Books : Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5944
EAN: 9780375714573
ISBN: 037571457X
Label: Pantheon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 160
Publication Date: June 01, 2004
Publisher: Pantheon
Release Date: June 01, 2004
Sales Rank: 4265
Studio: Pantheon
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A New York Times Notable Book
A Time Magazine “Best Comix of the Year”
A San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times Best-seller
Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I read this book, and I was very unimpressed with the amount of opinion Satrapi put out as fact. The story is clearly biased against the Islamic Republic, which is fine, but is overly so. Satrapi never gives explanations on events that are critical to the entire picture. She never gives the reasons for why so many of her family members were harassed, and even killed. From what I read, I understand that her family were communists, and at the time, communists were trying to seize power in the revolution. Many of the groups against the existing government including communists spread havoc, and provoked terrorism, but Satrapi never says these things. She just names who were killed. She claims things like Iran rejected an offer of peace in the Iran-Iraq war from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, but doesn't go on and say that the conditions to that "peace" would devastate the economy.
Besides these faults, I enjoyed some parts of the book. It portrayed many parts of Iranian culture in a bad light, but was written and drawn powerfully. I would say it is propaganda, but I think it is written too well to have been motivated for propaganda.
Rating:  -
This book was needed for a college course I am taking and I never got it. I just hope the one I purchased for the second time gets to me before I need to read the book.
Rating:  -
People often associate comic books with childrens' fiction, as if the medium itself is inflexible. Some of us the comic lovers know that is not the case. And case in point Persepolis - where the emotions of a little girl in the politically and socially charged Iran takes us through what would have been a blind journey. I think pictures don't necessarily paint a thousand words, it paints many, and it leaves the number to the reader. While written words force a description on your mind, a picture leaves a lot to your imagination. It lights the spark with the image, and the image takes on its own life in your mind. This is what I felt while reading Persepolis, where just with two shades, Marjane Satrapi gives us enough fodder to ruminate in the visual fields of our imagination. I could see the drastic transformation of one of her neighbours going from a mini-skirt to the veiled burkha.
Marjane Satrapi is gifted and trained no doubt, and it shows in the depictions of emotions that are otherwise hard to describe. You may also want to look for books by Dupuy and Berberian, that tell of personable tales in their lives or fictitious characters drawn with similar dexterity.
Rating:  -
With Marjane Satrapi's animated film playing in theatres and available on disc, I almost jumped at the chance to read her book, the part-comic/part-memoir of Satrapi's childhood in Tehran, Iran.
To avoid confusion with more current events, `Marji' (as she was called as a child) recalls her upbringing in a Marxist family, the fall of the last Shah regime, the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and Iran's war against Iraq in the 80's. While Satrapi's words are powerful enough to get in your head and stay there, her simple black-and-white drawing style captures the laughter, the tears, and the raw emotion felt throughout the story. Though only an individual account, the story itself is quite vivid in describing how Iran had left a world of tyranny and chaos--only to wind up in another. Though controversial in its own right, "Persepolis" is still a riveting book for those seeking intelligent reading.
This comic is unrated: Violence, Adult Language, Adult Situations.
Rating: -
I feel I learned more about the history of Iran through the eyes of a little girl who was practically forced to become an adult by the age of 14 than most textbooks. Marjane Satrapi, or "Marji" captured my attention, thanks to the successful marriage of her "crudely-drawn" panels and approachable narrative. While I have yet to read the sequel, I feel I know this individual on a personal level as the book fills us in on her deepest fears and hopes and conflicts.
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