Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood

by Marjane Satrapi

book data

11,705 ratings, 4.29 average rating, 1,591 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		45%
4		40%
3		12%
2		1%
1		0%

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published

June 1st 2004 (first published 2000) by Pantheon

binding

Paperback, 160 pages

literary awards

New York Booker / Alex Awards

isbn

037571457X (isbn13: 9780375714573)

description

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-wh...more

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10/01/07

Paul rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novels

Well, having read the book, I went also to see the film last night. But I will probably not wish to go to see the musical or buy the soundtrack of the musical with specially commissioned songs by Sting and Bono and Madonna and Cher and several other rock stars who only have one name, all their other names having been impounded by customs officials.
I didn't read Persepolis Book Two so was interested that the film incorporates both books. However my joy turned to large bananas which have...more Well, having read the book, I went also to see the film last night. But I will probably not wish to go to see the musical or buy the soundtrack of the musical with specially commissioned songs by Sting and Bono and Madonna and Cher and several other rock stars who only have one name, all their other names having been impounded by customs officials.
I didn't read Persepolis Book Two so was interested that the film incorporates both books. However my joy turned to large bananas which have been left too long in the fruit bowl of life and are now blackened and soggy, as I came to realise that the perky sassy girl of Part One grew up to be the miserable pain in the ass shoegazing student of Part Two. So the movie demonstrated the curious fact that you can have the most exotic of backgrounds (Iran! revolution! fundamentalism! war!) and still be a dullard.
(I should interpose that the visual aspect of the movie is very pretty, and when one has determined that the political content is close to zero, one can transfer one's attention to the exhuberant cartooning without a qualm).
There are two very odd things about this two-book-one-movie : the word AYATOLLAH is never mentioned, not once. As neither is the other word ISLAM. But if I recall correctly, Iran experienced an ISLAMic revolution led by the AYATOLLAH Khomeini. So this is like "My Life in Germany 1930-1940" without mentioning Hitler or the Nazi Party. That's odd! Maybe she'd be on the receiving end of an icepick haircut if she named names, but still. Also odd is the apparent fact that the author's family could send the author out of Iran to Vienna for years at a time - not once, but twice! What implications does this have for our view of the intolerable oppression of the regime?
So in spite of all its trappings, Persepolis in the end is as political and insightful as Shopaholic, i.e. not political and not insightful, and gets away with it because the author can not unreasonably retort that political acumen was quite outside of her purview as she was growing up trying to score Iron Maiden cassettes and trying on lurid shades of lipstick; whence come all the cardboard cutouts which populate the movie, and whence all the unexplained actions and motivations. The dialogue from the adults in her early life is either "the regime tortured your uncle without mercy. He was a communist" or "I put jasmine leaves in my bra every day". It seems Persepolis has gained its popularity from sheer quaintness. I was looking for more.(less)

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

10 comments

07/29/07

Bookshop rated it:

bookshelves: biography, comics

Read in January, 2006

They are among the rare books that I give a 5 which means:
a. they will come with me wherever I go
b. I will read them again and again until I remember every single sentence
c. I will not lend them to people :p.

Tita introduced me to these books. I have been very interested on Iran and was even contemplating to read the autobiography of Farah Pahlavi, the Empress of Iran. After repeated visits to the bookshop to flip the pages of this autobiography, I wasn't sure if I w...more

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

3 comments

11/30/07

Nojood rated it:

bookshelves: arabic-books, fiction, translations

Read in December, 2007

I got this book in Arabic. Any one who is interrested could borrow it from me (if you are in Jeddah that is!)
أنهيت قراءة الكتاب ليس لأني سريعة في القراءة و ليس لأنه كتب بالعربية و لكن لأسباب أخرى؛ أولها أننا كنا في الطائرة ننتظر مكان للوقوف لمدة ساعة تقريبا(بسسب الحجاج رعاهم الله) و ثانيا لأن الكتاب مصور! أكثر ما شدني ف�...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

13 comments

03/15/09

Chandra rated it:

bookshelves: 2009-reads, biography-memoir, graphic-novels-comics, history, kids-young-adult

I was really only vaguely interested in this. I had it on my to-read list more out of obligation because it was something I thought I 'should' read....eventually. But truth be told it didn't look all that appealing to me. First, I don't 'do' graphic novels. Second, the art looked childish and unappealing. Third, the subject matter sounded almost unendurably dreary. But, it sort of called to me at the library the other day - sitting propped up on a staff picks shelf. So, I nabbed it and dov...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

6 comments

10/16/08

erry rated it:

bookshelves: true-story

Persepolis adalah sebuah ibu kota kuno dari Kekaisaran Persia, terletak 70 km timur laut Shiraz, Iran. Dalam bahasa Persia kuna, kota ini disebut Parsa. Persepolis adalah bentuknya dalam bahasa Yunani.

