The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale

by Art Spiegelman

book data

4,438 ratings, 4.55 average rating, 433 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		63%
4		28%
3		6%
2		1%
1		0%

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published

November 19th 1996 (first published 1993) by Pantheon

binding

Hardcover, 296 pages

literary awards

Pulitzer 1992

isbn

0679406417 (isbn13: 9780679406419)

description

At last! Here is the definitive edition of the book acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall St...more

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09/10/08

Michelle rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in January, 2009

recommends it for: everybody

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Pre-review:

OhmygodOhmygodOhmygodOhmygod! I'm cheating on J.M. Coetzee with Art Spiegelman. Actually, I'm not just cheating on him; I've left him.

Review:

Before I review this book, you should know something about me: I never read graphic novels. I normally have zero interest in reading graphic novels/comic books. Are those the same thing, by the way? I have no idea. That’s how little I’m interested in them.

Anyway, Maus was one of the best ...more

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13 comments

09/10/08

Kirk rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

bookshelves: essential-reference

Read in August, 2008

This was our second book in the local library's discussion of Jewish graphic novels. It is, of course, the most famous and most celebrated exemplar of the genre (if you don't count the superhero stuff). What is amazing about the book is the emotional resonance Spiegelman manages to pack into his panels. In telling the story of his father's experience in the Holocaust, the author refuses to sentimentalize or pander. The most striking innovation is the use of mice for Jews, an appropriation of the...more

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7 comments

01/24/09

Thermalsatsuma rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

bookshelves: book-a-week-2009

Read in January, 2009

Maus is a biographical graphic novel telling the story of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, his life in Poland before the second world war and his experiences in Auschwitz. The book uses the device of representing different nationalities as animals, drawn in a simple cartoon fashion - the Jews are represented by mice, the Poles are pigs, the Germans are cats and so on. This initially seems like a simplistic and heavy handed metaphor, but depth and complexity of the narrative quickly becom...more

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08/12/08

Fragileindustries rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: everyone (over 14)

I finally read this, in two separate editions, and now they are on my shelf of classic favorites that have moved me profoundly and changed me fundamentally.

After historical study, movies (Schindler's List et al) and novels (Sophie's Choice etc.), I felt I had had enough of Holocaust stories. I would never forget, as goes the dictum, but these tales were too unnerving and painful to read. What more could I learn?

The difference with Maus is not only the graphic novel form...more I finally read this, in two separate editions, and now they are on my shelf of classic favorites that have moved me profoundly and changed me fundamentally.

After historical study, movies (Schindler's List et al) and novels (Sophie's Choice etc.), I felt I had had enough of Holocaust stories. I would never forget, as goes the dictum, but these tales were too unnerving and painful to read. What more could I learn?

The difference with Maus is not only the graphic novel format (although this does make a difference, see below) but the parallel stories of the survivor father, and the story of the survivor of the survivor, the son who brings us his father's story. He does not sanctify his father, quite the reverse -- he shows us how the torture of the Nazi bloodbath spreads through the generations like ripples in a pond. His father learned a specific skill set to survive, and that skill set leaves him crippled in the aftermath. The mother survived the camps but not the aftermath. The son, the author, had to survive their parentage which was, of necessity, just as warped and crippled.

The historical parts of the narrative are told in the senior Speigelman's voice -- unique and colloquial. I felt as though I was listening to an older relative tell the story, and I was sorry to hear the last of that voice.

Speiglman's honesty is searing, unsparing, moving, and at times, very funny. Any adult child of aging parents can identify in parts.

The graphic novel format somehow makes the most awful aspects clearer, more affecting. The animal heads, by separating the familar horrors from the human, makes the familiar unfamilar yet more basic and immediate. It was a huge risk to tell the story this way, but a brilliant one. It is an odd world, between the visuals and the dialect of the father. It is more strange to realize it was all true. This isn't Mickey Maus.

I recommend these books (or the one combined version here ) to everyone. If you don't think you can take the pain, you can, in this presentation. If you think you've heard it all, you haven't. If you think you'll never forget, just wait. This will ensure it. This may well be the best Holocaust presentation/memorial/document ever -- the old outrage becomes new again, and intensely personal to any reader.(less)

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06/05/08

Trevor rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

Read in June, 2008

For some, this book might not seem like it belongs in the books I read. It's a comic book (and I have a guilty pleasure with some comics). However, even if I didn't enjoy a single thing about comics, I would still recommend this book. Maus is not just a great comic book. This is one great book, a genuine piece of literature and visual art beautifully meshed around a difficult and profound subject.

