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Interviews | November 3, 2009

Sheila A.: IMG On Storytelling: The Powells.com Interview with Donald Miller

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donaldmillerDonald Miller is a Christian writer, but the question that Miller asks with his latest memoir, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, is applicable to... Continue »
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The Complete Persepolis

by Marjane Satrapi

The Complete Persepolis Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Here, in one volume: Marjane Satrapi's best-selling, internationally acclaimed memoir-in-comic-strips.

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming — both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom — Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.

Review:

"A memoir of growing up as a girl in revolutionary Iran, Persepolis provides a unique glimpse into a nearly unknown and unreachable way of life....That Satrapi chose to tell her remarkable story as a gorgeous comic book makes it totally unique and indispensable." Time

Review:

"A dazzlingly singular achievement....Striking a perfect balance between the fantasies and neighborhood conspiracies of childhood and the mounting lunacy of Khomeini's reign, she's like the Persian love child of Spiegelman and Lynda Barry." Salon

Review:

"I cannot praise enough Marjane Satrapi's moving account of growing up as a spirited young girl in revolutionary and war-time Iran. Persepolis is disarming and often humorous but ultimately it is shattering." Joe Sacco, author of Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde

Review:

"[T]he latest and one of the most delectable examples of a booming postmodern genre: autobiography by comic book....Satrapi's drawing style is bold and vivid." The New York Times Book Review
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About the Author

Marjane Satrapi was born in Rasht, Iran. She now lives in Paris, where she is a regular contributor to magazines and newspapers throughout the world, including The New Yorker and The New York Times. She is the author of Embroideries, Chicken with Plums, and several children's books. She cowrote and codirected the animated feature film version of Persepolis.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Shoshana, July 18, 2008 (view all comments by Shoshana)
This is fascinating reading in a week where Iran is conducting missile tests. Like Bechdel's Fun Home, this memoir-in-cartoons begins in the narrator's girlhood and takes the reader through her young womanhood. Satrapi describes the Iranian revolution through a child's eyes--that is, personal concerns often supersede political knowledge. As the threat of fundamentalism grows, Satrapi's parents send her to Europe; after what sounds like a miserable adolescence, she returns to Iran. Where Bechdel's drawings are black lines on a white ground, Satrapi often works with white lines on a primarily black background. This contributes an atmospheric weight to her story, especially when all the men are dressed in black and the women are veiled. Some reviewers are unhappy with the middle European section, where Satrapi is a depressed, pot-smoking pseudo-anarchist. I thought it served as an excellent surreal foil for the equally surreal Iranian portions of the narrative that frame it.
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Booklover429, February 7, 2008 (view all comments by Booklover429)
Forget everything you think you know about Iran, Iranians and the Iranian revolution. The author of this page turning graphic novel was a young girl growing up in westernized, secular Iran under the Shah when revolution broke out. Unfortunately, power was ultimately seized by Islamic extremists and wearing a veil for women became mandatory, women could not go outside with a man who she was not related to, parties and alcohol were no longer allowed, and the repression under the new regime was far worse than under the old. Women's rights were set back centuries. The author's parents sent her to Europe to be safe and free, but being only 14 and alone Ms. Satrapi did not know how to handle freedom and the sexual revolution so foreign to her own upbringing and culture. I learned so much from this book, it is a must read, if for nothing else to learn that these people from the "Axis of Evil" are human beings like the rest of us. The graphics are excellent, the story riveting, you will not be able to put this book down. It has been made into a movie. If you have read the graphic novel Maus which won the Pulitzer prize, this book is on the same level and will haunt you in the same way.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780375714832
Author:
Satrapi, Marjane
Publisher:
Pantheon Books
Subject:
Women
Subject:
Personal Memoirs
Subject:
Middle East - Iran
Subject:
Satrapi, Marjane
Copyright:
2007
Publication Date:
October 2007
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
341
Dimensions:
8.92x6.09x1.05 in. 1.15 lbs.
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