The Complete Persepolis: A Review

Why did it take me so long to get around to reading this book? I've written a novel, 'Sons of the Great Satan' set during the Iranian revolution, and I've read a number of accounts of that time - 'Prisoner of Tehran' and 'Daughter of Persia' - being two excellent memoirs. 'Persepolis' should have been a natural for me. I remember when the movie came out and wanting to see it. My own prejudices, I suppose. 'Persepolis' is a graphic novel and that equated to 'comic book' for me. I've never been a fan of comics, and the few graphic novels I've read didn't light my fire either. Personal prejudice I know, and like all prejudice, it can be very misguided.

I was an American teenager in Tehran at the same time that the author, Marjane Satrapi, was a young girl there. My story ended with a flight out in the fall of '78. In many ways that is when Ms. Satrapi's begins. Her family is well-educated, left-leaning and hungry for the overthrow of the Shah and democratic reform. She and her loved ones embrace the revolution without reservation. When the Shah flees in January 1979, they see this as the hard-won birth of freedom in a country too long held under the thumb of a dictator controlled by Western imperialists.

Then comes the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the dream of freedom dies under the iron rule of the mullahs. The people's revolution evolves into a theocratic state, and rather than liberty, the ancient tenants of Islam are imposed upon the masses. Those on the left, including Satrapi's own family members, are rounded-up, intimidated, persecuted... or worse.

Little Marjane tries to hold on to her independence as the State redefines the roles of women and young girls in the new Islamic Republic. It's a battle she cannot win. On top of all this comes the Iran/Iraq war. Sensing a weaken of Iran, their traditional enemy, Iraq, attempts to seize the Iranian oilfields. What Sadaam Hussien believes will be a 'cake walk' turns into one of the longest and bloodiest wars in the 20th century. Fearing for their child's safety, her mother and father send Marjane to Austria where she struggles not only with the fate of her homeland and family, but with her identity as a foreigner born in a nation that is quickly becoming a global pariah.

I'm not going to dwell on the artwork, which is excellent, as I was more interested in the story than the drawings. I enjoyed 'The Complete Persepolis' from cover to cover and am ashamed that I I haven't read this fine work sooner. I highly recommend this book to any one with an interest in the human side of that time and looking for a first hand account of the Islamic revolution. What can be more poignant than the fears and memories of a child?