As You Read - Initial thoughts on the book?

[Cait]

What are you thinking as you read? Easy to get into or difficult?

[Cait]

I read this book crazy fast, I liked it so much. Two of the things that immediately jumped out at me: 1) Satrapi (and her parents, and grandma), are brave and *hilarious*. I don't think I would have as much snark in the same situation, but I admire them a lot for holding on to it. 2) It's really interesting reading this directly after A Woman In The Crossfire. So many events are parallels, and it really made me read between the lines about what was happening outside of Satrapi's child viewpoint. She certainly sees a lot of horrible things that no child (no human, really) should have to see, but there was a lot she was protected from as well, and that's something I couldn't have understood as well without reading last month's book.

[Becki]

I read it quickly too! I loved Satrapi's unique perspective and I thought that keeping the subject through the eyes of a child makes it really approachable. Her illustration style is so unique too and I think the simplicity keeps the focus on the really dramatic events of this story. I definitely agree that the other things we have been reading lend a deeper context to Persepolis and other books like it, and that's really helpful.

[Elizabeth]

I completely agree: It's interesting to see these events unfold from the point of view of a child, and amazing that she is able to imbue humor/innocence into it in spite of the horrors going on. To see the way a child is exposed and reacts to violence they cannot fully understand is both touching and chilling.

And yes, I'm really glad we read Yazbek first, since it really gives some important context to the events taking place here. Like when Satrapi mentions in passing martyrs or protestors being shot, I have a much better idea of what this means from Yazbek's book. I also find Persepolis complementary since while Satrapi doesn't go into as much detail about the horrors (although it's a whole lot for a child so young), the scope of this book is large (not just 100 days) and gives a better feel for the chain of events and the historical development.

Finally, I like the choice of a graphic novel as the medium here. It makes it engaging to read, and I also like seeing pictures given the very different setting/culture. I'm only 1/3 the way through, but I can already tell this will be a 5 star book for me.

(Edit: Also, to answer your second question, it was really easy to get into and hard to put down.)

[Sylvia]

Loved this one, again! (Read it about 10 years back for the first time.) What struck me so much this time was the dynamic for her of being marginalized as Iranian in Europe, but then marginalized in Iran for being too Westernized on her return. She seemed to be suffering as much (albeit in different ways) during her years "safely" away in Europe as she was in Iran during wartime and under an extremely repressive regime. I'm still pondering over the complex connections between family, culture, physical danger/safety, and mental health/illness explored here. Sorry I'm a bit late to this feed - Easter got in the way!

[Becki]

That's a great point Sylvia! I'm about halfway through Reading Lolita in Tehran right now and that's a similar theme, that feeling somewhat groundless as you straddle two very different worlds. I can't imagine how hard that would be, no never feel truly "home."

[Cait]

Because I just participated in a bunch of discussions on Americanah for my work book club, that straddling of two places was also at the top of my mind while reading Persepolis - the same with the mental health aspect, as Satrapi and Persepolis and Ifemelu in Americanah both deal with severe depression after their moves to Europe/America respectively. In Americanah it really made me think about how vulnerable we all are without those human connections with people who are physically there to check in on us, to keep us safe, and I thought of that again in Persepolis when here parents were frantically calling for her while she lived on the streets, but had no way to contact her or even know if she was alive or dead.

[Elizabeth]

I also agree with Sylvia. One would tend to assume that the horrible regime would be the worst experience and that escaping is the solution, but there at least she has her family. Satrapi does a good job showing how the struggles continue even after the safety risk is behind her, and how difficult it is to not have a true sense of "home" or origin (even though you don't risk violence from that). She was brave to depict the mental health issues, and I wonder to what extent they were influenced by the horrible things she witnessed as a child (in addition to the move/culture shock as Cait mentions).

Incidentally, this issue of not feeling completely at home in any one culture reminds me of an article I read recently about the changing climate in the Netherlands (due to a backlash against multiculturalism). The article interviewed a traditional Muslim girl at a school in Amsterdam, and she said that she was having trouble feeling Dutch given the Islamophobia, but also doesn't fit in in Morocco after having grown up in the West. So I think the issues Satrapi writes about are likely exacerbated by the recent turn towards populism/xenophobia across the world. Satrapi showed us how hard things were even before this trend began, and I worry for children like this who have it even worse today.

[Elizabeth]

There are also a few other things that struck me now that I've finished, which I wonder if others have comments on:

1) The subtle forms of resistance (showing a few strands of hair, wearing nail polish) and how people were led to resist (e.g. throw secret parties with alcohol) in spite of the risk to their lives because living was more important.

2) How much Western culture was still available to kids (on the black market) even during the fundamentalist regime: how she put up posters in her room, listened to popular songs, etc.

3) The parallels between the nuns at her school in Austria and the Islamic fundamentalists back in Iran.

4) The failure of Satrapi's marriage due to constraints from fundamentalism (not being able to move in together to see ahead of time if it would work out).

[Becki]

The subtle resistance seems to be a theme from literature by women of the Muslim world in the books I've been reading. Reading Lolita in Tehran has a lot of this theme as well (reading banned books, teaching girls specifically, teaching girls about other girls/women's history, etc.). I so respect the amount of bravery these women have to further learning and growth at all costs.

And I think the parallels between religious fundamentalism of all stripes are so important to acknowledge and identify. I think Islam tends to get branded as the only religion with extremist views, but Christianity is so normalized here in the U.S. that people don't often see the similarly dangerous ways Christian fundamentalism can hold us back societally, and particularly for women. I'm definitely interested in exploring that concept more.

[Cait]

Yes, the parallels between the different extreme religious views also stuck out to me!

And another thing that struck me as I was reading was the continual theme of people not believing Satrapi's experiences while she was in Europe. If ever there was a perfect recipe for depression, it would be seeing those horrors, being ripped from your family, and then being dropped into a world where not only do people have no idea what has happened to you, but they consider you crazy/a liar when you share any detail. At the same time, I understood why people didn't believe, because as I keep reading books from these countries, I keep learning about things I couldn't have imagined on my own. (I like to think I wouldn't be a jerk and doubt someone's lived experience, though.)