Perang, revolusi dan pertikaian internal adalah kata yang biasanya terkesan ‘seram’. Tetapi di dalam novel grafis ini, kita bisa tertawa sekaligus mengerenyitkan dahi. Lucu, apa adanya, sekaligus menyentuh. Penuturan yang unik dari seorang Marjane Satrapi berdasarkan pengalaman prib...more Persepolis adalah sebuah ibu kota kuno dari Kekaisaran Persia, terletak 70 km timur laut Shiraz, Iran. Dalam bahasa Persia kuna, kota ini disebut Parsa. Persepolis adalah bentuknya dalam bahasa Yunani.

Perang, revolusi dan pertikaian internal adalah kata yang biasanya terkesan ‘seram’. Tetapi di dalam novel grafis ini, kita bisa tertawa sekaligus mengerenyitkan dahi. Lucu, apa adanya, sekaligus menyentuh. Penuturan yang unik dari seorang Marjane Satrapi berdasarkan pengalaman pribadinya sendiri.

Revolusi telah berimbas pada semua orang di hampir seluruh aspek kehidupan. Pendidikan, gaya berpakaian, peraturan, dsb. Belum lagi revolusi usai, mereka harus dihadapkan lagi pada serangan dari negara tetangga mereka Irak. Bom, kematian dan dihantui ketakutan. Perang dan pertikaian internal telah menghancurkan sebuah kebudayaan besar yang telah ada sejak beribu tahun SM.

*******
Lucu, apa adanya sekaligus menyentuh. Itu point terbaik dari buku ini. Kalau masalah gambar, menurut pandangan pribadi saya agak unik (mendekati aneh). Mungkin karena saya sudah terlalu terbiasa melihat manga2 japan yang tipikalnya jauh berbeda. He3x.. tapi, tetep menarik buat di baca.

Sejarah jadi tidak terlihat rumit. Mudah dicerna

Buku yang saya baca adalah buku edisi bahasa inggris (sudah ada yg terjemahannya blm ya??). penggunaan bahasa inggris yang cukup familiar, tdk banyak kosa kata ‘asing’. Jadi, saya yang bahasa inggrisnya pas2an saja, masih bisa mengerti isinya.

Akan tetapi, buat saya, ada beberapa ‘masalah’ dalam kisah ini.

Pertama : latar belakang keluarga Satrapi yang berasal dari keluarga berada, menengah atas dan berpendidikan. Jadi, dampak dan imbas perang tidak terlalu terasa bagi mereka. Bayangkan saja, ketika krisis melanda, mereka masih sempat2nya berpesta pora. Jadi buat saya, pengalaman perang Marji kecil disini tidaklah setragis bocah2 lain yang kurang beruntung yang mengalami hal yang sama.

Kedua : saya menangkap adanya sinisme, sentimen dan justifikasi negative tertentu terhadap revolusi islam di iran ataupun terhadap agama itu sendiri yang hadir pada kisah ini. Hal itu bisa muncul karena sang penulis berasal dari keluarga yang cukup liberal dan terbuka. Ditambah lagi dengan pengalaman perang sang penulis di masa kecilnya. Bagaimanapun, ia adalah korban revolusi dan perang. Mau tidak mau, itu pasti akan mempengaruhi pola pikir, pandangan serta cara penulisannya. Hal itu bisa dimaklumi, karena walau bagaimanapun perang, revolusi, kekerasan dan kejadian yang menimpa seorang anak kecil akan terus terbawa hingga seseorang itu dewasa. Jadi, apa yang digambarkan dalam buku ini belum tentu sesuai dengan kondisi sebenarnya. Tanpa bermaksud mengatakan ini adalah sebuah kisah bohongan, akan tetapi saya akan bilang kisah ini tidak cukup untuk mewakili kondisi sebenarnya. Jadi kita tidak dapat menilai apa yang terjadi disana saat itu hanya berdasarkan buku ini.

Karena kedua point di ataslah, saya hanya memberi tiga bintang untuk buku ini (5* - 2*).

