This book is a great way for anyone to get a new fresh perspective on the real Iran. There is so much media misconceptions and stereotypes of this country. Persepholis's is a comming of age story in a very difficult time. The reader finds that the author was not so different than other young girls who are trying to find their way and grow up. Very eyeopening and real. Her second story is for a more mature reader. ( )

Excellent gritty account of an Iranian woman coming of age during the revolution. After you've read the books, see the amazing animated movie, also created by Satrapi. ( )

I had many friends in college that were from Iran and listened the changes of the early 80s in Iran and how if affected them. This book brought me back to 1979. Good clear story without the fanfare. ( )

A delightful book, moving & informative. Stylistically inventive & well executed. ( )

Basic Reason for Beginning: I think this has been recommended all over the blogosphere by now. And, truth be told, I do like inching my way into deeper waters I'm not so familiar with.
Basic Reason for Finishing: I know virtually nothing of Iran and, anyway, Satrapi does know how to tell a story. So all in all, it was good book to finish, if one that's hard to talk about again.

Full review here

Book Rereadability: Uff, I don't know.
Author Rereadability: I don't knooooow! Why am I torturing myself with these questions?! *sob*
Recommendation: Diva tantrum done, I'd recommend this to anyone with an interest in Iranian life and how the average Iranian experiences it. In fact, I'd recommend to anyone wanting to broaden their horizons in life. It's one of those books. I'd happily recommend it to anyone. ( )

Excellent graphic novel. I've never read one before, but I'm bound to read more in the future, if they're half as good as this one. The images helped to convey some things which I guess words sometimes cannot, but obviously the only real way to understand it would be to live it. However, I have many Iranian friends, all of whom have (or had) lives in Iran which genuinely relate to this story on some level. The one who recommended me kept on pointing out so many different parts of the story which were so true to her. I enjoyed the first part more than the second, for reasons which I myself am not quite aware. But all in all, it was a fascinating journey, this woman's life, and a real education. ( )

Aha! ( )

This was my first adventure into graphic novels, and I have to say I loved it. I thought Marjane narrated with smart, sharp commentary, and explained the Iranian politics clearly. Her book is an excellent tribute to the Iranian culture, while also looking at its strengths and weaknesses with clear eyes. I laughed out loud, I was absorbed in the sad parts- excellent read. I'd love to meet her in person and have a glass of wine. ( )

Marjane Satrapi has done an excellent job with this coming-of-age tale set in revolutionary Iran. I particularly liked the fact that she did this as a graphic novel (comic book style for those not familiar with the medium)--I think its potential to reach across the age spectrum is better this way, and I think crucial for future change. Although we see the struggles of Iran through her eyes, she does not just focus on the rights of woman, but of all Iranians.

Since she starts the story as a child and moves through her teenage years to adulthood, I found it fitting that she used this format to try to reach as many different ages as possible. Especially that younger audience. This is an important story and a refreshing way to spread understanding of another culture and it's ideology. This could have been very textbooky but she kept it very honest and I loved how she showed us her development--warts and all. And, it also teaches us that not everyone is a robot and tows the party line. There are the hardliners; and then there are people fighting and dying for change. And this happens everywhere. I think it was brilliant that she did this as a graphic novel because it will get in the hands of younger people and they are the future as corny as that sounds. They will be the ones to continue the fight for the freedoms for all people. I also saw the movie which was the winner of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize. Nicely done.

She was a girl growing up under extraordinary conditions that most of us will never be able to really grasp. It made me realize that the media loves to focus on the extremists and the bad stories, but there are many good people fighting for basic rights that most of us take for granted. They just want to live a safe and free life like everyone else.

I highly recommend this. ( )

Persepolis is a wonderful memoir of a childhood spent in Iran during the throes of the 1979 revolution. Satrapi's art matches her sense of narrative: the stark black and white, the heavy lines, the lack of sentimentalism, the frequent flourishes of mordant humour and whimsy and grief. She doesn't waste a panel, and it works wonderfully as a means of getting the reader to share Satrapi's perspective of her country and her country's history. While it is not—cannot—be a story that encompasses the experience of all Iranians, especially given her relatively privileged, urban upbringing, she opens up a marvellous window into Iran for those of us in the West. Very well worth the read. ( )

