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A review by kamiga5
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
5.0
My first foray into graphic novels and I don't think I could have made a better choice for a place to start. I was expecting a quick read that featured the creepy-looking cartoon girl that I saw in the movie adaptation in 2008 (that I barely even remember watching). Boy, did I have a big surprise in store.
Persepolis should be required reading for high schools in all Western countries (especially the US). In the West, we are taught so little about the Middle East, it comes as no surprise that this huge hole in our educations has manifested itself in a huge divide between the West and the Middle East.
This is where Persepolis comes in. Yes, it's "only one book", but this one book (a graphic novel, at that) manages to humanize an entire region of people that has been marginalized in the minds of Westerners (knowingly or otherwise). Persepolis shows the human side (and cost) of revolution and war. Most Westerners cannot understand what it takes for a parent to send their child, alone, to a far away land in order to protect them (as we can see today with the complete apathy in the face of unaccompanied minors at the US-Mexico border), as Marjane's mother did for her not once, but twice. Reading this book could open a lot of people's eyes to what the people of the Middle East have had to deal with, and are still dealing with today.
I also think it's important to underline that Marjane was only born in 1969 and it's crazy to consider what someone in the US was experiencing at the same time that Marjane was having family members assassinated, neighbours being bombed, being sent to Europe, alone, as a teenager...
I totally get the pushback from boards of education, saying that the language isn't one hundred percent appropriate for schools (especially in the US where they treat high schoolers like they've never heard a curse word in their lives), but the importance of this story should outweigh a few curse words and a couple dick jokes. If experience has taught me anything, it's that this would actually make the students appreciate it even more.
This is going to my list of favorite books of all time.
Persepolis should be required reading for high schools in all Western countries (especially the US). In the West, we are taught so little about the Middle East, it comes as no surprise that this huge hole in our educations has manifested itself in a huge divide between the West and the Middle East.
This is where Persepolis comes in. Yes, it's "only one book", but this one book (a graphic novel, at that) manages to humanize an entire region of people that has been marginalized in the minds of Westerners (knowingly or otherwise). Persepolis shows the human side (and cost) of revolution and war. Most Westerners cannot understand what it takes for a parent to send their child, alone, to a far away land in order to protect them (as we can see today with the complete apathy in the face of unaccompanied minors at the US-Mexico border), as Marjane's mother did for her not once, but twice. Reading this book could open a lot of people's eyes to what the people of the Middle East have had to deal with, and are still dealing with today.
I also think it's important to underline that Marjane was only born in 1969 and it's crazy to consider what someone in the US was experiencing at the same time that Marjane was having family members assassinated, neighbours being bombed, being sent to Europe, alone, as a teenager...
I totally get the pushback from boards of education, saying that the language isn't one hundred percent appropriate for schools (especially in the US where they treat high schoolers like they've never heard a curse word in their lives), but the importance of this story should outweigh a few curse words and a couple dick jokes. If experience has taught me anything, it's that this would actually make the students appreciate it even more.
This is going to my list of favorite books of all time.