Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
by Marjane Satrapi
List Price:
Our Price: $7.13
You Save: $6.82 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.31 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Marjane SatrapiBrand: Pantheon Books
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-08-02
ISBN: 0375714669
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Pantheon
Book Reviews of Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
Book Review: very touching, like Maus
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read Maus, the graphic novel describing the holocaust as experienced by the author's parents, now living in Queens, NY. Reading the two volumes of Persepolis reminded me somewhat of Maus.
There are very touching moments, expressed in minimalistic graphics, and few or no words, that convey so much, about intimate relationships and family life.
In Maus, the single frame of the father taking his son's coat out of the metalwire coat hanger and putting it instead on a wood hanger, and saying that he doesn't put his son's coat on a wire hanger, but deservedly on a wood hanger, was so meaningfull, and beautifully expressed.
In Persepolis, the happy couple that just got news of their successfull admittance to the state university and loking for a place to hug and embrace each other, well, because they are not married, such affection cannot be done in public, thus, without speaking, they jump into a car and drive off, looking for seclusion, and while driving, a hand is on the gear switch handle, and the other person's hand is on top of that hand. No words. Yet, beautifully conveying the message.
And moments of utter sadness and death, so difficult to say, yet they are said, with no dialogue, yet, so effective. The scene of the party, stormed in by the revolutionary guards enforcing the morality code, are chasing a black & white silouette on the rooftops, under a white crescent moon. The silouette is shown to jump from one roof to another. Then it is shown to fall between two buildings. Death of a friend. All said with no words, just a few minimalistic black & white frames of silouettes, building rooftops, a crescent moon.
The author has experienced great contrasts. And the medium she chooses, black and white graphics, is a perfect choice. There are several scenes in which the opposites are placed one next to the other: "the way I am" next to "the way he sees me". Or "the way I wanna be", "the way the morality code wants me to be". At a moment while reading, and thinking about the choice of B&W graphics, I thought it would be brilliant if the author then used the reverse image, as in a photographic negative, to display the sense of absurdity.
I hope the author continues on the genre, possibly visiting the iranian community in the Los Angeles area, or raising kids in France, teaching them Farsi, then visiting Iran regularly with the kids, and documenting how her kids interact with the kids raised in Iran. Those five-year-old kids raised in Tehran will spot that something is wrong with the five-year-old kids raised in Paris: "you speak like an eskimo", possibly noting that the Paris-based kids are speaking Farsi that is not at the eloquent and fluidity of the Tehran-based children.
Looking forward for future installments.
Summary of Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
In Persepolis, heralded by the Los Angeles Times as ?one of the freshest and most original memoirs of our day,? Marjane Satrapi dazzled us with her heartrending memoir-in-comic-strips about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Here is the continuation of her fascinating story. In 1984, Marjane flees fundamentalism and the war with Iraq to begin a new life in Vienna. Once there, she faces the trials of adolescence far from her friends and family, and while she soon carves out a place for herself among a group of fellow outsiders, she continues to struggle for a sense of belonging.Finding that she misses her home more than she can stand, Marjane returns to Iran after graduation. Her difficult homecoming forces her to confront the changes both she and her country have undergone in her absence and her shame at what she perceives as her failure in Austria. Marjane allows her past to weigh heavily on her until she finds some like-minded friends, falls in love, and begins studying art at a university. However, the repression and state-sanctioned chauvinism eventually lead her to question whether she can have a future in Iran.
As funny and poignant as its predecessor, Persepolis 2 is another clear-eyed and searing condemnation of the human cost of fundamentalism. In its depiction of the struggles of growing up?here compounded by Marjane?s status as an outsider both abroad and at home?it is raw, honest, and incredibly illuminating.
Picking up the thread where her debut memoir-in-comics concluded, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return details Marjane Satrapi's experiences as a young Iranian woman cast abroad by political turmoil in her native country. Older, if not exactly wiser, Marjane reconciles her upbringing in war-shattered Tehran with new surroundings and friends in Austria. Whether living in the company of nuns or as the sole female in a house of eight gay men, she creates a niche for herself with friends and acquaintances who feel equally uneasy with their place in the world.
After a series of unfortunate choices and events leave her literally living in the street for three months, Marjane decides to return to her native Iran. Here, she is reunited with her family, whose liberalism and emphasis on Marjane's personal worth exert as strong an influence as the eye-popping wonders of Europe. Having grown accustomed to recreational drugs, partying, and dating, Marjane now dons a veil and adjusts to a society officially divided by gender and guided by fundamentalism. Emboldened by the example of her feisty grandmother, she tests the bounds of the morality enforced on the streets and in the classrooms. With a new appreciation for the political and spiritual struggles of her fellow Iranians, she comes to understand that "one person leaving her house while asking herself, 'is my veil in place?' no longer asks herself 'where is my freedom of speech?'"
Satrapi's starkly monochromatic drawing style and the keenly observed facial expressions of her characters provide the ideal graphic environment from which to appeal to our sympathies. Bereft of fine detail, this graphic novel guides the reader's attention instead toward a narrative rich with empathy. Don't be fooled by the glowering self-portrait of the author on the back flap; it?s nearly impossible to read Persepolis 2 without feeling warmth toward Marjane Satrapi. --Ryan Boudinot
Art History Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Art History Books
Learn to Paint Oil Pastelsby Jacqueline Black
HarperCollins; Published: 1993-07-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $28.91
Oil Painting (Collins Artist's Guides)by ANGELA GAIR (EDITOR)
COLLINS; Published: 1998; Paperback; Book
Collins Artist's Guide: Making Pictures Pb (Artists Guides)by Angela Gair
Harpercollins; Published: 1997-07; Paperback; Book
Colour Mixing: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started (Collins Learn to Paint Series)by Judy Martin
HarperCollins UK; Published: 1998-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $699.99
Learn to Draw Dogs Pbby David Brown
Harpercollins; Published: 1996-02-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.95
Garfield Sits Around the House (Garfield (Numbered Paperback))by Jim Davis
Ballantine Books; Published: 1984-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Sargent's Veniceby Richard Ormond, Warren Adelson
Yale University Press; Published: 2006-12-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $383.98
Farewell to an Idea: Episodes from a History of Modernismby Timothy J. Clark
Yale University Press; Published: 1999-03-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $35.10
Price in other shops:
Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Artby Phoebe Hoban
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1999-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.94
Price in other shops:
The Illustrator in America: 1860-2000by Walt Reed
Collins Design; Published: 2003-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $339.10
Similar Books and other products
Not So Quiet...: Stepdaughters of War (Women & Peace)by Helen Zenna Smith
The Feminist Press at CUNY; Published: 1993-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.56
Price in other shops:
Gandhi: 'Hind Swaraj' and Other Writings Centenary Edition (Cambridge Texts in Modern Politics)by Mohandas Gandhi
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2009-11-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.87
Price in other shops:
Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Third Editionby Gloria Anzaldúa
Aunt Lute Books; Published: 2007-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.44
Price in other shops:
All I Asking for Is My Body (Kolowalu Book)by Milton Murayama
University of Hawaii Press; Published: 1988-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.58
Price in other shops:
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Beganby Art Spiegelman
Pantheon; Published: 1992-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.70
Price in other shops:
Japan at War: An Oral Historyby Haruko Taya Cook, Theodore F. Cook
New Press, The; Published: 1993-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops:
Embroideriesby Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon; Published: 2006-04-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Thingsby Donald A. Norman
Basic Books; Published: 2005-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
PersepolisSony; Release date: 2008-06-24; DVD
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops:
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhoodby Marjane Satrapi
Pantheon; Published: 2004-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops: