Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

20 reviews

christopher_shiprack's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Death, Torture, Genocide, Gun violence, Antisemitism, Animal death, Xenophobia, Suicide, Physical abuse, and War

chelmo's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Grief, Death, War, Violence, and Genocide

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Child death

Minor: Racism and Animal death

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

This is an interview done by a Holocaust survivor's son in the form of a graphic novel. There is a ton of deliberate choice in the symbolism throughout the pages. This is the sort of story best read in groups because you will miss symbolism others will pick up on and vice versa. This, like all survivor stories, is bleak and tragic and focused on survival. This has additional slight framing through the relationship difficulties Spiegelman's father had with everyone after experiencing such cruel events, some of which feel so much lighter than the other material that they come across as comedic relief even though they aren't actually funny.
There are a lot of applicable content warnings within this story but I urge all of those who can possibly find themselves strong enough to read this book to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Confinement, Gun violence, Antisemitism, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

There is a moment within the last half of the book where someone being shot to death is related to that of a dog that had been shot to death.

demetrius_bennett's review

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, War, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Racism, Antisemitism, and Confinement

Moderate: Excrement, Torture, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, and Cursing

Minor: Medical content, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Car accident

aniblues's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Child death, War, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Racism, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Death, Antisemitism, and Animal death

_sophahs_'s review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

This book is a masterpiece. The Holocaust is something no one would ever truly be able to put into words but Art does the best job anyone could. It’s real, emotional and educational. The art is great, the symbolism is powerful and it tackles a very difficult topic very well. This book should never ever be banned; it is one of the most important books ever written 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Antisemitism, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Child death, Death of parent, Suicide, Racial slurs, and Blood

Minor: Animal death

dexlud's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

Maus is a beautiful graphic biography of Art Speigelman's father's experience during the holocaust as a survivor. This book is just stunning and every single person on this Earth has to read this book. I personally believe it should be made essential reading due to how important these topics are. The book is also not trying to glorify his father, even though he was a survivor, he is still flawed. Most history textbooks will only share an experience by the mass, but this is a personal experience that has such significant impact. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, Grief, Hate crime, Abandonment, War, Animal death, Confinement, Deportation, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, and Torture

oceanwriter's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I didn't realize first going into this that this was a memoir. I guess from the cover I assumed it was a depiction of the Holocaust with a 'cat and mouse' metaphor. I realized as soon as I started reading that this wasn't fiction and it made the analogy all the more powerful.

Comic writer and illustrator Art Spiegel tells his father's WWII survival story in a series of two books (combined into one edition in this printing). Though not illustrations of humans, the imagery of the concentration camps (and what Jewish people went through in general) is as grim as you'd expect them to be. This isn't a watered-down narration that tried to spare the reader from the horrors. It's a raw and honest account.

The book is told brilliantly going back and forth between Art's conversations with his father as he relayed his story to that story unfolding on the pages. There are some abrupt starts and finished here and there, but it added to the tone of the book. There is still so much we don't know about what happened during the Holocaust that we may never learn.

In addition to being a book about the Holocaust (namely in Poland), it's also a book about the relationship between a father and son. Intergenerational trauma is a fascinating psychological phenomenon. This has often been seen among children with parents who have had traumatic experiences before their children were born. This along with the natural generational gap between parents and children makes up a lot of the subtext in Art and Vladek's story.

Perhaps it's needless to say that this book is going to stay with me for a long time. It's right up there with The Diary of a Young Girl and The Boy on the Wooden Box. The stories of these victims must be kept alive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Racism, Murder, Blood, Genocide, Violence, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Gun violence, Excrement, Confinement, and War

Moderate: Animal death

neens_library's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Death of parent, War, Genocide, and Animal death

spooderman's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Xenophobia, Death, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Animal death, Slavery, Grief, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Violence, Antisemitism, Confinement, Death of parent, Deportation, Gun violence, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Medical trauma, Dementia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury