Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (1991)

The second and final book in the series, this one seemed to read faster than the first one. This installment details Art's fathers time in the concentration camps and his subsequent liberation. From the description of the camps, it is amazing that anyone came out alive. The graphic format helps bring the tale to life. ( )

This is a true story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, Anja. It is a graphic memoir about their survival of the Holocaust where the characters are portrayed as mice. This graphic novel was heartbreaking as it so vividly brings his experience to life. He was tortured, humiliated, and yet remained strong and resilient through it all. I liked how this was a personal account of the Holocaust that wasn't too graphic so it can be appropriate for older children. ( )

After reading part one of this two volume graphic novel I had to read part two. It's simply amazing.

This second volume continues the two-part story. It's about Spiegelman's troubled relationship with his father and it's about his father's life as a Jew in Poland during World War .II

In the present day portion of the story Spiegelman and his wife are summoned to The Catskill's resort where his father is having trouble caring for himself after his second wife has left him. As before, the father and son are at odds with each other and the mutual frustration is escalating.

In an effort to both distract his father and to get the information to complete the biography in comic form he has started, Spiegelman urges his father to continue his story of his life in the death camps of Hitler's Third Reich.

The first volume left Vladek and his wife at the gates of Auschwitz. In this volume, it's primarily Vladek's story as the two were separated upon arrival at the camp. Vladek's wits and a tremendous amount of luck allowed him to survive the horrors he experienced.

As I said about the first volume, any story about the Holocaust is guaranteed to be heartbreaking. This one manages to have moments of joy and humor here and there amid the horror and sadness. It's a powerful story and the choice to portray the Jews and mice and the Nazis as cats is something that worked well.

I'm so glad I finally read this amazing and powerful work.
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Just as good as the first one. The title is ironic - Vladek sees and goes through unimaginable horrors while people are dying around him, but he and Anja are able to see each other, and he gets skilled jobs so he is relatively fine. "Here my troubles begun" refers to when he loses his health, and is unable to cope. Before the war is over, he sees and experiences terrible things, many times people die around him but some lucky circumstance or his skills spare him. He is a real survivor.

We continue following Art's difficult relationship with his father. Vladek is a miser, and he has some form of OCD, he is a grouchy old man that finds faults with everyone and everything. His second wife leaves him and his health is failing - making Art very anxious. He is responsible for his father but he can't stand him - no one can, he drives everyone nuts. We also learn of Spiegelman's creative struggles with the writing and drawing the book, his inability to deal with the media attention after the success of the first one, his struggles with depression and making sense of what survival means - his father's survival, his own survival of him, the guilt he feels over having had a much easier life.

The most poignant part of the book, however, is the deep love between Art's parents that shines through the terrible reality - and how Vladek still loves and misses her after so many years. The book ends with them reuniting after the war. I cried. ( )

I am not a huge fan of graphic novels, but this was stunning! ( )