Art Speigelman, the author, interviewed his father for several months, attempting ...more

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02/14/08

Heather rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

Read in March, 2008

this book won't change your life, but it will make you think, and hopefully feel grateful for what you have, be that family, food, home, or some combination thereof.

it will also make you laugh, and considering the topic of the book, i think that's quite a feat. for example, one of my favorite lines goes something like: if you're trying to survive, it's good to be friendly.

this came after another round of successful bartering in auschwitz. as a (likely) unvarnished comme...more

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03/21/09

Robert Jazo rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

bookshelves: comics, nonfiction

Read in June, 2002

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust. It also recounts the difficult relationship Art Spiegelman had with his father, mostly in describing the interviews Art had with his father about his experiences during the war. This is later complicated by the fact that his father dies between the first and second volumes. The writing is emotional, raw, and real. Unlike the neat little packages of fiction, Art never seems to come to terms with how he feels abou...more

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02/24/09

Clay rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

Read in February, 2009

I discuss Maus and comic book theory here:

http://www.morethanaweekend.com

or continue reading below:

Maus: A Reader's Tale

In his Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud coins the phrase "amplification through simplification." He uses the term in reference to cartoons and how by simplifying (usually) human features, artists amplify certain aspects of whatever the drawing is supposed to represent. By amplifying, let's say, just the basic facial f...more I discuss Maus and comic book theory here:

http://www.morethanaweekend.com

or continue reading below:

Maus: A Reader's Tale

In his Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud coins the phrase "amplification through simplification." He uses the term in reference to cartoons and how by simplifying (usually) human features, artists amplify certain aspects of whatever the drawing is supposed to represent. By amplifying, let's say, just the basic facial features of a man, then that drawing could come to represent any amount of men. However, if someone drew a lifelike portrait of Ben Stiller, there aren't very many other people other than Ben Stiller that picture could be said to represent. So, when looking at a text like Art Spiegelman's Maus, the simplified forms of anthropomorphic mice and cats could be said to represent any amount of people. It also allows more people to identify with the characters. The problem is that Maus is very different than most cartoons and most comics. It's about the Holocaust.

Amplification through simplification works splendidly in Maus. The reader is meant to identify with the Holocaust survivor Vladek's son, Artie. The comic is told from Artie's point of view as he, having grown up, is writing a comic about his father's experience in the Holocaust. The races in the novel are each attached to a specific animal: Germans are cats; Americans are dogs; Poles are pigs; and, Jews are mice. The simple drawing style and erasure of most individual characteristics allow for much identification. These characters--especially the Germans--are anyone and everyone. They are without an individual personality. Much like our associations with the Nazis, the cats are inhumane killing machines.

The thing that makes Maus so different from other comics is the juxtaposition of the cartoon--the simple anthropomorphic mice--and the sheer horror of the Holocaust: the very real violence, loss, and misunderstanding. One frame in particular affected me. A German soldier is throwing a young Jewish child into a wall. There is a white line that shows the curve of the child as it goes through the air. Blood splashes from the side of the panel like it would from a Spiderman or Superman comic. The image, if it were in a Superman comic, would be funny, albeit graphic. Honestly, when I was first reading it, I forgot where I was and gave out a instantaneous chuckle. In some ways, I am glad I laughed because it forced me to immediately rethink what I was looking at...and I was horrified at myself, at the image, and right then the power of comics hit me like a bullet train.

The power of Maus, and I think the power of comics, lies in that juxtaposition of horror and simplicity. If I had seen a film of what I described above, there is no doubt it would also be horrible...but how could it not be? How could a painting or film of a child being thrown into a wall be interpreted as anything but horrible? The comic can play around with expectations and juxtaposition of horror and simplicity. Part of that stems from amplification through simplification. The other part stems from people's assumptions about comics; that they're supposed to be funny, or that they're childish. I certainly had misconceptions about comics before I read Maus. One just doesn't expect something so simple to be so tragic.(less)

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06/09/09

Maureen rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

bookshelves: graphic-novel, holocaust, non-fiction

Read in June, 2009

Finally, this book I read. A deceptively simple story, as told to Art Spiegelman by his father in graphic novel form. Not only is this an emotionally anguishing depiction of the life of a Jewish family in Poland during the Holocaust, it also brings out the problems of being a survivor: both for those who lived through the camps and their children who must bear the burden of carrying on for those who were slaughtered.

