Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis



I couldn’t put this book down. This memoir reminded of the power of storytelling and the affects it has n its readers.
This is memoir by Marjane Satrapi about growing up in Iran before, during and after the fall of Iran. She recalls her childhood with humor and straight up honesty she doesn’t pull any punches. The story is set in Persepolis Greek for “city of Persians” she lives her parents among a large extended family. Her parents are very modern with Marxist political affiliations. I don’t want to turn this into a book report just yet so I’m going to take a diversion real quick.

One of the questions asks on our midterm was do GN represent history accurately? I would say yes GN doe show us a side of history as told the eyes of the narrator. I remember the Iran conflict well. Satrapi story is similar to a book l read last year Bookshop of Kabul and Goya’s Story about female’s coming of age in Kabul during the oppressive regime. She recalls how she was stopped by the fashion police (that’s not their name but it was just as ridiculous) for not wearing appropriate Muslim clothing. At the time Satrapi had on air Jordon’s, jean jacket with a Michael Jackson button she used humor to try to get out trouble stating that the button represented Malcolm X(black Muslim leader) no go they were ready to take her down to police station and flog her, instead they gave her a stern lecture about being a whore and a slut.

Satrapi’s story appears to be a typical coming of age memoir. In one scene she describes how she wants an Iron Madden poster and cool shoes and then the next scene describes running for cover from the falling bombs. This novel is first person narrator so all the events are from Satrapi point of view. Her narrative style of story is both humorous and profound. One example are her on going dialogues with God who she graphically portrays as all –knowing wise man with a long white beard who appears to her nightly. She also does a realistic job of painting a picture of classis among their culture (Iran). I work with a lady who grew up in Persia and she has told me basically the same things Satrapi talks about such as middle class and educated Persians are very selective about who they marry, associate with and its ingrained so even if you want to branch out its hard because its an unspoken expectation.

This was both a visually appealing GN as well as emotional page turner. There are scenes in this GN that are quite hard to take in. For example on pg 105 of one of their friends being flogged with a whip for planning a party (under the new regime parties were forbiddance) and pg 51 shows her Uncle being tortured and branded with an iron. Whew, that was hard to look at. History can be ugly and makes uncomfortable but the truth must be told. Satrapi states the “images are a way of writing. When you have talent to both it seems a shame to have to choose. I think it better to do both” Satrapi does it very well combing graphics with a strong story liner.