Persepolis

I really love Persepolis; this is my favorite book so far this semester. I was really apprehensive of reading a graphic novel. I have been assigned them before in other classes and thought it was really dumb and boring. With this novel, the story line was so much like any other novel. I would get the same understanding if it was straight text. Sometimes I feel like graphic novels are too choppy and just captions. I was also apprehensive of reading this novel because I think pictures distract from the text. The veils would be one thing that wouldn't really have as much of an impact for me without the pictures. The illustrations of the women's faces and hair covered by the veil really hits at how oppressed they were. It also gave me a better understanding as to how they are worn and how the look. It was funny though, to see the scene of the kids playing with the veils on the playground. Persepolis is a really quick read, which is nice. It just goes by so fast, you never realize how much you've read in one sitting. The plot of this story has completely reeled me in. It's so heartfelt and you can really relate and feel for these characters because it is about Marjane Satrapi's life. It makes the text real. Also, I'm learning so much reading this. I never knew anything about the Iranian revolution or the war between Iran and Iraq. I heard of the war and heard of taking the American Embassy hostage, but that's as far as it went. I love learning about this and even though it's about such an emotional and difficult topic, it's so interesting. It's great to see it from the point of view of an adolescent/young adult who actually lived through and experienced everything firsthand as opposed to learning about it from a textbook or a newscast.