Saturday, September 27, 2008

Once in a while a book reminds you of the amazing power a single book can have to change hearts and minds. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel about her childhood in Iran, is such a book. Satrapi's challenge is to make us care, to make us see beyond the black veils and the Ayatollah and the ranting Ahmadinejad, and she does so brilliantly. The graphic novel medium is perfect to convey the drama and brutality of the overthrowing of the Shah, the Islamic Revolution, and the Iran/Iraq War as well as to bring the young Marjane and her family to life. It's a lovely, haunting, and brave book that you must read.

3 comments:

Georgina Baeza said...

I loved this book after reading it and even more after meeting her.

The book is so much better than the movie.

Annette said...

You met Marjane Satrapi? I'm jealous :-).

I don't know, I thought the movie was really amazing, too.

Georgina Baeza said...

Yeah, she read downtown Houston. We almost didn't get in! Then we waited for her to sign our book and took a picture with her.