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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Maybe I was expecting too much for this second book of Persepolis. I thought it would be like the first, a great comics about a young woman that still explained a lot about her time and the history of her country... Instead, it was a book about teenage years.
While being a refugee from a war torned country, Satrapi seemed to have lived a perfectly "normal" teenagehood. From her "abuse" of drugs (I'm not belittling her experience, it's just that it did not feel like a real substance abuse from how she told it, maybe it was, but her rendition of it seemed to make it like most of my friends lived through when in high school to be honest) to her first boyfriend, or her socialization, everything seemed very usual in a teen perspective. Even the weeks she spent in the streets, I have a lot of friends that lived through that same kind of thing...
It does not mean that it was not interesting, I am always happy to read about other people's experiences. But it was not as deep and as intelligent as the first book. Some stuffs were missing.
She talkes a little about the racism she faced but she never really got into it. She never really made us feel what she felt (like she did so perfectly in the first tome). And she spent a lot of time about how she went to parties, how she almost did not graduate, how she wanted a boyfriend and then suddenly we got to see her lodger was a raging racist but she never really talked about it, it was almost like a footnote, an anecdote in another story.
Maybe that is how she lived the racism she had to face. Maybe she did not feel it was that important at the time, or was in denial about how hard it was for her, but in the comics it feels a little bit weird. A little bit artificial.
And then she gets back to her country and I thought "FINALLY". Because during her years in Austria she says herself that she protected herself by not keeping up with what happened with her country. But now she was back and I thought she would get political again, like in the first book... And she just did not actually.
What she did was telling us how she hated her old friends because they were not as liberated as she was, how she fell in love, how she got back into school, how she partied all the time and her parents paid her bail, how she basically told off a Mulah and still got no problem and got accepted into school... Basically it is a story of privilege, and she never acknowledges that, which was a big issue for me.
And then there are two stories that really pissed me off.
The first one was from the time she was in Austria. When she met her lodger with her mother. I have no idea why she felt it was a cool story to tell, but basically her mother and her, after the meeting, laughed their asses off because the lodger was fat and ugly. They called her a horse (which was the title of the comics, she dedicated a full comics to that story) and laughed and laughed... And still laugh about it years later. Okay. So I get the lodger ended up being a racist asshole (eventhough I would have prefered a comics about that) but fatphobia is not funny, not even when after the facts you discover the fat person is an asshole. Also, I don't get how that part was not edited out because it is not interesting (a whole comics about how her lodger is ugly and how it makes them laugh ? I really don't get the point even without the question of how assholish it makes her and her mother look).
The second one is way worst. At some point, her boyfriend, back in Iran, basically tells her she should wear more make-up and she does. And of course she does when she gets out (which in itself is really weird because it is forbidden and she sees him behind closed doors all of the time. It just shows to me how disconnected to the realities of her country she was. Privilege at it again). And yes, obviously when she is waiting for her boyfriend the police comes. And she is scared, because she realizes she is in trouble. And she decides to just "be clever" and go the the officers and tell them that a guy was harassing her. And they arrest the guy. And when her boyfriend comes she tells him the story and he finds it hilarious and a proof she is a "true survivor" and they laugh about it a lot. He still tells her the guy could be in big trouble but they both brush it off and find it hilarious.
Then she tells the same story to her grandma who basically reacts like a human being and gets really angry. And... Well the story would have been amazing if it had been presented as a turning point for her. As the moment she realized her attitude was not okay, that she had a lot of privilege and she needed to check them... But no. Not at all. The only thing she says as a conclusion is that she did not want her grandma to be angry with her and that she vowed it would never happen. In the next comics, they reconcile but never talk about the issue, they reconcile because she did something good in another area and her grandma decides that she is off the hook. At no point does she analyze what she did, or does she say she still feels bad or anything like that. Her mother and her still laugh about the "horse" but she does not seem to think a lot about the poor guy she sent to the violent police because her boyfriend wanted her to wear make up).
To conclude a very long review (sorry about that), I really loved the first book but this one was really problematic to me, and even boring at times. The art is still really pretty, but that does not make a good book.
While being a refugee from a war torned country, Satrapi seemed to have lived a perfectly "normal" teenagehood. From her "abuse" of drugs (I'm not belittling her experience, it's just that it did not feel like a real substance abuse from how she told it, maybe it was, but her rendition of it seemed to make it like most of my friends lived through when in high school to be honest) to her first boyfriend, or her socialization, everything seemed very usual in a teen perspective. Even the weeks she spent in the streets, I have a lot of friends that lived through that same kind of thing...
