Persepolis

This is a wonderful book, but what to say about it that hasn't already been said? The quote on the back that I most agree with:

"Disarming and often humorous, Persepolis is ultimately shattering."
--Joe Sacco, author of Palestine

Interestingly, I picked up his book at the same time...

But this is about Persepolis the story of a childhood by Marjane Satrapi. Right now the movie is making the film festival rounds. It was huge at Cannes, where the complaints of the Iranian government were ignored. It was to open the Bangkok International Film Festival but there the complaints, and even threats, were listened to and it was replaced.

The autobiographical story tells of moments from 10 to 14 which happened to be a rather historic time for Iran. Her family is upper class, so her childhood is not necessarily a common one. The occasional glimpses of the common classes and their treatment, usually through her family's maid, are telling. But these aren't really the point.

This is the tale of an eccentric child with liberal parents who allow her to think and dream in a time when great political forces are at work. It is at times wild as the strength of the child, the parents, and the society co-mingle and collide. It is, in the end, everything Joe Sacco says in that sentence above, which holds far more than one might expect.