Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi
2003, Pantheon Books
9780375714573
Graphic Novel, Memoir
Reading Level: GN380L
Interest Age: 14+
Annotation: Marjane Satrapi tells the story of growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran in this graphic memoir.
Plot Summary: This graphic memoir depicts the author’s childhood to young adulthood in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. It starts out when she is ten years old, with her understanding of the revolution limited to the fact that she is suddenly obligated to wear a veil at school. Soon she begins to observe oppression in her society, but she is unable to protest with her parents because of her age. She learns about the true history of her society, in contrast to the propaganda she is learning at school, and about her family’s involvement in this history. Her family continues to fight for her people’s freedom even as war breaks out, and eventually Marji’s parents send her to Austria to escape.
Critical Evaluation: The reading level for this book is pretty low, and the age of the protagonist may be a lot lower than the reader, but I think the content of the book calls for an older reader. Some younger readers may be able to handle it, but it is frequently complex and disturbing. Even the simple, cartoonish images can be disturbing at times, with the depiction of dead people.
Marji is a charmingly precocious character. It is easy to forget how young she is supposed to be, considering her intelligence, but then occasionally she would do something that made me want to yell at her immaturity until I remembered she was only a child, and immaturity should be expected. It is the horror of what was going on that made her grow up so fast, only rarely able to act her age at all.
I had initially passed over this graphic novel because I didn’t care for the simplistic illustrations. They did grow on me to an extent, but I had issues with them. For example, sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between a headscarf and long dark hair. Since the issue of whether or not someone was wearing the scarf was so important, it seems like this could have been differentiated better. I wouldn’t usually nitpick about something so small, but it wasn’t as small in this context.
The story itself was incredibly compelling and sad. I have no complaints about it. I felt that it was perfectly explained and perfectly paced. I learned a lot that I did not know previously.
Author Biographical Information: Marjane Satrapi, born 1969, is an Iranian artist and writer whose graphic novels explore the gaps and the junctures between East and West. Satrapi was the only child of Westernized parents; her father was an engineer and her mother a clothing designer. She grew up in Tehrān, where she attended the Lycée Français. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, her family’s Western way of life drew the attention of Iranian authorities, and by 1984 her parents had decided to send her to Austria to attend school. A failed relationship there exacerbated her sense of alienation and contributed to a downward spiral that left her homeless and using drugs. She returned to Tehrān at age 19, studied art, and, after a short-lived marriage, moved back to Europe in 1993. In France she earned a degree in art, and by the mid-1990s she was living permanently in Paris. (source: Britannica.com/biography/marjane-satrapi)
Ties to Curriculum Units: Islamic Revolution and subsequent wars
Booktalking Ideas: Discuss this book in relation to the Islamic revolution and the wars that followed
Discuss this book as a coming of age story
Challenge Issues: Violence, potential interpreted anti-American sentiment and anti-Christian sentiment
Challenge Defenses:
- Mention awards the item has won or been nominated for
- State the library’s collection development policy
- Reference the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights
- Provide rationale for the item being in the collection
- As a last resort, offer the patron a “Request for Reconsideration” form
Katey's YA Collection 