Customer Rating: 
Summary: If you've never read a graphic novel, make this the first one
Comment: I've never read a graphic novel until this book. I first learned about this book after reading the amazing reviews for the movie version of this book. I always make it a point to read the novel before seeing any movie so decided to pick this up. Having read quite a few fiction and history novels on post-WWII Iran(including Septembers of Shiraz recently), this was a topic that highly interests me.
Last night I started this book and couldn't put it down until I was done. It is a captivating and immersive experience and I just ordered "Persepolis 2" and can't wait to read it as soon as it arrives from amazon. I loved the simplicity of this novel. The dialogue and story telling perfectly captures an adolescent Marjane in Iran through the crumbling of Shah Reza Pahlavi's regime and the initial promise and subsequent reality of the Islamic revolution. Satrapi effortlessly captures all of the emotions that she undoubtedly went through during these times, both in word and in picture. While I was somewhat skeptical about the illustrations, they once again added an additional layer of context and dimension that took this from a great book to an extraordinary book.
If you've never thought of reading a graphic novel, do yourself a favor. Buy this book and enjoy -- it is a true treasure.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: AP World History Review: a description of your opinion of the book
Comment: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi are very well written novels that effectively describe the author's experiences while growing up in Iran during the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, as well as many other historical events. I really enjoyed reading Satrapi's childhood account of such dramatic events in Iranian history, and the comic book format made the memoirs even more enjoyable reads. The innocent and sometimes ignorant perspective of a child is a very positive way of broadcasting such terrible and negatively viewed events in a way that everyone can understand them. Satrapi definitely does an excellent job of enticing her audience while also giving them an accurate and perhaps new way of looking at history.
I would recommend Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return to anyone, whether they are students wanting to learn more about historical events in the Middle East, westerners who do not comprehend the many struggles Iran has faced, or just an average person looking for a dramatic yet accurate read. The historical events that are depicted within these graphic novels are very easily viewed in the eyes of such a mischievous and driven child, and her account is one that anyone can associate with and learn from. Despite the apprehensive atmosphere created by the mounted unsettlement of Marji and her family as well as the captivating and simple drawings that accompany the text, Marji is always able to demonstrate great strength within her family, and becomes fully aware of the perils of her country through trial and error, just as the reader does when they witness the overwhelmingly inspiring account of a little girl growing up during such a divisive point in history. After reading such a powerful message, one comes away with not only a greater view of historical events of the world, but also has a greater respect for all storytellers, no matter how much of a minority they may appear to be.
Customer Rating:
Summary: In person
Comment: Please take the time to read this striking memoir and its sequel, Persepolis 2. The language is straightforward, as is the graphic style. Satrapi's very personal story speaks to both the difficulties of living in a straight-laced, dogmatically rigid society, and the many different stories and perspectives of those who live there. Iran is often portrayed in a reductionist manner in the West, and a close reading of these books serves to broaden and deepen our understanding.
Additionally, Satrapi is currently near the end of a speaking tour in the U.S. IF you have the opportunity to hear her speak, take advantage of it. She is a cogent and compassionate speaker who will further deepen your understanding of the Iranian people.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent...
Comment: "Persepolis" is a great read. In less than two hours, you'll know more about Iranian history than you probably ever did. I, for one, felt positively ignorant as I learned of the Shah, the Islamic revolution, the Communist sympathizers... all told through the eyes of a teenage girl who thinks she is a prophet. The book is informative, fun, and an easy read. It will dispel many stereotypes without resorting to political correctness. I'm very glad I opted for the book over the movie version currently in theaters. I'm often bored by animation, but the graphic novel is interactive and the story flows nicely. Read it... you won't regret it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Three-dimensional in 2D
Comment: I read Persepolis the day it arrived from the bookstore. I sat down with a cup of coffee, some French downtempo, and proceeded to inhale the entire book, cover-to-cover, in a little over two hours. I reread it recently, and this time prefaced my reading with light research. I checked out an interview with Asia Source, took in a few literary reviews, and brushed up on the history of the ancient city of Persepolis, for which the novel's title is based. I tried to piece together the historical context of the book with the artistic process that inspired the author to write such heady material into a graphic novel.
Let me preface by saying I don't think heady material is too good for graphic novels. I've read a few of these in the last few years -- this and Blankets are notable. I find graphic novels take the best of literature and film, combining them for an eloquent, visually striking experience. The use of light and dark as metaphor is the most compelling, and Persepolis uses this often, and best. The stark, unforgiving illustrations appear at once so bleak and in an instant so bright. In one frame the thick black gashes are the dark bags beneath a dead demonstrators vacant eyes, and in the next frame are innocent and child-like, a squiggling and unsteady black line framing a young Marji's equally gleeful, cherub face.
Reading around I noticed this technique, both jarring and "immature", nearly turned off many a potential reader, and risked undermining the heady politics of the book. After reading Satrapi's interview with Asia Source, however, I understand its purpose: these thick swaths of black and white, with nary a shade of grey, are the same black and white rhetoric that shapes world politics and culture. The characters, sometimes barely more than a stick figure, are the caricatures politicians make of their foes. It's only in the subtle changes of facial expressions -- a widening of the eyes, a furrow of the brow -- that we can see some semblance of a human underneath, small but just as telling as the thought bubbles floating above their heads.
The goal to separate and explain "the people and the terrorist/fanatacist/fundamentalist" stereotype is completely, totally achieved within the first two frames of the novel, where we are ambushed by a row of somber-looking little girls draped in black veils, the symbol of oppression and woman-fearing almost universally despised in the West. With one quick glance we could almost assume these are one portrait of one girl repeated over and over, except for the little whisps of bangs peering from beneath each of the shrouds -- some side-swept, some parted down the center, some curly, some straight. Within seconds we are reminded: these are real people, not soundbytes or 3-second video clips looped over and over for the horrified bemusement of Americans.
Still, while Marji is shamelessly out to shatter the assumption that the Iran people or culture is fundamentalist or oppressive, she refuses to paint the people as shining examples of progressive open-minded goodness who have been unfairly categorized for the one or two freedom-hating fundamentalists. There is evidence of even the kindest, gentlest folk adhering to the more oppressive rules of the regime, but not out of a desire to oppress, but out of faith, tradition, and trust for those in power. Again, this is best exemplified only a few pages in, as we see an image of women demonstrating both for and against the veil. On one side the unveiled women stand erect and angular, eyes narrow yet full of furor, championing the freedom to literally let their hair down. Opposite, a row of veiled women "confront" them, their clenched fists slightly limp, their eyes closed and pious, little Madonnas suffering quietly our sins. The former look young and angry, the latter look almost ancient. They were likely a mixture of the two; there were just too many to tell.
In the current political context, these images are the most striking: little clumps of dogged beliefs squaring off against one another, rows of protesters hurling rocks at soldiers, soldiers aiming guns at protesters, massacred demonstrators lying in the streets, ghostly figures pushing the Shah out of frame and out of power, hordes celebrating the exile of the Shah. Seeing this story unfold through of eyes of a young girl is a very singular, educating, and transforming experience, but even riveting notions like war-from-a-child's-vantage need a kick in the goods, and sometimes the blur of faces could snap me back to the reality the first-person singular was beginning to lose. Images of individuals of many ages, classes, and backgrounds uniting, and eventually overthrowing, a centuries-old monarchy gives a sense of urgency, audacity, and realness to this revolution, which was all but excluded from every single history book I ever read throughout almost two decades of schooling. It made it seem as huge as it was, and is, in a way that neither textbooks nor one little girl can quite describe.
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