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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
I had to put this book down a few times because of how hard it was to read emotionally. It’s also hard to put into words what this made me feel, other than the fact that it made me question humanity a lot.
It’s powerful, it’s gripping, it’s eyeopening, and heartwrenching. I learned things I never knew about the Holocaust, and I also learned to what extent people suffered. And the worst part is, I know people had it even worse than Vladek.
However, representing Poles as pigs left a bad taste in my mouth, and after doing research I now know why he did it. It’s still not right.
Between a 3-4 star for me. Will read the second part once i get the chance.
It’s powerful, it’s gripping, it’s eyeopening, and heartwrenching. I learned things I never knew about the Holocaust, and I also learned to what extent people suffered. And the worst part is, I know people had it even worse than Vladek.
However, representing Poles as pigs left a bad taste in my mouth, and after doing research I now know why he did it. It’s still not right.
Between a 3-4 star for me. Will read the second part once i get the chance.
I feel like everything I could say about this book has already been said more eloquently many times over, but I’ll try anyway.
First, this book was impossible to find for me— which, strangely, is kind of a good thing. In my library system, it was constantly checked out, then ping-ponging between the different branches, then checked out again, and so on and so forth, until finally on a quiet Tuesday morning I was able to snatch it up. I imagine that, like me, a lot of people wanted to read the banned book to see what the deal was with it. Banning books always backfires— it seems to only make them more widespread and acclaimed. And I’m glad so many people, many of them likely teenagers and young adults, living in the fairly conservative area I’m in now were able to get their hands on it.
Everything about this book is amazing and flawlessly executed. It’s impossible to put down from the moment you begin reading. Both Spiegelmans have an important story to tell. The art, also, is amazing. One might think it’d trivialize the story, but it actually makes it even more intense— every once in a while, a horrifying illustration will come up, beady thick-lined eyes staring up off the page, and really paint the picture of desperation so vividly, even through the face of a mouse. It also serves to show the reader how Germany saw Jewish people— as pests to be exterminated en masse rather than as individuals with distinguishing features.
One of the small things I greatly appreciated about the story was that Spiegelman wrote his father’s words exactly as they were said, “””broken””” English and all. Hearing the story in his own words is much more immersive and impactful than if the story had been cleanly repackaged with perfect grammar and convenient footnote translations of the words.
Again, this has all likely been said many times and I’m not bringing any revolutionary literary analysis to the table. I’m just adding my voice to the choir: read this book. Share this book. Talk about this book. Tell everyone what they tried to ban and make sure that for every person this book was kept from, five more get to read it in their place.
First, this book was impossible to find for me— which, strangely, is kind of a good thing. In my library system, it was constantly checked out, then ping-ponging between the different branches, then checked out again, and so on and so forth, until finally on a quiet Tuesday morning I was able to snatch it up. I imagine that, like me, a lot of people wanted to read the banned book to see what the deal was with it. Banning books always backfires— it seems to only make them more widespread and acclaimed. And I’m glad so many people, many of them likely teenagers and young adults, living in the fairly conservative area I’m in now were able to get their hands on it.
Everything about this book is amazing and flawlessly executed. It’s impossible to put down from the moment you begin reading. Both Spiegelmans have an important story to tell. The art, also, is amazing. One might think it’d trivialize the story, but it actually makes it even more intense— every once in a while, a horrifying illustration will come up, beady thick-lined eyes staring up off the page, and really paint the picture of desperation so vividly, even through the face of a mouse. It also serves to show the reader how Germany saw Jewish people— as pests to be exterminated en masse rather than as individuals with distinguishing features.
One of the small things I greatly appreciated about the story was that Spiegelman wrote his father’s words exactly as they were said, “””broken””” English and all. Hearing the story in his own words is much more immersive and impactful than if the story had been cleanly repackaged with perfect grammar and convenient footnote translations of the words.
Again, this has all likely been said many times and I’m not bringing any revolutionary literary analysis to the table. I’m just adding my voice to the choir: read this book. Share this book. Talk about this book. Tell everyone what they tried to ban and make sure that for every person this book was kept from, five more get to read it in their place.
dark
sad
fast-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Not rating since it’s a biographical account of the Holocaust; I read this book in batches as it wasn’t the easiest read in terms of set up or content, but I am glad I read it!
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
dark
emotional
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
relaxing
tense
slow-paced
dark
emotional
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced