Basic Reason of Interest: Some things must never be forgotten. Why I read this now? Kailana is hosting an unofficial challenge this month and Maus fit the bill for it.
Blurb: Maus is part memoir, part biography, telling (showing?) us how Spiegelman's father survived the war, as well as how the book was created. (This is a crappy summary, but still the gist of it.)
Recommendation: Whatever you do, do not read this just before going to sleep. I guarantee you, you will not sleep decently. (Trust me, I tried.) Beyond that, I... Actually, I don't know. On the one hand it's a "Go read this now!" book, and on the other it's... not. I think it's the timing. Do not read this before bed. Seriously. Just don't. Don't even think it.

My full thoughts are here, but I'll include the majority of it below.

Keywords in/for my experience? Powerful, poignant, heart-wrenching, nightmareish…

And, uhm, that’s what you’ll have to make do with. Except for this little nugget of thought. I see people talk about whether they like the book or not and having doubts and then finding that they do like it. My two cents? I think some books aren’t made to be liked or disliked, they are. They deal with too heavy (and too personal) a subject to fall under like/dislike. Maus is one of those books. It’s not a book to like (or dislike). It’s a book that works or doesn’t. Let me just reassure you, it works. Don’t be afraid of the choices Spiegelman has made in presenting this memoir/biography. They work, you’ll see. ( )

This haunting graphic novel depicts the Holocaust through the eyes of Art’s father, a Polish Jew called Vladek who suffered greatly but survived the concentration camps. Starting with the meeting of his father and his mother, The Complete Maus carries their story through to the end of the horrors, juxtaposed with Art’s present-day life and struggle to appease his elderly father while recording his history before it’s too late. By using animals to represent groups of people (Nazis are cats, Jews are mice, French are frogs, and so on), the author strengthens his allegory and makes this book into an unforgettable and horrifying piece of art.

I hesistated for a few weeks before writing this review. Another review is surely excessive because I’ve seen tons out there. Still, my thoughts wanted a place, and when it comes down to it, this graphic novel hasn’t left me alone yet.

Perhaps what’s most striking about this particular tale is that Vladek is an ordinary old man. In some way, Holocaust survivors are expected to be supernaturally brave, intelligent, and in essence heroes. They are that, but they are also normal people thrust into the worst situation imaginable and forced to cope or die or both. Vladek has undoubtedly been shaped by his experience but not in the best ways. He hoards food, he hoards money, because his world is still uncertain and he knows what deprivation is like. This irritates everyone around him but the saddest part is that he is so normal. It brings home to us the fact that ordinary people were suffered and died for no reason. Vladek is startlingly like my grandpa and that makes the real story even more horrifying than it would have been without the frame. It reminds us how lucky we are, as does Art’s constant struggle with his guilt over his role in his father’s life.

As I’m sure many others have, I have heard a lot of Holocaust stories over my lifetime. I was taught about it in school, given books about it, and chose on my own to read about it on numerous occasions. That doesn’t lessen the impact of this one. Since this one is set in Poland, and there is a lot of running around and hiding before Vladek and Anya are caught, I felt it was a little different than others. The fact that it’s a graphic novel also made a difference. Even in cartoon form, seeing the wasted bodies of the mice is upsetting. The few real pictures added just make a huge impact, reminding us that these were real people.

Overall, this graphic novel is carefully crafted and deeply moving. I don’t want to say something so horrifying is “good”, because that is impossible. Rather, its power and stunning capacity to portray humanity and inhumanity through selected text and drawings makes it worth noting, remembering, and reading. ( )

Spiegelman, born after WWII, interviews his father about his experiences as a Jew living in Nazi-occupied Poland. In the first book, Spiegelman’s father, Vladek, recounts his life in pre-war Poland and marriage to Art’s mother and his enlistment in the army. Tales of life in the ghetto and their hidings as the Final Solution is put into effect by the Nazis are depicted in Spiegelman’s drawings. The second book depicts his father’s experiences in a concentration camp and his survival and new life in America. Spiegelman uses animal as characters with the Jews depicted as mice and the Germans as cats. ( )

I never thought that I would be one for graphic novels, but this one really interested me. When I received the book as a gift, I skimmed through the first couple of pages and was instantly hooked.

This book was incredible. It not only chronicles the author's father's survival during the Holocaust - which, in itself, is nothing short of amazing - but the author's strained relationship with his father, the lingering pain still felt by the author (and his father) over his mother's suicide a few decades before, and a discussion over which animal the author's wife should be (she's French [a frog:] but converted to Judaism [a mouse:]).

I can see why some people might be offended by the animals chosen for some nationalities - the Poles are pigs and the Americans are dogs - but I don't think there was any slight intended.

I'd recommend this book to anyone, even to people who aren't fans of graphic novels (such as myself). The author's style is very expressive - the faces of the poor little mice (as well as some of the pigs and the frog) made me teary on several occasions. This book impacted me more than most of the others I've read about the Holocaust. I seriously cannot recommend it enough. ( )

Originally two separate books (Maus I: A Survivor's Tale My Father Bleeds History, Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began), The Complete Maus contains both books in one volume. I don't normally read graphic novels, and I probably wouldn't have had hubby borrow this if I'd known that's what it was. Since it was in the house, however, I decided to give it a go - and I wasn't disappointed. Having grown up on stories of the Holocaust, I am somewhat jaded and de-sensitized, but even I found this account of a father relaying his experiences to his son moving. In fact, I was unable to put it down, and wound up reading the entire book in one sitting. Easier to read than most comics (there is no trouble knowing which bit to read next) and with a subject matter that holds your attention, I highly recommend this book. ( )