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The Complete Maus
(Maus #1-2)
by
Combined for the first time here are Maus I: A Survivor's Tale and Maus II - the complete story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, living and surviving in Hitler's Europe. By addressing the horror of the Holocaust through cartoons, the author captures the everyday reality of fear and is able to explore the guilt, relief and extraordinary sensation of survival - and how the
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Paperback, 296 pages
Published
October 2nd 2003
by Penguin Books
(first published 1994)
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oh my god.

This burrowed it's way deep into my heart. This made me feel so much. This was an experience, not just a "read". This was real and I can't even explain how this affected me because it was the most emotional thing I've ever read. Not made-up emotion. This was REAL and it affected me.
Vladek. He reminded me of my Grandfather, a little. I loved my Grandfather and I loved Vladek. His story, as told to his son Art Spiegelman, was one of the most powerful stories I've ever experienced.
This w ...more

This burrowed it's way deep into my heart. This made me feel so much. This was an experience, not just a "read". This was real and I can't even explain how this affected me because it was the most emotional thing I've ever read. Not made-up emotion. This was REAL and it affected me.
Vladek. He reminded me of my Grandfather, a little. I loved my Grandfather and I loved Vladek. His story, as told to his son Art Spiegelman, was one of the most powerful stories I've ever experienced.
This w ...more

Wonderful example of the power of a graphic novel!
This is the “Complete” edition of “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale” collecting both parts: “My Father Bleeds History” and “And Here My Troubles Began”.
OF MAUS AND MEN
But these damn bugs are eating me alive!
While it took long time of finally reading Maus,...
...I knew that it was a graphic novel referring about the Jew Holocaust, but using mice (Jews) and cats (Nazis) as the characters,...
...and even while I was sure that it will be a crude tel ...more
This is the “Complete” edition of “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale” collecting both parts: “My Father Bleeds History” and “And Here My Troubles Began”.
OF MAUS AND MEN
But these damn bugs are eating me alive!
While it took long time of finally reading Maus,...
...I knew that it was a graphic novel referring about the Jew Holocaust, but using mice (Jews) and cats (Nazis) as the characters,...
...and even while I was sure that it will be a crude tel ...more

The young Adolf Hitler applied twice for admission to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and each time was rejected. One may dream: had he been successful, he might have had a different fate, and, as a result, Europe’s history might have taken some other shape… Sixty years later, on another continent, the young Art Spiegelman applied to the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan and passed the exam. His parents, Vladek and Anja Spiegelman, were two Jews from Poland who survived through the
...more

It didn’t dawn on me until later that this brilliant piece of graphic artistry and fiction is actually a very clever allegory. On the face of it, we’re led to believe that it’s a story of the terrible suffering perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews in Poland and throughout Europe. But if you scratch beneath the surface, I think you’ll find that this particular holocaust story was made to symbolize something more pervasive and endemic. I speak of the horrific violence that persists to this da
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LOVE

Until just a few weeks ago, the only reason for why I read graphic novels now and then was because of people's constant recommendations about the beauty and the value of those kinds of books. I will be honest; I am guilty of never believing those words. Most likely did I read graphic novels which didn't suit my personal tastes, but Art Spiegelman was capable of shattering my expectations and completely stunning me with the art of his writing and his illustrations.
But let's start at the beginning ...more
But let's start at the beginning ...more

Maus was more than I expected. I knew it would be about World War II and the Holocaust with the charaters being anthropomorphic mice, cats, pigs, dogs, etc. What I didn't realize was it would expand even farther in to the specific lives of the Spiegelmans before, during, and after the war.

Throughout the book the artist/author is a featured character struggling with his curmudgeonly father while he tries to document the story of his father's time in 1930s and 40s Poland and Germany. His experienc ...more

Throughout the book the artist/author is a featured character struggling with his curmudgeonly father while he tries to document the story of his father's time in 1930s and 40s Poland and Germany. His experienc ...more

This Review ✍️ Blog 📖 Twitter 🐦 Instagram 📷
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
💉 This cover has been on my radar for a looooong time and it usually is on the most bought books in my country when I check the online bookstores. I am not a fan of history and so I avoided it for the longest time possible. A book I was reading did mention that it was a graphic novel about Jew people and what they went through and I became interested and found myself a copy!
💉 I like what the author did, he is very smart, Jew peop ...more
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
💉 This cover has been on my radar for a looooong time and it usually is on the most bought books in my country when I check the online bookstores. I am not a fan of history and so I avoided it for the longest time possible. A book I was reading did mention that it was a graphic novel about Jew people and what they went through and I became interested and found myself a copy!
💉 I like what the author did, he is very smart, Jew peop ...more

“The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human.”
- Adolf Hitler
This a graphic novel told from two timelines. In the narrative present, Art Spiegelman (author) is interviewing his father Vladek about his experiences as a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor. The narrative past depicts these very experiences from the mid 1930s to the end of the Holocaust in 1945. Spiegelman has utilised different species of animals to portray different nationalities and races - Jews as mice, Germans a ...more
- Adolf Hitler
This a graphic novel told from two timelines. In the narrative present, Art Spiegelman (author) is interviewing his father Vladek about his experiences as a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor. The narrative past depicts these very experiences from the mid 1930s to the end of the Holocaust in 1945. Spiegelman has utilised different species of animals to portray different nationalities and races - Jews as mice, Germans a ...more

