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.