Secara umum, ini adalah buku yang patut dibaca karena menghibur dan mudah dicerna.
(less)

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

24 comments

01/20/08

Jason rated it:

Read in March, 2004

Cultural relativists as far back as Sextus Empiricus or Michel Montaigne, or as recent as William Graham Sumner or Gilbert Harman, often make compelling arguments that there are no objective standards for judging other societies/beliefs. Yet Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis achieves in 153 pages what cultural relativists deny as possible and what most political pundits can never fully articulate: an informed and justifiable criticism of an existing cultural paradigm. Satrapi's method is deceptively ...more Cultural relativists as far back as Sextus Empiricus or Michel Montaigne, or as recent as William Graham Sumner or Gilbert Harman, often make compelling arguments that there are no objective standards for judging other societies/beliefs. Yet Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis achieves in 153 pages what cultural relativists deny as possible and what most political pundits can never fully articulate: an informed and justifiable criticism of an existing cultural paradigm. Satrapi's method is deceptively simple: by using her own life stories as the premise, Satrapi builds an argument for criticizing culture.
Satrapi's autobiographicalized[1] self and society act both with wisdom and foolishness both before and after the revolution. The Iranian revolution meant to replace an unpopular government with one more responsive to the people's will. Until reading this book, I was unaware of any particular details of Iran during their revolution - mostly because I am a Westerner and generally not privy to accounts of day-to-day life in the Mid-East. On that basis, the cultural relativists may be right that I have no foundation on which to critically analyze the current state of Iran. Thankfully, however, Satrapi can criticize - using both an insider's and outsider's perspective. Satrapi undermines the denial of standards posited by cultural relativists by showing the reader that standards of comparison do indeed exist: standards related to varying degrees of freedom of expression, of decision, and from coercion. Satrapi's criticism is much more subtle than "old way good, new way bad." Instead, she draws for the reader situation after situation where real people are swept along with the flash flood of a revolution. Satrapi, having come of age in the midst of such a flood, is able to compare her pre- and post-revolution home and draw for the reader how the people she knew dealt with that change and what they thought of it.
Satrapi's art maintains a consistent, iconic style throughout the book. This allows the reader to identify more fully with the story's characters and makes for a gripping narrative flow. This iconic style is also important in reaching an audience unaccustomed to graphic novels and the myriad ways in which their authors approach narrative (Art Spiegelman's Maus is a prime example of an iconic style's appeal). What really makes Persepolis an artistic tour-de-force, however, are the more experimental panels that Satrapi intersperses into the basic narrative frame she establishes. These larger, and more visually stunning, panels interrupt the narrative, slowing (in some instances stopping) the reader in his or her tracks, drawing him or her into the intricacies of the panel. This interspersion is a type of reader manipulation especially featured in comix. There are an abundance of examples of this technique in Persepolis - panels 15.2, 29.4 are but a few. Panels 10.5, 11.1, and 11.2, in particular, defy, yet wholly contain, prosaic description, poetic symbolism, dramatic interaction, and cinematic imagery.
Satrapi seems to suggest in this work that the way to bring peoples together is to allow an exchange of their cultural ideas. At times, it may appear that the unrestrained steamroller of Western culture threatens anything in its path. But is that really the case? Satrapi seems to hint that a people left free to first experience, then to choose, whether to accept or reject another culture's offerings are always better off than a people punished for experiencing other cultures. She presents with compassion her life in that earlier Iran and draws it for the reader through the filter of her current life in Western culture. She doesn't champion one culture while condemning another. She shows, through autobiography, what works and doesn't work when it comes to governing groups of human beings.
[1] - This phrase refers to the separation of the author as an entity from the literary self they create for a reader through autobiography. (less)

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

5 comments

02/02/08

Joe S rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novels

Read in February, 2008

It was a decently told story, with small shining moments. I don't feel it was worth all the hype, though, and I wonder if it would have been such a success if this weren't the perfect time to tap into liberal, anti-war, pro-vaguely-Middle-Eastern sympathies throughout the West.

In the end, I think the marketing was better than the story-telling.

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11/20/08

Anna rated it:

bookshelves: hard-tack, magic-carpet, political-animal, treasure

Read in October, 2008

This lived up to expectations.

I once lived with an Iranian in exile named Medi, also raised by radical Socialist parents under the Shah - his mother had been a gynecologist running a free clinic in a poor area of the country so their radical leaning s had been tolerated. This so resonated with what he told me of his childhood, and the utter disjunction between the tolerant and intellectual interior life, home life, and what was happening on the streets.

