This book was funny and charming. Full of tales from the strong and lively women of Satrapi's family, this book is endearing and you will find yourself going back to it just to reread these stories.

Marjane Satrapi has done it again! I have no idea how she can keep using the same family characters over and over again and yet they never get boring and they always seem to have more to give to the reader. Unlike her other memoirs, Embroideries focuses entirely on the women in her family.

The "story" begins with an explanation on how Iranian tea is made and its ability to bring people together in order to talk and share experiences. It is the sharing of these women's experiences that drives this book. Satrapi's mother, grandmother, cousins, aunts, and various other relatives discuss losing their virginity, the hazards of marriage, and the pleasures of being a mistress. Some women even discuss the liberation and sexual freedom that is felt from divorceThough little is told about each character's life, outside of her sexual experiences, it gives more than a glimpse into the sex lives of women in Tehran. Many of the women have had similar sexual histories, but each has her own interpretation and tells it with her own specific flair.

Though the subject matter is obviously sexual, Satrapi is able to discuss these issues without using any profanity or excessively crude language. Despite the fact that sex is the focus of the graphic novel, it is actually about sexuality in general and how is changes throughout a woman's life.

Unlike many other graphic novels, this story is not told in boxes of strips. Instead, it is drawn more like a sketch of a conversation in which there are drawings of many people on one page with speech bubbles going back and forth without being confined to a box. I previously referred to it as a "story" because there is no driving plot and really not much action at all. As shown through the artwork, the driving force of the novel is a conversation or discussion about sexaulity. Therefore, there is no need to have an explicit beginning, middle of end. Instead, each character's story merges into another to make a cacophony of voices.

I found this to be one of Satrapi's greatest works. Readers of hers will remember the characters from her other works, but they appear to be completely different in this book. Though they are not out of character, the reader certainly gets a different view that is not seen in any of her previous works. It is refreshing, interestings, enlightening, enjoyable, and most of all very endearing. ( )

Satrapi's sparse follow-up to her Persepolis books is entertaining, but not very substantial. In it, Satrapi and her older female relatives and friends discuss men, sex, and relationships--their stories ranging from tragic (a 13 year old forcibly engaged to a 69 year old man) to hilariously absurd (one women uses a bit of "white magic" to get her lover to propose to her). Tellingly, none of the stories are about relationships that are entirely fulfilling. While Embroideries is a fun, quick read, it definitely lacks the meat of Persepolis. ( )

I enjoyed (The Complete) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, so was excited to read this. I'll admit, I didn't know why it was called Embroideries...I was surprised!! This was a really interesting look at the sex lives of several Iranian women. It was really funny, but fascinating to hear about how marriage in their society works, and how women are often exploited. ( )

Full disclosure: I'm a little sentimental when it comes to Satrapi's work. Persepolis, an assignment for a class in college (for which class, I don't remember) was the first graphic novel I ever read and I loved it. I even declared that I was going to read every graphic novel, ever (still working on that).

In this edition to the series, Marjane is sitting with her female relatives after dinner, drinking tea and telling stories about love and relationships. At 144 pages, it's definitely a quick read, I especially enjoyed the reason for the title--it's not as innocent as it seems!