It is easy to identify the various political ideologies, because t...more

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06/08/09

Kat rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

bookshelves: 5-stars

Read in June, 2009

recommended to Kat by: Evan & Amelia
recommends it for: people

As has often been said: here is a graphic novel to convince the hardest-to-convince that graphic novels are a serious medium, that it can do things no other medium does, etc.

The most impressive thing about this book, to me, is the clear-headedness with which Art Spiegelman portrays his relationship to his father, and to his narrative. We also get to see that he finds his father profoundly irritating, not only on a personal level, but as a character in the book he is writing. To sta...more

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05/15/09

Bob rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

Read in May, 2009

Most of my Goodreads friends have probably read MAUS, so I am probably preaching to the choir. Maus is, of course, one of the most famous "Graphic Novels" written and often credited with launching whatever mainstream success the form has achieved in the past 25 years.

A biography of Spiegelman's father (a Jewish Holocaust survivor), and also an autobiography of the younger Spiegelman's relationship with his family and the fallout from that holocaust, MAUS famously portrays ...more Most of my Goodreads friends have probably read MAUS, so I am probably preaching to the choir. Maus is, of course, one of the most famous "Graphic Novels" written and often credited with launching whatever mainstream success the form has achieved in the past 25 years.

A biography of Spiegelman's father (a Jewish Holocaust survivor), and also an autobiography of the younger Spiegelman's relationship with his family and the fallout from that holocaust, MAUS famously portrays the Jews as mice to the German cats.

Unlike many graphic novels (such as the very excellent Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, which also deals with tragedy), this is not merely an illustrated story. Spiegelman's drawings simply do things that words cannot. In one passage his character, having finished Part One of the novel, is besieged by critics, fans, and opportunists, as he descends into horrific scenes of the death camps and physically regresses into a child. One could describe this scene in words but the irreducible power of the scene comes from the words-and-image; everything else is a translation.

Then there are the animals. Spiegelman achieves postmodern cred by addressing the issue in the book, and in a very Bob Dylan way, pointedly ignores literalists before mocking them. One character asks: if Germans are cats, and Jews are mice, what are the French? Spiegelman draws a Frenchman as an obligatory Frog.) The impact of the animals, however, is even more than an Orwellian barnyard allegory. Spiegelman suggests that something inhuman was literally happening... something beyond words or rational explanation.

WHY I READ THIS BOOK: I avoided the hype of Maus for reasons none too good, and had opted for more "alternative" comix artists in the 90's. My wife Amy had written her college thesis on Maus, however, and at some point a few years back let me read it (the thesis). He popped up again recently when I "read" the compendium of Wacky Package art. But ultimately I was moved to read this book because of a movie. Amy & I watched ELEGY, an amazing movie directed by Isabel Coixet. It was so good we found another Coixet movie, called THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS, in which Tim Robbins plays a burn victim tended to by a nurse, played by Sarah Polley. I don't want to spoil the movie, but some themes in it suggested I take another look at history, and thus I finally picked up Maus.(less)

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03/05/09

Arum rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

bookshelves: comics---graphic-story-books

Read in March, 2009

I have a rather mixed feeling about this graphic novel. I guess my opinions and pre-conceptions about "Jews telling stories about the holocaust" got in the way somewhat. However! If I put on my objective lenses and see this as an individual work, it is a person who wants to make sure that his father's story got told. Though I can't help but wonder if Spiegelman's not actually torturing his father by insisting that his father re-live the worst days in his living memory... even sometimes...more

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04/10/09

Jessica rated it:

bookshelves: library-book

Read in April, 2009

The Complete Maus consists of both Maus I and II, bound together in a hardcover volume. I wanted to read them both together, to get the full story, and I am very glad I did. Maus is the story of Art Spiegelman's father, Vladek, and how he survived the holocaust. In the graphic novel, Jews are drawn as mice, Germans are cats, Poles are pigs, French are frogs, and Americans are dogs. The drawings make the material more unrealistic and yet they also draw us in more to the fact that though it seems ...more

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03/25/09

Christine rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

bookshelves: read-in-2009

Read in March, 2009

What an amazing little memoir this one is. I'm sad that I didn't read this sooner. Maus tell the story of Vladek Spiegelman, through the eyes of his son, Art. Vladek survived through Auschwitz and the Holocaust, and the memoir discusses all the horror, tragedy, and hope for survivial that Polish Jews had to go through during WWII.

