Persepolis
At the bookstore, I couldn't find it in the "graphic novel" section and the clerk at the information desk informed me that it was shelved as a biography. In other bookstores, Persepolis has been classified under "Middle East History" and no wonder - like most good things it can't be simply classified.
It is the story of Marjane Satrapi's youth in Iran during the Islamic revolution that deposed the Shah. Her style is deceptively simple but as you move through the book you forget about its format and become touched by the stories inside: being forced to wear a veil, political oppression and imprisonment, love between social classes, and how children understand and come to grips with the folly of adult worlds.
Good books find themselves perpetually relevant and one cannot read Persepolis without thinking of the world today: Islamic violence, George Bush's "Axis of Evil," and how real people are affected by the decisions of the political hegemons.
I remember being in Nairobi, reading casualty reports of the Iran-Iraq war on Sundays in the paper. I've talked to Iranians who escaped in the early 1980s. But this was different. Enhanced. It put me on the ground, giving me a more personal, open account of what happened.
Satrapi goes into detail about why she wrote the book, the format, and its meaning here. There are quite a few people who have a hard time with the graphic novel format. I feel sorry for them.
The story ends sadly but take heart; there is a second installment that follows it up.
6:55:51 AM 
|
