REVIEW: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Photograph by me

Title: Persepolis

Author: Marjane Satrapi

Publisher: Vintage

Release Date: 6th March 2008

Genre: Graphic Novel / Memoir

Page Count: 343

Original Language: French

Format Read: Paperback

Other books in series: N/A

Movie Adaptation: Yes! 

Buy: Here, Here

I read this book as part of my #14books14days #14daybookchallenge on Twitter.

The intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-grandfather of Iran's last emperor, Satrapi 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. 

This has been on my shelf for a LONG time. A few years ago I had a big graphic novel haul, and Persepolis was one of the novels I bought. Like all book bloggers, I have a huge 'to-be-read' pile, and so I decided to see if I could read this in a day.

Let's just say that it wasn't a difficult task. I absolutely devoured this book.

This was such an educational experience for me. I'm a white, British woman, so my history lessons in school were limited to Western wars. However, Satrapi documents her life during the Iran-Iraq war. Since a lot of my blog readers are around my age, and probably know as little about it all as I did before reading Persepolis, I thought I would break it down:

• Iraq invaded Iran on the 22nd September 1980, in an attempt to replace Iran with a Persian Gulf state.
• Iraq also wanted Iran's oil. This is a very important detail.
• The US, Britain, France, Soviet Union, and most of the Arab countries supported Iraq.
• There were also a lot of border disputes (Iranians needing Visas to leave the country for example, which were very rarely handed out).
• There was devastation in Iran. Bombs, chemical weapons, and targeted attacks on civilians were just some of the tactics used by Iraq to annex Iran.
• It is estimated that over 500,000 Iraqi and Iranian soldiers died, as well as many killed and injured civilians. 

This is the short version, but there is so much more to the story. What Marjane Satrapi does is invite the reader to come inside her childhood home, and not only see the reality and attitudes during this war, but the private reality and attitudes between herself and her family and friends. 

At age 14, Satrapi is sent by her parents to Austria to study. They let her go, away from the death and destruction and fear. 

However, away from the war, her life is still full of fear, destruction. This time, loneliness is added to the mix. 

This graphic novel is just incredible. The way she brings everything to life - the falling bombs, her mental health, the timeline of the war itself - I felt like I had to know what happened next. I needed to stay with her, until the very end. 

She discusses all of the taboos that Westerners take for granted too. From wearing a veil correctly to having sex with your partner before marriage, or even just walking with your partner down the street. 

As well as the raging war, there was a social war on women. The way all of this is revealed and goes hand-in-hand with each other is fascinating. 

There is no doubt in my mind that everyone reading this blog post should go and read Persepolis when you're done. Educate yourself, understand what your country did or didn't do in relation to the war, and read the stories of the Iranian people who had to live through it all.

You may get upset. You may get angry. You may get passionate. These are the responses you should have. Read this book, and hope that no one has to write an autobiography like this again.