Maus could have just been an ordinary memoir, but what I especially loved about it were its "meta" aspects. Art's framing story is his discussion...more

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05/31/09

Jen rated it:

(review of isbn 0679748407)

bookshelves: bio-memoir, comics, history, prize-winners

Read in June, 2009

Maus is a two-volume comic book memoir written by the son of Auschwitz survivors, about their story of survival and also the author's story of his somewhat difficult relationship with his dad. (An aside here - I had a hard time coming up with that first part, because I didn't want to say "graphic novel" [it's not a novel:] and "graphic memoir" sounds like a Penthouse exclusive, and "comic book memoir" sounds kind of dumb, but it's the best I've got. </rant>) ...more Maus is a two-volume comic book memoir written by the son of Auschwitz survivors, about their story of survival and also the author's story of his somewhat difficult relationship with his dad. (An aside here - I had a hard time coming up with that first part, because I didn't want to say "graphic novel" [it's not a novel:] and "graphic memoir" sounds like a Penthouse exclusive, and "comic book memoir" sounds kind of dumb, but it's the best I've got. </rant>) As the inside flap of the book says, it's a story about the Holocaust, and a story about those who survived the survivors.

We've all seen/heard/read a million stories about the Holocaust at this point. It's horrible and heart-breaking every time. It never gets easier to witness in any way, largely I think because most people have a very difficult time imagining how anyone could treat another person in that way. People have treated other humans as animals or worse throughout history, and it still goes on today (which is partly why the stories are still so relevant and raw), so I know the attitude is certainly within the human capacity...but I don't understand it. Spiegelman ups the ante a little by depicting the characters as animals already - the Jews are mice, the Nazis are cats, the Poles are pigs, the French are frogs, the Americans are dogs, etc. It eliminates the hackneyed cliche of "treating people like animals" and it also makes you view the story with fresh eyes because it's told a little differently than usual.

As for style, I thought Spiegelman's style of story-telling was very similar to that of Harvey Pekar (of American Splendor fame), which is to say it's very common man, it's a little self-deprecating at times, it breaks the fourth wall on occasion...and something else intangible that I can't describe. I love Pekar's work, and I love this as well. It's hard to choose which parts of the books I liked most. The moments between the author and his father in the present are so realistic, rotating among frustration/anger at his father's irritating habits and attempts at guilt/manipulation, and worry/tenderness over his father's advancing age and physical/mental deterioration, and admiration for the strength and ingenuity his father had in order to survive the Holocaust.

On the other hand, the historical parts about Vladek and Anja in Poland and the many hells they went through to come out again alive and to find each other were so poignant and gripping - those were the parts that were impossible to put down. I'm still affected by this, two days after I finished the books - I have tears in my eyes as I type, thinking about all the people they lost, including their first son, and all the terrible things they saw, and what an unbelievable miracle it was that they both survived and found each other after they earned their freedom (because they were separated in Auschwitz and didn't see one another or hear from one another for a long time).

It's an incredibly moving story told in a somewhat unconventional manner. It has won several awards and a great deal of recognition. All well-deserved, in my opinion.(less)

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02/06/09

Dennis rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

Read in February, 2009

Epic.

This graphic novel collection chronicles the story of the writer's parents through pre-WWII Poland, into the occupation of Poland by NAZI germany, and follows the story until the conclusion of the war.

Each different type of people involved in the war are drawn as different animals, which gives an eerie sensation to the visualisation of the war, but that isn't even the best part of the characterisation.

The story is written as a narrative while the write...more

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12/23/08

Emma rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

Read in January, 2009

During my research last semester on graphic novels three pieces of information kept recurring: (1) Maus by Art Spiegelman is an amazing graphic novel that everyone--even the ones who don't like graphic novels at all--love. (2) Maus is amazing and, having won a Pulitzer Prize special award in 1992, is one of the main reasons graphic novels have gained so much more mainstream appreciation as a legitimate format for literature. (3) If you read, write, or otherwise enjoy graphic novels you should be...more During my research last semester on graphic novels three pieces of information kept recurring: (1) Maus by Art Spiegelman is an amazing graphic novel that everyone--even the ones who don't like graphic novels at all--love. (2) Maus is amazing and, having won a Pulitzer Prize special award in 1992, is one of the main reasons graphic novels have gained so much more mainstream appreciation as a legitimate format for literature. (3) If you read, write, or otherwise enjoy graphic novels you should be profusely thanking Spiegelman and Maus. (In all honesty I did make up that last part, but I think it was really implied in the subtext of all of my sources.)