It does not mean that it was not interesting, I am always happy to read about other people's experiences. But it was not as deep and as intelligent as the first book. Some stuffs were missing.
She talkes a little about the racism she faced but she never really got into it. She never really made us feel what she felt (like she did so perfectly in the first tome). And she spent a lot of time about how she went to parties, how she almost did not graduate, how she wanted a boyfriend and then suddenly we got to see her lodger was a raging racist but she never really talked about it, it was almost like a footnote, an anecdote in another story.
Maybe that is how she lived the racism she had to face. Maybe she did not feel it was that important at the time, or was in denial about how hard it was for her, but in the comics it feels a little bit weird. A little bit artificial.
And then she gets back to her country and I thought "FINALLY". Because during her years in Austria she says herself that she protected herself by not keeping up with what happened with her country. But now she was back and I thought she would get political again, like in the first book... And she just did not actually.
What she did was telling us how she hated her old friends because they were not as liberated as she was, how she fell in love, how she got back into school, how she partied all the time and her parents paid her bail, how she basically told off a Mulah and still got no problem and got accepted into school... Basically it is a story of privilege, and she never acknowledges that, which was a big issue for me.
And then there are two stories that really pissed me off.
The first one was from the time she was in Austria. When she met her lodger with her mother. I have no idea why she felt it was a cool story to tell, but basically her mother and her, after the meeting, laughed their asses off because the lodger was fat and ugly. They called her a horse (which was the title of the comics, she dedicated a full comics to that story) and laughed and laughed... And still laugh about it years later. Okay. So I get the lodger ended up being a racist asshole (eventhough I would have prefered a comics about that) but fatphobia is not funny, not even when after the facts you discover the fat person is an asshole. Also, I don't get how that part was not edited out because it is not interesting (a whole comics about how her lodger is ugly and how it makes them laugh ? I really don't get the point even without the question of how assholish it makes her and her mother look).
The second one is way worst. At some point, her boyfriend, back in Iran, basically tells her she should wear more make-up and she does. And of course she does when she gets out (which in itself is really weird because it is forbidden and she sees him behind closed doors all of the time. It just shows to me how disconnected to the realities of her country she was. Privilege at it again). And yes, obviously when she is waiting for her boyfriend the police comes. And she is scared, because she realizes she is in trouble. And she decides to just "be clever" and go the the officers and tell them that a guy was harassing her. And they arrest the guy. And when her boyfriend comes she tells him the story and he finds it hilarious and a proof she is a "true survivor" and they laugh about it a lot. He still tells her the guy could be in big trouble but they both brush it off and find it hilarious.
Then she tells the same story to her grandma who basically reacts like a human being and gets really angry. And... Well the story would have been amazing if it had been presented as a turning point for her. As the moment she realized her attitude was not okay, that she had a lot of privilege and she needed to check them... But no. Not at all. The only thing she says as a conclusion is that she did not want her grandma to be angry with her and that she vowed it would never happen. In the next comics, they reconcile but never talk about the issue, they reconcile because she did something good in another area and her grandma decides that she is off the hook. At no point does she analyze what she did, or does she say she still feels bad or anything like that. Her mother and her still laugh about the "horse" but she does not seem to think a lot about the poor guy she sent to the violent police because her boyfriend wanted her to wear make up).
To conclude a very long review (sorry about that), I really loved the first book but this one was really problematic to me, and even boring at times. The art is still really pretty, but that does not make a good book.
Just as good as the first volume! I of course related more to Marjane this time around, because we were the same age. What kept confusing me is why she insisted on staying in Iran, but yet I also understand it. This book (and its predecessor) taught me that I should consider myself extremely lucky to live in the country I do. I break 1000 of the rules Marjane had to follow everyday. I certainly learned a lot about Iran reading this, and even though there is loads more to uncover, at least I can say I know something. And even though some of Marjane's decisions I considered questionable, there is no doubt that she is incredibly inspiring.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Infidelity
I just adore Persepolis. The comics are funny and sad and political and overall incredibly interesting - I think I'm going to start shoving these into everyone's faces.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I really liked the first book. This one dragged.
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
beautifully told!! i loved this
I couldn't put this or "Persepolis 1" down and read them in quick succession. Satrapi's story is riveting, frightening, and inspiring, not to mention feminist to the ultimate badass level. This is a tale that everyone should read, but it seems particularly important for contemporary Americans to check out as our government chips away at our rights to privacy each day. The illustrations are fantastic as well. Loved these books, really.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced