Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis #1-2)

The Story of a Childhood

153 pages

English language

Published Nov. 7, 2004 by Pantheon.

ISBN:
978-0-375-71457-3
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4 stars (12 reviews)

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, …

7 editions

Review of 'Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis #1-2)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Graphic novels are not my favorite reading platform. I think I find them generally too busy. That being said, I'm seriously considering reading the second installment in order to see what happens next. We'll see. . . .

As for the content, I'm only a few years older than the author. It's interesting to read that history, as an adult (we were both children at the time of the story), from the perspective of an age-peer living there/at that time.

Review of 'Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis #1-2)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Graphic novels are not my favorite reading platform. I think I find them generally too busy. That being said, I'm seriously considering reading the second installment in order to see what happens next. We'll see. . . .

As for the content, I'm only a few years older than the author. It's interesting to read that history, as an adult (we were both children at the time of the story), from the perspective of an age-peer living there/at that time.

Review of 'Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis #1-2)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Warning: This review goes in a couple weird directions. Read at your own peril!

Coming back to this book after several years, and a recent read through of all of the Satrapi books at my library, I was rather struck by the unique position it holds in Satrapi's bibliography. While it is certainly worthy of the position, it has become very obvious to me why this book is her most popular. Perhaps I am being too jaded, but I suspect a lot of it has to do with sexism. For who can resist the story of a sexually innocent little girl? That overly simplified bit of paranoia behind us however, let us get down to reviewing the book itself.

Despite this being perhaps on of the easiest most appealing ways to tell the story of the cultural revolution in Iran to westerners, this book really is excellent. This is not …

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