An attractive boxed set of Marjane Satrapi's best-selling,
internationally acclaimed graphic memoir of growing up as a girl in
revolutionary Iran
"A wholly original achievement.... Satrapi evokes herself and her
schoolmates coming of age in a world of protests and disappearances....
A stark, shocking impact." --*The New York Times: "*The 50 Best Memoirs
of the Past 50 Years"
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's memoir
of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful
black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life
in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the
Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the
devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only
child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's
last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined
with the history of her country.
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and
of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life.
Marjane's child's-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned
whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does
the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary
family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original,
Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the
human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on,
with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it
introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help
but fall in love.
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
Here is the continuation of Marjane Satrapi's 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.
