Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 67
interesting book! July 24, 2010
Jessica (Berkeley, California)
bought this as a required reading for my literature class in college, a good read!
Learn. Understand. July 19, 2010
C. Reich (Northern, CA)
BAM. This one of the best books I've ever read. HIGHLY recommend. As one who always is looking to understand, this was an eye opener and pleasure.
PLEASE read this book. Order the hardcover and keep it in your library or pass it on. It's a keeper.
BTW, it's in comic format. Brilliantly illustrated. Can't miss.
PLEASE read it.
Chris Reich
TeachU.com
It would have been better to just stop writing July 4, 2010
Dr. Paul R. Blum
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The last sentence on p. 153 is "It would have been better to just go." The author should have stopped at that point. The first part is compelling: world history from the point of view of a kid. The rest is immaturity of that child and young woman, and nothing but that. The portrayal of Austria is ridiculous. Psychological motivations: absent. Or as confused as the person depicted. The plot too complicated for a comic: nuns, and punks, French and Austrian people, 1980s culture in Europe vs. Iranian culture, etc. The story morphs more and more into a personal account of coming of age that has only incidental relation to historic events. Example: the absence of the international, specifically US, intervention in Iraq in 1991 (pp. 320-24). As for inconsistency: the parents are filthy rich, and nothing explains that in spite of the young woman's class concern? As for lack of motivation: after all that has been said, how could a young woman possibly denounce an innocent stranger (p. 285 ff.: The Makeup)!
Interesting, but not great June 4, 2010
Bruce (Ohio)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I thought this was a quality read with some very interesting insight on growing up in Iran during the late 70's and into the 80's. But it felt more like a collection of memories that happened to be retold in chronological order more than a true novel or complete story.
The art work was nothing special. Just black and white drawings by an average artist.
If you are looking for an over-arcing story with more firm continuity and a true climax, I would look else where. But if the day to day life of an Iranian girl is something that would interest you, its worth a read.
an utter failure May 29, 2010
Edward J. Gallagher (Providence, RI, USA)
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have just finished reading Persepolis and found it terribly flawed. It was my first graphic-novel, and this first experience will probably keep me from trying any other examples of this genre.
The black and white artwork (?) is unremarkable and without much nuance. It quickly becomes tedious. The text is shallow, thin, banal, and pedestrian. The author is no Flaubert.
The narrator and her family are wealthy Iranians, although the question of class is left essentially unexplored. References to trips to the Caspian Sea, vacations in Turkey, a summer in France indicate that we are not dealing with a proletarian family. The ill effects of revolution on this group of people failed to move me much.
The tale might be seen too as a piece of neocon propaganda. The Islamic Revolution is demonized, and justly so, because of its brutality. Yet because the narration is by a young girl who then becomes a young woman this demonization is especially related to the revolutionaries' treatment of women and the repression of sexuality by the so-called guardians of the revolution. Yet life in Saudi Arabia cannot be much different for young men and women who are subjected there to forced segregation and for Saudi women who are required to cover themselves in public. We are expected to like Saudi Arabia. They sell us oil and buy weapons from us. Iran is part of the axis of evil.
Had the author decided to write a memoir using lots more prose and no pictures, her story of growing up in an oppressive society might have been richer, more nuanced, more engaging, and more profound.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 67
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