View from Iran
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Persepolis 2 is as good as its predecessor; perhaps even better. Again, Marjane Satrapi tells the story of her life through disarmingly simple (but not simplistic) black & white drawings, this time covering the period between her arrival in Vienna as a 14-year-old, and her final severance with Iran at 22. But her life story is anything but simple. Like the first book, I found myself wiping away a stray tear on public transports as I read about her isolation in Austria, her many struggles as she grew up into a young woman. She has an amazing life story to tell, as well as strong views on her own country (Iran) and the world's perception of it.
A book's greatness can surely be measured by its power to touch universal topics without overdoing it. Despite Marjane's life being unique, her genius is portraying her experiences as the kind of events that could have happened to anyone. I found myself relating to her dislocation in Vienna and her long-distance relationship to her family.
Hopefully there will be a third volume soon.
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A worthy sequel
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Without seeing her photograph I can't be sure, but I guess that Marjane Satrapi's self-portraits - which feature throughout this book - are not flattering.
If so, that would be completely in keeping with the text which consistently reveals Satrapi candidly even when in her most immature and vain moments. She can be pretty blunt about some of her friends and relatives too.
All this brutal honesty is a fitting accompaniment to the startling tales she reveals from within the Iranian fundamentalist regime. There can be no more accessible insight into this extraordinary country.
My review of "Persepolis" described it as a "must read. "2" is more of the same so if you loved the first don't stop now!
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more brilliance from Marjane Satrapi
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Maybe you've already read the first Persepolis book, maybe not. If not, I'd say to read volume 1 first, as its utterly brilliant. This volume continues the autobiography of an Iranian girl, but now she's been sent to Austria by her parents to protect her from the strictness of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. She's only 14 and fending for herself in Europe, and as always, this is told with wit and honesty by the author. Its a graphic novel, but don't think 'its only cartoons' because its done with such skill that the pictures and words flow in parallel and give each other more impact than the words alone could possibly have. Torn between shame and pride of her home country and torn by the conflicting pressures teenagers face in Europe she has a tough time of it, but the story always keeps a sense of balance and humour. When circumstances send her back to Iran she's even more confused, now that she seems more westernised than her old friends, but she's no longer seduced by the easy rebelliousness of westernisation. Am I making it sound too heavy? These are big themes but its always told with great wit and verve so there's no sense of preaching, just of fallible people strggling to make sense of complex situations. I waited a year looking forward to seeing this second volume and its great. Treat yourself and your friends -- buy both! By the way, I've bought the first volume for several friends and each of them has then bought copies for other friends of theirs -- once you read it you'll love it.
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A funny but harrowing graphic autobiography
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Fans of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis 1 will need no encouragement to find out what happened to her next. Persepolis 2 tells the story of Satrapi's teenage years in exile in Switzerland, and early twenties at art school in Teheran. The graphics are as elegantly quirky as in the first book, and the storytelling is touching and witty. A fascinating, economically-told insight into a world I know very little about.
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