PERSEPOLIS:
The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi
Translated by Mattias Ripa
4 out of 5 stars
Hooray! My first ever (finished) grahic novel!
Fate played a heavy hand with this read. I had to be at the Center for Women's Studies at U.P. Diliman library. Embarrassingly enough, my 10 year residence in University of the Philippines didn't give me the opportunity to visit Women's Studies until a week ago. I was truly missing out. Women's Studies not only had a great collection of women centered literature (e.g. novels, graphic novels, etc.). They also boast of the most organized selection of LGBT literature. The LGBT shelf had rainbow colored crepe paper on the side, separating it from the rest of the library. For more awesomeness, all LGBT reads on shelf had rainbow colored catalog stickers on the spine - because it is awesome that way. Since nearly all books were room use only, I picked up an easy to finish graphic novel. Persopolis book 1 and 2 (in blue cover, with a slightly older Marji) was displayed on a rack and I remembered booktuber katytastic mentioning it in a haul. I hope she gets to this soon, because it is quite a beautiful read.
SYNOPSIS
The graphic novel chronicles the coming of age of a normal girl living in a not-so-normal world. Young Marji is an upper middle-class girl living in Iran. While Marji is supremely normal, innocent, and charming, her parents make her world extraordinary. Marji's parents and family friends are activists, who participate in many political demonstrations and are persons-of-interest enough to know political prisoners. Some of her family members were political prisoners. We even get scenes of summary executions and other violent acts. Through the course of the book, some political theories were described in Marji's adorable point of view. Towards the latter part of the book, we see Marji go into her teens and becomes quite rebellious, like a normal teenager.
This book is an autobiography of Satrapi, filled with humor and ideological perspectives seen through the eyes of a child. Mind that, this is not just a children's book. Although I would definitely let children read this, it is not without supervision.
ORGANIZATION
The book was arranged into 17 sections. However, it flowed from one section to another quite seamlessly. It is a well-crafted book.
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SPOILER ALERT
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The opening scene was one of the best. The book starts with the religious revolution where school girls were required to wear a veil. It does a great job showing what children really thought of it, that's it's silly and they weren't really in to that. I loved it immediately.
Marji's personality endears me to this book even more. She starts as an innocent girl who talks to god before she sleeps at night. Her conversations with god is just stellar. At first, Marji tries to connect her own interpretation of religion and the events around her. It was a wonderful reflection that a lot of readers can relate to. I mostly shy away from any religious discussions, but this book delivers it in such a pragmatic yet personal way that you can't fault her for anything. It's like you are made to respect her views regardless of what you feel. It's done with such great skill that many authors fail at.
When the shit hits the fan, Marji's parents tell her about their family history. This is not a filler. The exposition was done quite well in that it still ties in nicely within the story. It also explains a lot about where Marji' parents are coming from and what made them participate in politics. It also explains a lot about Marji's upbringing. Marji is highly educated. Her parents enrolled her in French schools. We learn towards the end that this is to prepare her in the eventuality of exile.
I love Marji's parents. When war started, a lot of the upper middle classes chose to migrate abroad. But Marji's parents chose to stay. Their motivations were nationalistic and the exposition in the earlier part of the book explains this (although most of this is inferred). It makes me wish that I had parents like Marji, who likes freedom enough to distill wine in their bath tub with the help of other family members.
Marji's extended family is quite close knit. We also learn more about her parents' friends. A lot of them become involved with the story as well. If you take a step back, Marji's world is really crazy. It's enough to drive you to paranoia. But Marji delivers it in a lighter way because we the conflict mostly through how she copes. War and its many dangers were accurately portrayed, albeit quietly. It wasn't until I put the book down that I realized how scary it would have been to live in Marji's world. The message is clear: war is bad.
In the end, Marji's rebellious teen-age nature prompts her parents to send her away to Vienna. That's where the second book picks up.
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END OF SPOILERS
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Do not be fooled by this seemingly light read. It discusses serious and heavy events but masked it in innocence. Satrapi is a master storyteller. We never diverge from Marji's point-of-view. Her voice is strong enough to draw you into itself. It's like Marji was able to shield you from the horrors she went through like a protective bubble. Marji is resilient and courageous in many ways.
I would like to thank Marji and the brave people of Iran. Those who continue to live (not just survive) in a war-torn world never get enough credit.
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