Medi was a wide-e...more

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06/18/08

Corinne rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novel, orbis-terrarum-challenge, young-adult-challenge-2008

Read in June, 2008

Marjane spent her growing up years in Iran, the daughter of wealthy-ish middle class parents. Her formative years were during the Iranian Revolution, in which her immediate and extended family took an active part. Politically, it was a time of great unrest and uncertainty and, if her book is any indication, she spent much of her time mulling over the things she sees and hears as an only child.

She's an interesting character - at times naive and idealistic, and, as she grows older, ver...more Marjane spent her growing up years in Iran, the daughter of wealthy-ish middle class parents. Her formative years were during the Iranian Revolution, in which her immediate and extended family took an active part. Politically, it was a time of great unrest and uncertainty and, if her book is any indication, she spent much of her time mulling over the things she sees and hears as an only child.

She's an interesting character - at times naive and idealistic, and, as she grows older, very aware of the horrible circumstances that surround her and she almost seems to revel in the horror. She is close to her family but becomes increasingly fed up with how restrictive her society becomes after Iran becomes an Islamic Republic. Oh, and of course, there's the Iran Iraq war - this woman lived through a very unstable time.

I think the main reason that I liked to read her story is because it is so very different from my own story. I had no sense of politics until late high school, at least - perhaps mostly because of the country I live in and partly because my parents didn't seem to actively engage with me in discussions about it, as Marjane's parents did. I can't say that this book changed my life, or that I even got a sense of an overarching theme of "war is bad" or "my childhood stunk." She is not a character that I felt pity for, even as horrible things are happening to her - partly because I didn't get the feeling that she was pitying herself.

The graphic novel format really worked for me - I'm not sure her story would've been quite as interesting without her creative drawings. I think also, it might've been much more "graphic" to have had to read about all the violence instead of just seeing her take on it, which nearly always gave you the sense and idea of the violence without being overly bloody or intense.

As an introduction to modern Iranian history for teens (and grownups) , I think it's fantastic - it puts a face on the masses and she does include background for the events that she experiences or hears about. I think every story we read that makes a group of people seem more familiar and their views more understandable is a story worth telling.(less)

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04/14/08

Abigail rated it:

(review of isbn 0375422307)

bookshelves: biography-memoir, comics-graphic-novels, persia-iran

Read in September, 2004

recommends it for: Anyone Interested in Modern Iran, Graphic Art Lovers

A compelling memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis is both a moving portrait of one young girl's life, and a keenly-observed record of the political and religious events unfolding in her country. The author chronicles her family's initial jubilation at the fall of the brutal and corrupt regime of the Shah, their dismay at the growing repressiveness of the new theocracy, and their suffering (along with their countrymen) during the Iran-Iraq War. ...more

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07/26/07

Lacey rated it:

bookshelves: graphicnovels

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: anyone

Another graphic memoir, this one about the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the 80s. A look at the complicated politics of the middle east through the eyes of a child who lived it, which makes it digestible -- we get the pieces in "child-size" doses, but what is happening is not child-sized at all. We watch Marjane go through the regular rigors of coming of age even as the world around her changes and her family needs to go further and further underground as the government gets more and m...more

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05/15/07

drbarb rated it:

(review of isbn 0224064401)

bookshelves: educateyourself, graphicnovels

Read in January, 2004

recommends it for: Americans, women, Republicans

I am as middle class (we call it affectionately, the "poor rich" where I live.) I am intellectual. I am like Richard Rodriquez and bellhooks because education took me away from my roots, but gave me who I am today.

So, how could Iranian middle class intellectuals and professionals in the late 1970s have been so different than me and my family? For the young, under the Shah, there was a strong and progressive, very Western group of middle class Iranians. Just like me and mine...more

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03/20/07

Melissa Kotacka rated it:

bookshelves: memoir, repeatreads

Read in October, 2006

This book was not at all what I expected -- it was so much more. Normally, I have a large amount of disdain for stories told form the child's persepctive, for I find the children to be a little too wise, a little too precoscious (I know it's spelled wrong, but it's late and I'm lazy), a little too learned, a little too in tune with their fate, etc. (think Mary Anton in "The Promised Land" -- to this day, it is the most tedious piece of self-indulgent crap I ever had to read and the on...more

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03/03/08

Hillary rated it:

Read in March, 2008

Oh, it's surprisingly excellent. Remember when you finally, grudgingly read _Maus_ after hearing it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and then it turned out that it was at least comparable to the greatness of bread being already sliced? This is like that. When you see "wise, funny, and heartbreaking," up above in the description, you probably can hear the violins swelling and the announcer saying, "Not since Cinema Paradiso..." but what makes _Persepolis_ so good is ...more

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06/28/07

Nathan rated it:

Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: other people

Am I an ass if I say I got bored?

