Week 15: The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon, 2007, paperback)
I became familiar with this graphic novel when the film adaptation was released. I have a growing interest in graphic novels, and wondered how this memoir used images and text to convey the story of Satrapi’s childhood in Iran. This edition contains the original translations (from French to English) of this two part novel.
Part one is about Satrapi’s early childhood in Iran, leading up to her eventual move to France to escape the oppressive regime of the 1980s. Through these years, we see the swings in fundamentalism and openness of Iran in this time. Satrapi’s parents are intellectuals who challenge the growing fundamentalism, as does Satrapi herself. More dramatic is the view of the Iran-Iraq war, something few Westerns have truly recognized. We see the violence of the war, and the historical conflict between Arabs and Persians that fueled the conflict.
The second half of the novel covers Satrapi’s move, alone, to France to continue her education. She struggles in this new culture without a family, eventually ending up living on the streets for a short time. She experiences the typical growing pains of any young woman—questions about looks, about fitting it with her contemporaries—along with coming from a different culture. Eventually she returns home, seeking solace, and finds how much she (and her family) have changed. She marries, but it doesn’t last and we are left at the end with a young woman still changing.
This is a wonderfully engaging novel. It provided me insight into a culture that I’ve known little about. Satrapi often uses humor to convey her ideas, but doesn’t hide the violence of war or the family conflicts she faced. She show us her struggles and faults, which endears the reader to her and her family. The images are simply black and white, which allows simple details to standout—facial expressions most. She uses large collage images to show cultural effects, such as the execution of intellectuals under the repressive regime. I liked how Satrapi integrate personal experience within these cultural movements in her country—history becomes her story. I highly recommend this novel.
Next week . . . Winter in the Blood by James Welch.