The Complete Maus
Art Spiegelman
Probably the most informative and intimate journal of the holocaust I have ever read.
Maus is really two parallel stories, not one. It jumps back and forth between the two stories, one set in the past (Poland), the other set in the present (NYC).
Story 1: 1940’s Poland: Vladek Spiegelman tells how he survived the holocaust as a Polish-Jew. From the invasion, to the spread of Naziam, to his time in Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp as a tin worker at the gas cha ...more
Art Spiegelman
Probably the most informative and intimate journal of the holocaust I have ever read.
Maus is really two parallel stories, not one. It jumps back and forth between the two stories, one set in the past (Poland), the other set in the present (NYC).
Story 1: 1940’s Poland: Vladek Spiegelman tells how he survived the holocaust as a Polish-Jew. From the invasion, to the spread of Naziam, to his time in Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp as a tin worker at the gas cha ...more

I feel like anything I could say about this book is going to sound woefully inadequate, but I guess I'll give it a shot anyway. Maus had obviously been on my radar for ages as a critical piece of Holocaust literature as well as being the only graphic novel to ever win the Pulitzer Prize, so I was certainly expecting it to be good, but I don't think anything could have prepared me for how utterly harrowing of a read this ended up being. And again, yes, I did know that its subject matter was the H
...more

One of the most influential literary works ever...in or out of comics.

Jul 05, 2017
Eimhear (A Little Haze)
rated it
really liked it
Recommended to Eimhear (A Little Haze) by:
Amanda Skoog
I never knew that a graphic novel could be so moving, so haunting and so phenomenally powerful.
The complete Maus tells the tale of Hitler's Europe and the experiences of one Jewish man, the author/illustrator Art Spiegelman's father Vladek. It is a book that doesn't hold any punches and is jaw dropping in its exploration of humanity through both the atrocities and ethnic cleansing of that time and of how this moulds a man forever.
I don't have the words to fully express all I'm feeling right no ...more
The complete Maus tells the tale of Hitler's Europe and the experiences of one Jewish man, the author/illustrator Art Spiegelman's father Vladek. It is a book that doesn't hold any punches and is jaw dropping in its exploration of humanity through both the atrocities and ethnic cleansing of that time and of how this moulds a man forever.
I don't have the words to fully express all I'm feeling right no ...more

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

THE COMPLETE MAUS is, to date, the hardest, most emotionally draining novel I have read in my adult life. It was a heart-wrenching, but really necessary read for me, and I’m proud of myself for deciding to read something so far outside my comfort zone (I tend to shy away from both history and memoir/true story novels).
The book is a story within a story. Art shows himself interviewing his father, Vladek, and his time spent with his father for part of this book, and the rest of the story is Vladek ...more
The book is a story within a story. Art shows himself interviewing his father, Vladek, and his time spent with his father for part of this book, and the rest of the story is Vladek ...more

Dec 22, 2014
Bettie
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
spring-2015,
e-book,
nonfiction,
jewish,
biography,
art-forms,
holocaust-genocide,
published-1991

Art Spiegelman warns of 'dangerous' outcome as Russian shops ban Maus
This has been on my wishlist forever -looks like this is a good time to read it.
"My father pulled out 14 of his teeth to escape. If you missed 12 teeth they let you go."
- page 45, book I
"The guards, it was Jews with big sticks, they acted so, just like the Germans"
- page 106, book I



Such a creative and innovative way to write a memoir. Loved the animal metaphor with mice and cats but evermore I adored the writer's honesty about his father's personality and its effects on his mental health. Even though his father was a Holocaust survivor, even before such trauma it is very likely he had what we call personality disorder, and the graphic novel does the raw unpacking of emotional pressure that Spiegelman grew up with having the kind a father he had; rigid, adamant, neurotic, d
...more

“To die, it’s easy…but you have to struggle for life!” The only graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize, this brings the Holocaust home in a fresh way. Like Animal Farm, it uses the conceit of various animal associations: the Jews are mice, Poles are pigs, Nazis are cats, and Americans are dogs. Spiegelman draws what, from a distance of decades, his Polish father Vladek narrates about his almost unbelievable series of escapes, including time in Auschwitz. It’s often the minor stories that really
...more

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

Where should I commence to appraise this book? Must I begin from the detail that MAUS is a gratifying story of Vladek and Art OR that it is a sheer enlightenment through simplicity?
Art Spiegelman in this astounding graphic novel reveals a fractured father-son relationship whilst focusing on the perils of the Holocaust. The story is set in Rego Park, NY where Art Spiegelman, a cartoonist tries to verbalize and grasp with his father and the Holocaust.
Written over a period of thirteen years, MAUS ...more
Art Spiegelman in this astounding graphic novel reveals a fractured father-son relationship whilst focusing on the perils of the Holocaust. The story is set in Rego Park, NY where Art Spiegelman, a cartoonist tries to verbalize and grasp with his father and the Holocaust.
Written over a period of thirteen years, MAUS ...more