Hearing all of that, of course, I felt like I had to read it. Technically speaking, Maus: A Survivor's Tale can be seen as two separate books. The first book (Maus I) is titled My Father Bleeds History (1986). The second, Maus II, is called And Here My Troubles Began (1991). Eventually, the two volumes were published together as one book. I had initially planned to review the two books separately however after reading both I decided that, really, the stories are so intertwined it really makes more sense to review the titles together.

The entire Maus saga is very meta (dictionary definition: "referring to itself or to the conventions of its genre")--very aware that it is a book and willing to make readers aware of that fact. The story begins with Art asking his father to tell him about his youth, specifically his experiences during the Holocaust. The structure here is smart and possibly too complex to have been pulled off with traditional prose. Spiegelman shifts between past and present with ease, deals with time lapses, and tells a compelling story all while illustrating (literally) the process of researching and creating that story.

He also does it all with allegorical animals standing in for people.

In this book the Jews are represented by mice while the Germans are cats (get it?). There are other animals represented in the story as people from different countries. While they are trying to pass as Poles, the Jewish mice are often shown wearing pig masks (Polish citizens are drawn as pigs) in order to blend in. Later in the story, once again creating ameta moment, Spiegelman shows himself wearing a mouse mask while promoting the book in "real life" (as a man). It sounds crazy when you try to explain it, but it also makes a crazy kind of sense.

Illustrated in black and white, the panels are on the small side and jump around the page. In other words, Spiegelman plays around with the sequencing to keep things interesting and fill the page in the best possible combination of panels.

Of course, this isn't always a happy book. Much of the story deals with Vladek and Anja Spiegelman's time in the Auschwitz concentration camp and what they had to endure there. And it's depressing. At the same time, watching Vladek keep his head on his shoulders and survive disaster after disaster, the story has uplifting moments. At the risk of sounding trite, it shows that people really can triumph in the face of adversity. Not to say their experiences in Auschwitz had no effect on Vladek's later life. It does. By extension it also greatly impacts Spiegelman's life and how he and his father relate to each other.

Maus isn't the type of book I usually read, largely because its necessarily depressing. I noticed my mood dipping as I worked through the book as I became invested with the characters. I also found myself feeling guilty while reading it. Here I am, half-Jewish (in so far as anyone can be half of a religion), and I know so little about that part of myself or that side of my family. My own ambivalence might explain why I cannot love this book as much as all its praise and supporters suggest I should.

To call Maus an ambitious piece of work is an understatement. Spiegelman takes on a lot in this relatively slim volume and , for the most part, delivers.(less)

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02/07/08

Emma Ledvina rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

Read in January, 2000

recommended to Emma by: Denise (Mom)
recommends it for: Everyone

I remember resisting my mother's recommendation to read the Maus books because I "didn't like comics." Now, several years later, I vividly remember being scolded for reading this under my desk as my teacher was dictating a lesson. It was absolutely phenomenal and an unexpectedly amazing way to learn about the Holocaust experience.

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12/12/08

Peter N. Trinh rated it:

(review of isbn 0679748407)

One professor told me that the most important forms of learning about the Holocaust is through the words of a survivor of the event. Spiegelman adopts this situation and pushes the incident more by expressing both he and his father's opinion on life during and after the Holocaust. While I have a stronger appreciation for the second volume of these two novels, this at least sets the bar for where the tales of Art and Vladek decide to go.

Art adopts a different emotion in the second vol...more

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04/05/09

Glen rated it:

(review of isbn 0141014083)

This is a awesome book. It is a graphic novel which makes the book even beter and the drawings in the book are great.

The book is like a memoir about a jew named Vladik Spigelman who was in the holocaust. His son is the one who writes the book. So the book starts with Vladik before the war begand and then when the war begins it shows his struggle with him and his family to survive the german prosecution. Then after all of the running Vladik gets cauht and is sent to auschwitz and he s...more

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