PERSEPOLIS: THE STORY OF A CHILDHOOD and PERSEPOLIS 2: THE STORY OF A RETURN
By MARJANE SATRAPI
(Translated by Mattias Ripa and Blake Ferris)

Pantheon Books, 2004/2005 (Reprint)
ISBN 037571457X/0375714669
160; Paperback/192 pages; Paperback
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Graphic Novel

Reviewed by Kimberly Harrison

Upon settling in Paris nearly 30 years after living in a world of political injustice, Marjane Satrapi sought to expose the truth about the lives of Iranians who were against the Islamic Republic. This desire led to Persepolis. The two-part graphic novel details her childhood and teenage years spent both in Iran and at boarding school in Vienna.

Growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Satrapi experienced political and cultural upheaval. She was constantly bombarded with the concept that women were inferior, and that all things foreign were evil and had to be destroyed. However, as a teenager she bought punk rock tapes on the black market and listened to them in private, taking after her intellectual leftist parents who had a habit of throwing illegal Western-influenced parties in their home. Her rebellious spirit leads to an account that has been hidden from the public eye for years: the life of an everyday, young Iranian woman.

Persepolis is a strong graphic novel in many respects. Each chapter is anecdotal. The book provides a biography of Satrapi's childhood, an account of Western-embracing Iranians, and a brief summation of the political happenings in Iran during the 1980s. The fact that Persepolis encompasses such a wide spectrum of topics keeps it engaging and enjoyable. It is easy to read each passage separately, as if they were part of a serial comic, or to absorb it as a complete, comprehensive work. Some of the stories detail the veil worn by women and how it affects their lives; others tell of family members' disappearances, demonstrations and massacres, and the upholding of one's culture and lifestyle in the face of closed-minded people.

Satrapi captures the mood of an entire nation with her work. After reading her works, it is easy to sympathize with all women who struggle to have their voices heard. For example, all women were forced to wear headscarves, and if they refused, they risked being beaten in the streets by fundamentalist men. Even taking a vacation became difficult, with more and more visas being denied. The description of Iran as she grew up in it makes readers appreciate their own freedoms even more.

The art is simplistic yet valuable to the story. Satrapi's illustration is sometimes woodcut-like, with thick lines and rough edges. Her use of patterns adds to the feeling of movement in different panels and assists in a successful representation of chaos and motion. A panel showing the celebration after the Shah's resignation shows many people, all laughing and shouting, wearing many different patterned shirts, providing strong contrast to the plain black veils worn throughout the account. Her family's chance vacation to Italy is shown as a magic carpet ride, with ancient monuments peeking out of a swirling sky.

The most important element of her art is the facial expressions of the characters, which are expressive to the extent that they are sometimes distorted. Emotions as closely related as fear, anxiety, and uneasiness are distinguishable through her drawings. A panel of many family members calling each other on the phone after a major bombing raid shows their emotions of grief and disbelief. The emotional content makes each chapter enthralling and effective.

Satrapi's Persepolis is a truly valuable work, and was even recently displayed at the Museum of Modern Art as part of an exhibit of contemporary Iranian art. However, she has stated that she cannot continue the Persepolis story from where it left off because she now lives in Paris and lacks the credibility to write any more books about Iran. Despite this, the graphic novel remains a true and valuable picture of Westernized and radical Iranians struggling against tyranny in the 1980s.

(June, 2007)