Reviews from Bookshelf graphic-novels

Not as good (to me) as PERSEPOLIS 1; some shifts seemed abrupt in the story. Still compelling, however.

Addictive and interesting!

This was a lovely story with beautiful illustrations. Despite its size, it really is a children's book. Teens may enjoy it, but younger readers are more likely to relate to the quest for identity and the "mystery" of the book.

This book is a gripping portrait of a man's experiences in Nazi-run Poland's ghettos and concentration camps as well as a portrait of the relationship between that man and his American son (the author). In reading this, you sense the degree to which "survivors" of the Holocaust did not, in fact, survive intact. It's also quite moving to watch the efforts at intimacy (by both son and father) that are made so difficult by the scars of the war.

The story here is quiet and small in scope--changing friends, having a crush on a teacher, realizing that the Wicca coven meeting you wanted to go to doubles as an AA meeting. But in the world of teen experience, it's events represent a kind of turning-of-a-corner that is anything but small in its implications. The drawings have more movement than those in most graphic novels, and my favorite lines of the whole book are the ones that Skim scratched out (but that we can still read). For example: " I didn't know what other people would think about my answer... It's a stupid question."

I read this all in one sitting and really enjoyed it. I'm used to black-and-white graphic novels, so the color was refreshing. The be-true-to-yourself-and-your-culture message was a little too direct for my taste. I like how those issues were dealt with in PERSEPOLIS better.

I also found myself feeling more distant from the story, maybe because there are three separate stories that eventually come together, and you end up spending less time with each of the characters as a result.

PERSOPOLIS and MAUS still remain at the top of my graphic novel list.