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samripley1963's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
coffeedog14's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
This is a novel of unabashed honesty and integrity by an author who is a very different type of person then me. By all rights I should find little to connect to, but it is in the skill and stark reality of her presentation (art and words alike) that I find myself connecting to Satrapi's youth.
Satrapi is stuck, in countless ways, between impossible choices. What kind of woman she wants to be, if she can find love while afraid to accept it, needing to both define herself while remaining close to her family, and the dread of the increasingly important and difficult choice of living in her repressive homeland or an unaccepting foreign one. She wavers, struggling back and forth, rarely finding moments of peace and balance that aren't torn away just as quickly as they arrive.
By the end of the novel, I don't know if Satrapi has found the balance in these choices she's searched for. I don't know if that kind of balance is even possible given the difficulty of the problems offered. What I am confident of, by the end, is that Satrapi is prepared to deal with this uncertainty, to continue defining herself instead of letting others do so, and to know if and when she has found what she's looking for.
Satrapi is stuck, in countless ways, between impossible choices. What kind of woman she wants to be, if she can find love while afraid to accept it, needing to both define herself while remaining close to her family, and the dread of the increasingly important and difficult choice of living in her repressive homeland or an unaccepting foreign one. She wavers, struggling back and forth, rarely finding moments of peace and balance that aren't torn away just as quickly as they arrive.
By the end of the novel, I don't know if Satrapi has found the balance in these choices she's searched for. I don't know if that kind of balance is even possible given the difficulty of the problems offered. What I am confident of, by the end, is that Satrapi is prepared to deal with this uncertainty, to continue defining herself instead of letting others do so, and to know if and when she has found what she's looking for.
adam75241's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. What an incredible book. As another review said, this is truly a masterpiece of a graphic novel. All at once a coming-to-age story, history lesson, feminist manifesto, cultural drama, and thought-provoking memoir, Persepolis is a tour de force of art, storytelling, and self-realization.
An easy 5 stars.
An easy 5 stars.
irinalast's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, War, Racism, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Violence, and Police brutality
purpleperish's review against another edition
5.0
Always important to remember that Punk is not dead and to fit laughter amongst the greatest revolutions.
maida's review against another edition
5.0
As someone who knows absolutely nothing about Iran this book completely broke my heart. Seeing war through the eyes of a child is always heart breaking, even more so when considering this actually happened.
I absolutely loved this story.
39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce
I absolutely loved this story.
39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce
miqozerda's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Ableism
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
As with any graphic novel, I must comment on the artwork. After all, that is why I read them. Other people probably have different reasons for reading graphic novels, but for me it's the combination of getting to read a story while looking at art. So, if the art's not good, I don't care how interesting the story is, I'm not going to love the book. All that being said, I did not care for the artwork in Persepolis. I think I've mentioned a few times that I like the more realistic artwork. And I definitely like for it to be colorful. So the black and white cartoonish art didn't really bring out the love for me.
BUT, I can't imagine this graphic novel with the kind of artwork that I like. I'm not sure that it would have worked. The pictures seemed to match the story here. And the story was very interesting. I liked reading about this time period and this bit of history, which I really didn't know much about, told from the perspective of a young girl. Obviously the author didn't write it as a young girl. She's an adult, writing of her young girl memories, so it's not quite right to say it's from the perspective of a young girl. But still, it was very well written.
I would recommend this to graphic novel readers, and to those who are looking to get into reading graphic novels.
BUT, I can't imagine this graphic novel with the kind of artwork that I like. I'm not sure that it would have worked. The pictures seemed to match the story here. And the story was very interesting. I liked reading about this time period and this bit of history, which I really didn't know much about, told from the perspective of a young girl. Obviously the author didn't write it as a young girl. She's an adult, writing of her young girl memories, so it's not quite right to say it's from the perspective of a young girl. But still, it was very well written.
I would recommend this to graphic novel readers, and to those who are looking to get into reading graphic novels.