A review by trin
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi

5.0

Rougher and less focused than [book: Persepolis], the first half of this volume focuses on Satrapi's life in Austria where her parents sent to be safe and to go to school. Though away from the war in Iran, she still stuggles, both with others' treatment of her as a foreigner and with growing up alone and very isolated. After a period in which she actually ends up living on the street, she returns gratefully to Iran; even if the country is still messed up, she has her family there. This is where the book really picked up for me, and the second half is as good as anything in the first volume. Satrapi talks about how different the internal world of Iranians is/was than the external: outside you have to appear to be conservative and pious, while at home people would hold wild parties, even orgies. "The more time passed," she writes, "the more I became conscious of the contrast between the official representation of my country and the real life of the people, the one that went on behind the walls." I love how Satrapi reinforces the fact that everyone, everywhere is essentially human—something I think the current American administration would like us to forget.

Not quite as good as Persepolis, but still excellent.