Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis

The first volume is the author's memoir of her childhood in Iran, just before and after the revolution in the 1980s. Marji was a little girl during the Iranian Revolution, living through several years of war, watching as her freedom to play and learn was curtailed by the religious government. Her family was educated and liberal, and constantly discussed current events, feeding her interest in politics, social class, gender, and religion. Marjane leaves Iran for Austria at the end of the first volume. In the second volumes, she details her disappointing years in Europe, used by a boyfriend, abused by her landlady, alienated by Western culture, and her later return to Iran. Humorous, heartfelt, and biting.

Appeal: History, Iran, female narrator, humor

Art: Dark black and white cartooning, subtly expressive

Text: Political, sharp, reminiscent

Other: Persepolis was originally written in French,  Marjane Satrapi has written another comic about her adult life in Iran, Embroideries, as well as a fairy tale comic, The Sigh. Satrapi wrote and directed the animated film adaptation of her comic in 2007.

Awards: Satrapi has won three Angouleme awards for Persepolis, the Coup de Coeur, the Prize for Scenario, and the Best Comic Book Award, in 2001, 2002, and 2005, respectively. The animated film won several awards of its own.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York : Pantheon Books, 2003. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2: The Story Of A Return. New York : Pantheon Books, 2004. Print.