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

The farther we progress into the early 2000s, the more convinced I am of how in the future, this period of history will be seen as one where Americans finally started more and more understanding the Middle East in the same semi-complex way they currently understand, say, Europe; because make no mistake, international readers, even though the last ten years have mostly been marked by our glee in blowing sh-t up over there, in private there are more and more Americans each day right now eagerly learning just a little more and a little more about what makes up daily life in the areas once defined by the Arabic, Persian, Ottoman and Moghul empires, with the generalities of such terms as "Farsi" and "Shia" (to cite two random examples) becoming more and more known among the general populace for the first time in US history. (And in fact this is ironically a regular occurrence in American history, for wars to be the catalyst behind our population starting to understand a certain region in a more sophisticated way; look for example at how little most Americans knew about far-east Asia until our involvement in such places as Japan, Korea and Vietnam in the second half of the 20th century, how such basics as Chinese food and karaoke are now sincere staples of American life, when just 50 years ago they seemed impossibly exotic to most.) And thus do we arrive at Marjane Satrapi's thought-provoking and highly entertaining graphic novel Persepolis, which has an interesting history: essentially a memoir of her youth as a loudmouthed, chain-smoking punk-rocker in the midst of Iran's oppressive Islamic Republic years, the story was originally published in the early 2000s as four underground comics in France (where Satrapi now lives); which then became a cult hit in the UK when first translated into English and gathered into two bound books; which then brought about the opportunity to make a popular experimental animated film out of it; which then became a surprise hit in the US and garnered an Oscar nomination; which has just recently finally prompted a one-volume English trade paperback version here, which has quickly in the last year become the book to mention here in America at hipster intellectual cocktail parties, half a decade since the same was true in the EU.

And there's a reason this has become such a huge cult hit in the US, because Satrapi here in Petropolis breaks the entire complicated sequence of events that have happened in Iran in the last thirty years down into a whole series of easily relatable Western-style stories, allowing us to understand the complex, surprisingly diverse population of that country in a way many of us never have before: from the ongoing controversy there among women themselves over "taking the veil" (think of American women debating the relative merits versus embarrassments of chick-lit), to how their decade-long war with Iraq's Saddam Hussein allowed religious conservatives to slowly take over all aspects of the government in the first place (think Bush and the Patriot Act), to the ingeniously subtle ways that rebellious youth display their independence in such an environment anyway (by letting a bit of hair slip out from underneath their veil, by wearing brightly colored socks, by participating in highly codified Austenesque nonverbal flirting sessions in public squares and school stairways). And by Satrapi having the courage to add the details of her own unique, sometimes trainwreck of a life -- her habit of falling in love with gay men, her stint as a homeless gutter-punk in Vienna in the late '80s -- the book never even threatens to devolve into afterschool-special liberal homilies, but instead stands strongly as a solid piece of personal yet political literature, a great example of how powerful graphic novels can be when they're at their best, and why your snotty little slacker friends are always encouraging you to read more of them. Given the events that are going on right this moment in Iran (summer 2009, for those reading this in the future), and how similar they now seem to be in so many Americans' eyes to our own peaceful overthrow of George Bush and his "Christian Taliban" ilk just a year before, now is a better time than ever to tackle Persepolis yourself if you never have; and needless to say, the movie as well is now in my queue over at Netflix, and I will be getting a review of it up here too after I've finally gotten a chance to watch it.

Out of 10: 9.7 ( )

Satrapi's autobiography: her childhood in Iran, her teenage in Austria. ( )

http://spwebdesign.livejournal.com/60... ( )

What an amazing piece of literature. This is easily one of the best examples of how powerful a medium the graphic novel can be. Satrapi captures the emotions of both a society and person in transition. ( )

Marjane’s story is compelling as she wrestles with the everyday turmoils of adolescence along with an oppressive regime that threatens her self expression. The poetic illustrations and writing style are simple and elegant. Her story will appeal to both teens and adults.

I was expecting this to be much more a book about an individual's battle against a fundamentalist regime, so was pleasantly surprised to find it more a tale of family life and struggle within such a regime, but with the regime very much in the background of the tale. Why should that make it a better book? Because it's all about how life goes on, how people find ways to resist and overcome the idiocy of fundamentalist doctrine. That isn't to say that the people always come out on top. Many of the authors relatives and friends of her family die during the course of the narrative. But ultimately it is a story of hope and overcoming, of the domaninance of the normal.