And yet, this trailer never fails to bring me to tears:

[http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=2032024020]

Cinema > Comic books

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08/23/08

Jaspreet rated it:

Read in September, 2008

I have been thinking a lot about growing up in two cultures and transitioning from various homes. One of the habits I adopted last year which helped make law school less painful was to read a little every day. If I was feeling cranky about getting out of bed, I would read a few pages to jump start my day. On Wednesday morning, I got up early and decided to read a few pages of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Towards the last few pages of the book, I started crying. By the time I finished, I ...more

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07/15/08

Patrick O'Neil rated it:

As a child I had problems pronouncing words. My first attempt at the English language was “Rowl” – I was trying to put my all into saying the name of the store down the street “Red Owl.” Later, my favorite thing to try and read was the Peanuts cartoon by Charles Shultz, although I continually mispronounced Charlie Brown’s “sigh” as “see-gah.” That I had grown up in several different countries, spoke different languages, had dyslexia, and was general pretty stupid, didn’t he...more As a child I had problems pronouncing words. My first attempt at the English language was “Rowl” – I was trying to put my all into saying the name of the store down the street “Red Owl.” Later, my favorite thing to try and read was the Peanuts cartoon by Charles Shultz, although I continually mispronounced Charlie Brown’s “sigh” as “see-gah.” That I had grown up in several different countries, spoke different languages, had dyslexia, and was general pretty stupid, didn’t help the situation any. Yet I still have problems pronouncing words.

When I was talking about Persepolis with a friend, I pronounced it “pair-a-poll-see.” She looked at me kind of funny and politely asked, “you’re reading what?”

“Pairapollsee,” I said. “The graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi.”

“You mean Persepolis,” she said, “it’s the ancient capital of Persia pronounced like metropolis, or Indianapolis.”

“Sigh,” I mumbled.

Persepolis, is Satrapi’s mispronounced childhood. Growing up in a privileged Iranian family, that was once royalty. She had to endure the cultural and religious revolution of the fundamental Muslims as they took back their country from years of capitalistic western influence. While at the same time dealing with her adolescence and constantly struggling to understand the difference between right and wrong. While Persepolis’ subject matter is at times somewhat rather difficult to explain to readers who haven’t an understanding of what the sociological and political ramifications of Iran’s return to Islamic Rule had on its citizens. Satrapi seems to have no difficulties weaving an incredibly beautiful and at times sad and ironic story of a young girl coming of age. Her accompanying illustrations evoke a modern version of traditional Arabic images, while her stark black and white medium is reminiscent of Soviet Era propaganda. Making the juxtaposition of her art and story a metaphor for the clash of cultures that post revolution Iran has become.

Persepolis: is well written, excellently illustrated, and a wonderful commentary on the changing times we all live in.
(less)

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04/03/08

Dan rated it:

bookshelves: comics

Read in August, 2005

Fun story about this book...
Back in the day, I used to frequent the message board of writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina). I was something of a regular. Well, back in early 2005, BKV sold or optioned the film rights for Y, and as a treat to the loyal Caballeros (as we were called on the BKV Cabal) he and comic co-creator Pia Guerra decided to use some of their movie cash to buy pretty much everyone on the boards one graphic novel of their choice from a list of ten over-look...more

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03/13/08

furies rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, absolutely-must-read, adolescent, graphic-novels-comics, memoirs, war-literature, would-rec

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: sab, leigh, cate, micole

so the art is simple and perfect for the story. the story, the characters, the setting, the fact that this is a memoir - sometimes i wonder why anyone tries to write a traditional memoir when they could use the graphic novel form.

what i love most about this book is that the art is somewhat true to life - there are no allegorical illustrations of cats and mice, and there's no need to make the story seem more tragic by super depressing illustrations, or somehow more accessible by maki...more

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02/10/08

Austin rated it:

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Austin by: A Lot Of People, Some Good, Some Bad
recommends it for: Current Events Fans

Chances are if you're interested in reading Persepolis, you probably already know what it's about. It's this kind of reputation that made me hesitant to read it; how many times have we been burned by something that had been hyped before? It's a lesson we learn over and over in our lives, despite wanting to believe otherwise.

Fortunately, Persepolis is pretty impressive in spite of it's reputation. The style and form of the writing and art is focused with a kind of accuracy that f...more

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"In life you'll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it's because they're stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance... Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself." More quotes...