Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
written and illustrated by Marjane Satrapi, 2003. New York : Pantheon Books. (0375422307).

Author/Illustrator Website: none

Media: pen and ink

Awards and Honors: 2004 ALA Alex Award, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Booklist Editor's Choice for Young Adults, New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, School Library Journal Adult Books for Young Adults, A New York Times Notable Book, A Time Magazine “Best Comix of the Year”

Annotation: 
A memoir of the author's childhood growing up in a politically radical and socially progressive family in Iran during the time of the Islamic Revolution.

Personal Reaction:
   
     At turns scathingly political, disarmingly funny, and utterly heartbreaking, Persepolis is a powerful memoir of the author's childhood and coming of age in  Iran during the 1970s and 80s. Marjane Satrapi blends the personal, the political and the historical to create an absolutely astonishing story that reminds us that sometimes truth really is more incredible than fiction. 
     
     From a young age Marji (as she is known by her family) is a bit of a rebel. She grows up as the only child in a family that is very progressive, both politically and socially- she reads Marxist comic books on dialectical materialism, believes herself to be the next prophet (so that she can bring social justice to society), and pretends to be Che Guevara when she plays revolutionaries with her friends. Marji is idealistic and passionate and her opinions are steadfast, until she begins to learn things that challenge her ideas of the world. Her family has a history of political radicalism- she learns that her grandfather had been a political prisoner who was eventually killed for his ideas, and eventually her uncle sees the same fate. When people begin to be murdered in demonstrations against the Shah in Tehran, Marji begins to understand that dogma, even if it is political, isn't all it's cracked up to be. 
     
     When the Shah is deposed, things get even worse. Even though the political movement had been a popular revolution, Islamic fundamentalists end up taking power, making things worse for Marji and her family. The fundamentalists impose strict religious law in Iran and Marji chafes under the new rules. War with Iraq brings very real danger to Tehran and eventually Marji's parents decide to send her out of the country rather than have her face the threat of bombings, imprisonment by secret police, or outright murder in the streets by the Shah's thugs. 
    
     Persepolis is an intense portrayal of the some of the extremes of the human experience- oppression, murder and war- but its real strength is that it never loses its human touch. Satrapi's story is unlike anything else I've ever read- it is nuanced, rich and ultimately very beautiful.