Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

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

54 reviews

flyingryndeer's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Deportation

zakcebulski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

This is one of those books that I remember seeing when I was a young lad. The cover was always so evocative to me, the mice, Hitler as a cat, the swastika- it is a scary image, especially in a K-4 library. I never read this book, though. I always focused on other avenues to consume information about WW2.

I finally found this book in the used bookstore that I frequent, and I decided to pick it up. And... if I can say that I have never wanted to kick myself in the ass more than now...
This graphic novel is absolutely stellar. Art Spiegelman's illustrations are so well done, it is truly awe-inspiring. 
The basic premise of this graphic novel is from the point of view of Art Spiegelman who is a cartoonist who is interviewing his elderly father- Vladek. 
Vladek is a Polish Jew and a survivor of the Holocaust- which Art is interviewing him regarding. 
Spiegelman does a fantastic job of illustrating these characters in such a way that they are very expressive- they are clearly defined and varied. 
I was shocked by and came to love the complex dichotomy between the reverence Vladek has for his first wife- Anja, and the disdain and disappointment that he has toward his second wife- Mala. 
The feeling of sub servitude expressed by the facial illustrations and body language of Art is so well done- you really feel the intense self-loathing, and lack of esteem which he has- especially when he is interacting with his father. 

I thought that the stand in animals for people were a fantastic allegory. Jews are viewed and illustrated as mice, the Nazis are cats, the Polish are pigs and the Americans are dogs. This I feel helps to keep the narrative straight, as you know who is who and what each person is doing at a glance. 
I also loved the way in which characters are disguised at points, they have a mask of a different animal species on.

This novel is autobiographical for a portion of Art's life, as well as biographical for a section of Vladek's life. I thought that the weaving together of two stories was done seamlessly. You really get an understanding of what went into the writing of this novel, and why Vladek acts the way in which he does due to the traumas that he was forced to endure by a fascist regime. 
I also love the way that this first volume leaves off on a big cliffhanger- it makes you want to run out and snag the second volume immediately. 

I plan to read the second volume in the near future, but for now, I am so pleased to have finally read this book. I think that it did a fantastic job of illustrating in a digestible way, the atrocities of the Holocaust. This novel and its second volume are important works, and I think that they should be read. This is the sort of art that is important so that the further education of the Holocaust and similar genocides can be learned about so that they can, in a utopia,  become a thing of the past. For now, learning about them, and keeping the memories of those who suffered and were murdered alive is what we can do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Suicide, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and War

agustdefault's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Antisemitism

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, and War

nia_readsalot's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

twistykris's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and War

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

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Art Speigelman illustrates the conversations he has with his father about his experiences during WWII in Poland. This graphic novel doesn’t shy away from the horror that Speigelman’s family endured, and is at times a hard read but a very necessary one. Speigelman includes his father’s story along with scenes in present day detailing how these conversations took place, and the result is a captivating tale that I can’t wait to continue. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, War, Classism, and Deportation

cstein's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

4.25

Spiegelman's decision to draw rather than merely write this memoir importantly limits the reader's imagination, leaving drastically less room for confusion, wrong interpretation, or willful ignorance of the facts of his and his father's experiences. In a similarly ingenious way, Spiegelman's cartoon animal characters provide sufficient whimsy and distance from the horrors of the Holocaust to make the work readable, while also prompting frequent pauses to reflect on how the emotions and horrors experienced by these cartoon animals are actually those experienced by very much non-cartoon people. Phew.

As the Newsweek review of this work reads, in part, "Maus compels us to bear witness in a different way: the very artificiality of its surface makes it possible to imagine the reality beneath." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Deportation

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Excrement, Vomit, and War

daniellekat's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide

stardustdreamer's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Cursing and Trafficking

marinapetal's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent