Happy November, everyone.
Moving away from all the spooky reads and reviews last month, I wanted to start the month with a review of a completely different sort of book.
A couple months ago I read Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. It's a memoir told in comic-strip format, and it's both beautiful and heartbreaking.
The author, Marjane Satrapi, tells the story of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The book follows her experiences from age six to fourteen, and she bears witness not only to her own coming of age, but the extreme changes of her country.
Satrapi is in an interesting position growing up. She is the great-ganddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors. Her parents are devout Marxists. And she is an outspoken, independently-minded young woman.
But all of that is against the backdrop of the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the Islamic Revolution, and the effects of war with Iraq.
As most children, Satrapi doesn't understand everything around her. Hell, the adults around her don't understand it all. But she asks, and they explain, and she tries to understand. Her faith is shaken, questioned, morphed. Her beliefs shift with her experiences and her understanding. Her daily life is altered, her family is affected personally and politically, and Satrapi begins to understand that the line between personal and political is faded in a lot of places.
Satrapi's family is memorable. Her experiences are eye-opening. And her own understanding of it all is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. From a fairly "well-off" family during this time, her experiences are not that of all, but they are one individual's understandings of her particular experiences.
Seeing the shift, the rise in the Islamic Revolution, the fear and panic and ignorance towards those with differences... the hate-mongering and fear-mongering and cruelty.... it is unfortunately too eerily similar to other things in the world today. I look at Satrapi's story and feel both compassion but also foreboding.
“In life you'll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it's because they're stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance... Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.”
This is a strong recommend, especially for YA readers who may not know very much about the Islamic Revolution.
What book have you read recently that was reminiscent of current events?
Comment here, or via my contact page, here. And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe to my (very occasional) newsletter!