The illustrations are fantastic. The style seems perfectly suited ot the Iranian context, emotions that would take a page of prose to capture, often relayed in a single picture.

My one quibble is with the lack of context given to the author's own family. Yes, clearly they are well connected, clearly they are wealthy by Iranian standards, but how exactly did they survive with a relatively high standard of living during the regime? How wealthy were they before it started? How wealthy were they by the end of the novel? How were they able to sustain holidays abroad etc? It's of interest just because as someone looking in on an unknown landscape, I'd like to know the economic foundations of life carrying on with some of the trappings of more prosperous times. ( )

I was introduced to Persepolis in a writing class. Never having read a graphic novel before, I actually put off the assignment until the class was over because I believed I would not like the genre. Boy, was I wrong! This book is one of my all-time favorites.

Marjane Satrapi tells her story beautifully. The text and the graphics work hand in hand to display the humor, anger and sadness of this woman's experiences coming of age in Iran. ( )

Recommended to me by multiple friends and coworkers, I read this book in just about a day. This is the third memoir/biography written as a graphic novel that I've read, and it was truly fantastic. Not only was the writing and drawling superb, but Marjane Satrapi's life makes for an excellent story. The Complete Persepolis describes Satrapi's life, from her early years living in Iran, to four years in Austria and then back in Iran. In many ways, I feel this book should be required reading for everyone over the age of 16. There's so much to learn -- about Iran, about growing up, about what love means. I thoroughly enjoyed Satrapi's graphic novel and cannot wait to see the film version. ( )

I am very happy to see Persepolis on the list of possible FYR titles. I would like to lend my enthusiastic support for the text, having taught it in a 300 level UD gen ed class a couple of years ago I know that UD students from 2nd year through seniors love the book. Of course, they are right to love it. I think it would be a way to energize first year students and will shock them, I think, just a bit. Who expects to go to college and read comic books?! ( )

In the two graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis and Persepolis 2, the autobiographical story is told from the time the author is 6 years old until she is an adult. Marji lives in Iran as the only child of very progressive parents, who are resistant to the increasing restrictions that are placed upon men and women. This book held personal interest for me, as I knew an Iranian family that frequently talked about “The Shaw” and how much they lost by leaving their home country. These books tell quite a bit of history, without it feeling like a history lesson. I have never read a graphic novel before, unless you count the Archie, Betty and Veronica comics. I did not have high expectations for these books, but I found that I thoroughly enjoyed them because they drew me in, made me laugh out loud, and nearly cry. The emotion that can be evoked from a very simplistic black and white drawing surprised me. Marji’s naïveté and feisty spirit as a child are carried through her teen years. Her struggle to discover her identity really begins when her family sends her to Austria, where she can experience the freedom to be herself that could cost one her life in Iran. The mistakes and failures that she makes are the same that many of us make in our struggle to gain independence from our parents and define our purpose in life. I feel that the language and content makes Persepolis and especially Persepolis 2 appropriate for older teens. The message to young adults, especially girls, is quite empowering. In a time and country where it would be so much easier to wear a veil and just conform, Marji and her parents refuse to compromise their beliefs that women are equals, education is everything, and the government does not have the right to restrict their freedoms.

Isaacs, K T (March 2005). Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood. School Library Journal, 51, 3. p.70(1).

Galuschak, G. (Nov 2005). Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2 : The Story of a Return. Kliatt, 39, 6. p.28(1).

These reviews are for Persepolis I and II, which comprise the Complete Persepolis.

Nice it was...and in fact made me aware how much differences can be even so near to us... and also made me intrested to take a look at her other books..check it out in goodreads.. ( )

I have never read a graphic novel before, but I suspect this won't be my last. The illustrations were beautiful, and the storyline was compelling and educational about the life of a Iran girl growing from girl to woman in times of her country's upheaval. ( )

It took me a while to get into this book, I think because of the graphic novel format. I've read a few graphic novels, AND each time I feel as though my brain is changing how it reads. This one was more challenging because I found the print to be quite small. That said, I'm glad I stuck with it, I appreciated hearing about her life in Iran, great to have firsthand account. ( )

Marjane Satrapi's story is really fascinating, and the way she portrays it in 'Persepolis' makes it even more interesting. When I first read 'Persepolis', I think it was the first graphic novel I had ever read. Add that to the fact that it's a graphic novel about a totalitarian regime, and it becomes still more interesting. ( )