Persepolis – The Story of a Childhood

I read a graphic novel for the first time this weekend. It is the story of times and places that lead to the Gulf War. And even though I was old enough then to read the newspapers and learn about the happenings in Iran and Iraq, reading this novel really taught me that I had no clue.

An autobiographical story by the author Marjane Satrapi, it is the story of a little girl who comes of age in war-torn Iran. The great granddaughter of Iran’s dethroned emperor and the daughter of free-thinking and liberal communists who favor western influence and an open society over a fundamentalist state, she grows up learning all about fighting for beliefs and dying for beliefs. And yet, the little girl retains an uncanny ability to be cheerful and surprises the reader every so often by her childish focus on all things unimportant like partying, Michael Jackson and boys.

By the end of the novel, the little girl who is our narrator has grown up into an adolescent youth – yet the effervescence of childishness within her is still fresh. She teaches you, very gently, what suffering the people of Iran went through while we looked at them and thought, “Oh geez! What crazies… can’t they stop fighting?”.

And just like the cover of the book promises, you do fall in love with the little girl. A bit of a heavy reading thought it only lasts a little more than half an hour, this book is eminently readable and highly recommended.