Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Maus: A Survivor's Tale. My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman

70 reviews

spicypb's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Racial slurs, Torture, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, War, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Death, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Grief, Confinement, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Medical content, Blood, Child death, and Classism

aroush's review

challenging emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Suicide, War, Murder, Antisemitism, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Violence

jcstokes95's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

 I normally do not write reviews for books until after book club, but book club got delayed. So don’t see this as a review, just notes. More detailed review to come but suffice to say, this is very compelling and a heartbreaker. I am into the second volume (also for book club) and that one has one of the most evocative sections I’ve ever seen on the men who must assist in operating the gas chamber for their own murderers. But this first volume extensively focuses on the lead up to Poland’s occupation and how Vladek found a way to overcome as the walls continued to close in around him and his family. 

I am not yet sure how I feel about the focus on the father and son; I think it says something about cycles of trauma obviously. But Vladek can be intensely frustrating in the modern day as he tells his story. It feels wrong to say this, but I’m sure readers would agree, he burns his dead wife’s journals for God’s sake. Obviously, much is done out of trauma, but he is often hard to like. But watching him endure horrors. I don’t know, it amplifies them even more in a way; it highlights the absolute randomness of cruelty. The relationship between father and son is very strained. I imagine this was a very hard book to write. Such a horrible thing happening to your parents can only intensify a difficult relationship. 

On an entirely separate note, in general, this is not my favorite illustration style in a graphic novel. BUT it makes me wonder about how trends in the field have changed. I wonder if this black and white strip style was more common, though it also seems like maybe this was serialized which might account for some of these choices. I feel like graphic novels/memoirs now have such a different look, but I assume it’s just publishing trends? There are also so many fewer full-page spreads which are more common now. Is that an artist’s choice or was it just less common? When I have finished both volumes, I imagine I will be down a rabbit hole about the history of graphic novels in general, and the story itself. Surely, this deserves its cemented classic status. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Antisemitism, and Genocide

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Child death

lauren717's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Murder, Grief, Confinement, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Hate crime, Suicide, War, and Torture

Moderate: Deportation, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Slavery, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gun violence, Self harm, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

jenareynolds's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Confinement, Death, Child death, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Suicide, War, Deportation, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

dcoco's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Any book about the Holocaust is going to be difficult but I sailed through this in one sitting. It’s broken up by the author recounting his father telling him this story and their current day of him collecting the information and the father’s current situation with his wife. The comic style and writing make it all the more fascinating. I would love to see this made into an animation movie as the story of his father is beyond fascinating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Genocide, and Xenophobia

About the Holocaust so will have the usual themes associated with this

hckilgour's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.0

This books hits in a very different way than most Holocaust survivor stories.

This story is told through flashbacks, with there being quit a bit of humor in the present. We obviously know Vladek survives, but the how is what keeps you reading.

This first book ends with Vladek arriving at Auschwitz, so this is without a doubt a series.

It was a slow book in how he got to that point though. But it really hammered home just how many years Vladek and co were hiding and hoping and praying.

This book is poignant but true. And its humor does help to soften the blow.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Antisemitism, and Violence

suchacommotion's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Police brutality, War, Murder, Suicide, Antisemitism, Violence, and Genocide

Moderate: Death of parent, Body horror, and Death

Minor: Mental illness

gemstonejasper's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

5.0

Everyone needs to read this and the sequel. It's a raw and powerful story of a Jewish man who survived the Holocaust. Check the content warnings and take care of yourself, but it's a very important book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide, Grief, Genocide, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Murder, Racism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Slavery, and Child death

ronan900's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Confinement, Deportation, Death of parent, War, Antisemitism, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, and Genocide

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Blood, Child death, and Cancer