
Rating Persepolis A, Persepolis 2 B
Others participating in the 52 week challange
- Heliologue reviews The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman
- Rob reviews the Kite Runner (a book I’m planning on getting to this year) by Khaled Hosseini
- Jamie reviews Jennifer Government by Max Barry
- Brian reviews Lyon’s Pride by Anne Mcaffrey
- Natasha reviews Sold by Patricia McCormick.