Book Review: Persepolis (OT)(contemporary girlhood in Iran, graphic novel)

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, Volumes 1 and 2 together (Pantheon, 352pp, 2007, $25.95, highschool and above) Review by Skye Anderson. Also a movie, a major motion picture that won the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize.

Persepolis, A Former Capital of Persia (Iran)

Persepolis, A book

Persepolis, An Archeological Site

Persepolis, A movie with Sean Penn, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands, Iggy Pop which was banned in Iran (remember that Anna and the King of Siam was banned in Thailand?)

I never thought I would read an adult comic book. I guess they are called graphic novels and this one is 341 pages long and quite famous, thanks to it also being a movie.

Young Marjane Satrapi is an only child growing up in Tehran during some wars in the late 20th century. She traces the history of her country starting in the 1950s and especially during the removal of the Shah and the new Islamic government that then took over. Members of Marjane's family were imprisoned and executed for speaking out for freedom. Her immediate family exists by revolting in private but that is a lesson this young girl simply cannot learn. Her parents (somehow well-off) send her to friends in Vienna where she does not have to wear the veil but meets a barrage of characters - she takes drugs, smokes, plays around, gets kicked out and returns to Iran where she also doesn't fit in. What happens to her creativity and personal life then is a merry-go-round that is sometimes hard to follow.

Suitable for highschool students and up, the author tells it like it is with all the swear words she needs and depicting the underlife of Vienna and the inside life of Tehran.

A table of contents would make reading Persepolis easier though chapter titles are descriptive. The print may be a bit small for some and the figures are rather primitive but the reader can always tell who is who.

All in all, this is a story of family, and growing up, and leaving family. It is also a story of love for parents and their unconditional love for their offspring. All in all, it is a hopeful book.

Book Review: The Man Who Died Twice (OT)(British, murder mystery, senior citizens)

The Man Who Died Twice, by Richard Osman (Penguin Books, 2022, 400pp, $13.13 PB) Review by Skye Anderson

"Highly Recommended"

The Man Who Died Twice came highly recommended to me by a couple of friends in their 70s, the ages of the quartet of British sleuths in this book, and is a multi-million copy bestseller (whatever 'bestseller' means), so why was it so hard for me to finish. over several weeks with a break in the middle?

NPR's Book of the Day for October 3, 2024, is the newest Richard Osman title and series (We Solve Murders)

while Man is a "Thursday Murder Club Mystery." The best thing about Man, to this reviewer, is the large print and 84 short chapters, some with titles, plus the two pages of discussion questions for readers and a cute fox on the cover.

If you like voluminous Russian novels with numerous characters and long Russian names (lots of consonants), you will love Man, set in England with just as many characters (but shorter names) of all generations and genders (so the names transcend the generations and genders, thereby making it even harder for me to remember who's who)

Man is the second in the series (and soon to be major motion picture) starting with The Thursday Murder Club (soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment) and followed by The Bullet That Missed and The Last Devil to Die (in that order). I really should try reading another Osman book, but, in the meantime, here below is a sample of the humor.

Two women cross the Channel into Belgium for the day and buy souvenirs for their friends: "It was quite a long journey back, so somewhere in northern France I unwrapped Ibrahim's chocolates and we ate them, and then I unwrapped Ron's beers and we drank them."

Book Review: Have You Met Stephanie Plum? (single, female bounty hunter)

Have You Met Stephanie Plum? by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press, 52 pp, 2003, FREE Sampler) Review by Skye Anderson

If you like the Kinsey Milhone alphabet mysteries by Sue Grafton (set in California) and have read all 25 of them like I have, you will love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum!

And if you haven't read the Kinsey books, try them, along with Evanovich's 31, and you will be hooked!

Have You Met Stephanie Plum? is a sampler. In this very short book with episodes from the first nine of her 31 books, we can read samplers ranging from just a couple of pages to 14 pages as we are introduced to all the main characters from Grandma Mazur to police officer Joe Morelli and former Army ranger, Ranger, along with Golden Retriever, Bob, plus Lula, the former 'ho' turned assistant bounty hunter. Our heroine, Stephanie, attracts unsavory characters, many of whom she went to school with, along with Morelli. And speaking of Morelli - and Ranger - Stephanie can't decide which one she should end up with.

Set in Trenton, New Jersey, with all of its culture, this sampler book also has a short summary of each of the nine books so far. I'd recommend starting with the first book but if you can't get it, start anywhere and get ready to laugh at the antics and exploding cars!

Book Review: Poppies of Iraq (OT) (hardback comic book, a graphic novel)

Poppies of Iraq, by Brigitte Findakly (Drawn & Quarterly, 120pp, 2017, ages 14 and up, $21.95) Review by Skye Anderson

I never thought I would read a comic book that wasn't for kids (shades of Dennis the Menace) but this was a lovely experience with pages of photographs interspersed among pages and pages of story-text with each sentence illustrated by the author's husband and colored by the author.

A story about growing up in Iraq (before moving to France to live [and marry]), written in and translated from French, Poppies of Iraq is a quick read but one you can put down and pick up again, easily. 

Brigitte spends her childhood in Mosul, Iraq, and comes from a very large Christian family. Her story begins before she was born: her father went to France for his degree in dentistry and married his French wife there before returning to Iraq. The author takes us through the next few decades and episodes of being a minority, of visiting relatives in France for the summers, living in a 'war' torn country (civil wars) but as a child, so we learn how she sees and is shielded from politics and discrimination. 

One  Page

When Brigitte then spends the rest of her childhood in France, she is also a minority - someone who speaks French but doesn't read or write it and is therefore 'put back' in school. After a few trips back to Iraq over the years she finally comes to the realization that she may never fit in, in either country.

The story weaves back and forth and touches upon Saddam Hussein and some of his acts, as well as being a pretty good history text book of a few decades.

What is it really like to be a child in turbulent times? What is one aware of and what does one remember - perhaps the pet you had to leave behind, perhaps playing with the little girl next door after months of the families ignoring each other because they are 'different.'

And the drawings are fun!