Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi

88 reviews

maddyreads89's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Delightful yet somber and serious when it needs to be

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Misogyny

literarylikeys's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Drug use, Death, and Torture

Minor: Suicide attempt

nvrrrdie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I really appreciate this memoir. I was raised Shi'a muslim so I was always told a certain image of religion in Iran. Satrapi portrays a very intelligent perspective on life in the political reality following the Islamic Revolution and the violence enforced over the years.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Misogyny

cherub__'s review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Truly excellent read. A marvelous blend of prose and visual art. Satrapi's voice as an author is equally distinctive as her illustration style as an artist. Her story feels like it manages to capture something both deeply personal as well as something felt broadly among an entire generation of Iranians growing up during and after the Revolution. The empathy displayed here is striking, especially because it is applied just as strongly to Satrapi's younger self as to her peers, her family, and friends. Reading Persepolis really does take me back to the mind of a child, then a teenager, and then a young adult -- despite my complete unfamiliarity with Satrapi's cultural background and specific experiences, her story is felt relatable to me.

Cannot recommend this book enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Torture, Classism, Infidelity, Ableism, Death, Islamophobia, War, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Drug use

chelseareads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and War

Moderate: Drug use, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death, Drug abuse, and Violence

Minor: Rape

esterslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense fast-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Drug use, Grief, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, War, Death, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

karinacheah17's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Violence, and Suicide attempt

markwillnevercry's review against another edition

0.5

So, there is a bit to tell. I really did not like this book. You might think "Ah, so you did not like it, because it was bad", but it wasn't. Marjane Satrapi does a very good job of showing how she grew up and how stuff changed her. However, it felt a bit like listening to your friend go through absolute shit, without recognizing that you also have problems that you have to deal with. Marjane Satrapi just kept going, because she wanted to tell her story and it was uncomfortable to read, specifically the Vienna part. As a separate note, this book is just in general giving the vibe of "i do not care about the way you feel, because i will never reflect on this", so we got slutshaming and fatphobia. I kind of feel like I wasted my time with this book. 

Reading notes:

Momo sucks ass.

She just accused man of a crime he didn't commit? And what she accused him of is not even comparible of her wearing lipstick? And her and her boyfriend are so happy about it? They deserve each other. 

The scene with the pills in uni. Just like, girly, if you have something on your heart, maybe don't throw it at the first person you see?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Cursing, Drug abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Rape, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Hate crime, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

I do not actually remember if there were examples of addiction, alcoholism and drug abuse, but I am not planning to reread the whole book to find them. It felt like they were there, but do not trust my word. Also, ableism is there for like a chapter, but it is bad.

blueteacup's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad

5.0

Persepolis is an extremely interesting and captivating look into life in Iran during and after the revolution.  Satrapi uses political ideology and her graphic art style to paint a picture of what it was like to be a child in a war-torn country, and after that her experience as an immigrant from Southwest Asia in Europe.  

Her socialist leanings lends itself to giving an objective view of the horrors that happened to anyone who was a “threat” to the regime.  She’s not afraid to describe what happens to a Communist young girl before she’s killed for her beliefs, or showing images of people drowned in their own bathtubs.  I appreciated that she didn’t shy away from these graphic descriptions and images when other authors will usually describe things as “unspeakable” and leave it at that, or, worse, describe things in a way that’s meant to be voyeuristic to Western audiences and simultaneously paints Iranaians as both poor and helpless and ruthless and “backwards”.  Her sympathy and love for her country really comes through, even if she is describing horrific scenarios brought on by the government.

Satrapi’s art style lends itself well to the graphic novel medium.  Her simple but still descriptive drawings allow for the novel to be very accessible while still being understandable.  Her expressive depictions of her family, friends and acquaintances paint her life as colourful and full of intrigue.

I really enjoyed this series of graphic novels and would highly recommend them to anyone who wants a better understanding of Iranian history, war and culture, or to anyone who’s interested in auto-biographies of interesting people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Child death, Death, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Racism and Suicide attempt

There's a very upsetting scene where her Jewish neighbours' house is blown up by a missile while they're there and are killed. It was very upsetting for me as a Jewish person to read, as the reason they were home was because of Shabbat. It shows up in the chapter titled "Shabbat".

lottevanderpaelt's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt