Book: Persepolis: The Story Of A Childhood
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Publication: Pantheon
Price: Rs. 492
Pages: 153
Plot: This book is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In this black and white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her childhood in a country which is devastated because of the war.
The book starts with an introduction of the protagonist of the book, a little girl, who is 10 years old and who has just been asked to wear a veil in her school. But she does not understand why she has to, in fact, none of her friends likes to wear it. She has parents who are committed to Marxists and does not want this for their daughter, but there is a society, which thinks differently.
Through beautiful and simple comic strips, Satrapi begins her story. An intelligent girl who desperately wants to talk about the crisis which is happening in her country, but she is just a little girl for everyone. Oh! But wait not for Satrapi, in her point of view she is a prophet sent by God. And yes, how can I forget to tell you that God is her friend, who always visit her and talks to her about humanity, love and justice.
The book shows not only just contradiction between Satrapi’s personal and public life but also the contradiction of life in her mind and the life in Iran. While she wanted to live in a country where love and humanity are the greatest assets, but her country showed something else. She lives in a time when she saw violence, bombs, gun and blood.
A book, which throughout reading will make you smile, but simultaneously make you feel sad as it shows us where the world is going.
My Views: As I said, I smiled throughout the book. It is difficult to not fell in love with the little girl. Her imagination, her rebellion nature, her intelligence and her desperation for a peaceful world, all seems so real. But the book is not so simple. The book showed the bitter reality of the world, and it showed this reality through the eyes of a child. It shows how a child perceives war, how they cope up with it. The fear and the anxiety they face, and worst the contradiction between the world they want to live in and the world in which they live.
The images are beautiful, language is simple. One can finish this book in just one week. In short, this is a simply written book, depicting the daily life and struggles of a girl at the time of war.
Recommendations: Read this book to know more about Iran, to know the life there in the time of war, and most importantly read this book to remind yourself of the beautiful world which we all lived once in our childhood days.
Ratings: 5/5
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