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
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If this book hadn’t been a selection for my book club in January, I would never have picked it up. Not because I’m a snob about graphic novels—I think they are legitimate form of literature and very enjoyable to boot. But I might have avoided Maus because of the subject matter—I haven’t read very much about the holocaust and that is by choice. I guess I’m a chicken, but I hate exploring just how terribly we can treat one another. I haven’t yet read Romeo Dallaire’s book about the Rwandan genocid
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Books I read rarely affect my emotions when I'm not reading it. A book can pull me every which way, make me feel horrified or saddened or joyful, but when I put it down, I'm in the same mood I was before I started reading it. Only occasionally can a book get under my skin, and Maus is one of them. I was actually happy to finish it, because I didn't like the way it was making me feel: anxious, upset, unhappy. And I've read Holocaust stuff before. It's not new. Something about the way Spiegelman c
...more

When I was a kid I read comic books (mostly Superman). The Maus books are the only graphic novels I've read and I consider them masterpieces (Mausterpieces?). Like Spiegelman's alter ego, I was a middle class child growing up in Queens (NYC), the son of Holocaust survivors and couldn't communicate with my father when I was growing up. He got it down perfectly. It was spot on and ranks among the best of Holocaust related literature.
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This is not an easy graphic novel to read. The illustrations are beautiful, but the simple black and white style reminds the reader that the subject matter is one of the darkest periods of modern history. This very personal glimpse into the horrors of the Holocaust touch on many complex emotions: loyalty, fear, survivor’s guilt, anger…
Art Spiegelman’s father Vladek is a Holocaust survivor, who grew up and lived in Poland, was drafted into the Polish army, lived in a P.O.W. camp, the Jewish ghett ...more
Art Spiegelman’s father Vladek is a Holocaust survivor, who grew up and lived in Poland, was drafted into the Polish army, lived in a P.O.W. camp, the Jewish ghett ...more

I really, really loved this. It's a fascinating and fresh portrayal of a (yet another) victim's experience of the Holocaust. I loved the meta aspect of this as well, the actual presentation of how the novel was written is fascinating.
However, my one criticism is that I feel Spiegelman didn't use the whole mice and cats metaphor as well as he could. This novel would have had the exact same impact and tone if he just drew everyone as humans. I feel like the anthropomorphism was... pointless. Ther ...more
However, my one criticism is that I feel Spiegelman didn't use the whole mice and cats metaphor as well as he could. This novel would have had the exact same impact and tone if he just drew everyone as humans. I feel like the anthropomorphism was... pointless. Ther ...more

This was an amazing read.
This was so good. I've known about it for a long time but somehow never sought it out. Maybe it was a bias against graphic novels? Not sure. I'm so glad I finally read it. This is a picture of human strength and frailty, humane and savage behavior, done in a novel way that seems to make it even more immediate and real.
...more
This was so good. I've known about it for a long time but somehow never sought it out. Maybe it was a bias against graphic novels? Not sure. I'm so glad I finally read it. This is a picture of human strength and frailty, humane and savage behavior, done in a novel way that seems to make it even more immediate and real.
...more

This is the longest review that I have ever written but then you cannot do justice to a book that has won a Pulitzer and Eisner award if you do not dissect it well enough. I look forward to your feedback on the review
Spiegelman was born in Stockholm in 1948. His parents, Wladyslaw and Andzia Spiegelman (Vladek and Anja in Maus) were Polish Jews and Holocaust survivors. They had come to Sweden as refugees after World War-2 and later immigrated to the United States in 1951. They settled in the Reg ...more
Spiegelman was born in Stockholm in 1948. His parents, Wladyslaw and Andzia Spiegelman (Vladek and Anja in Maus) were Polish Jews and Holocaust survivors. They had come to Sweden as refugees after World War-2 and later immigrated to the United States in 1951. They settled in the Reg ...more

What a great way to show the history of Auschwitz & The life of Art.
I am a cat person so Nazis as cats is very funny. This a classic the art work i Black &White because it makes it comes across very much an evil dark time.
This NOT as one idiot said a 'child's book" like Animal Farm this book with a vast point to make in this case tear jerker that is a subject we hope NEVER returns.
Constatation camps are not a German invention Hitler get the blame but They are British government from the Boer wa ...more
I am a cat person so Nazis as cats is very funny. This a classic the art work i Black &White because it makes it comes across very much an evil dark time.
This NOT as one idiot said a 'child's book" like Animal Farm this book with a vast point to make in this case tear jerker that is a subject we hope NEVER returns.
Constatation camps are not a German invention Hitler get the blame but They are British government from the Boer wa ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
BookTube: Creativ...: Maus I-II by Art Spiegelman | 2 | 8 | Feb 23, 2021 07:07AM | |
Jewish Book Club: The Complete Maus | 11 | 33 | Feb 13, 2021 10:31AM | |
Ingresando al mundo de la novela grafica | 3 | 7 | Oct 11, 2020 09:10PM |
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