girl vs. war

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis. Paris: L'Association, 341 pp.

Autobiography/graphic novel: Alex Award, Best Books for Young Adults, and Editor's Choice for Young Adults

possible classroom uses: individual choice, small group, bridge to literature about war in other countries

appropriate age range: 8th-11th

Synopsis:
Persepolis is the autobiographical story of Marjane Satrapi. She details her life as an Iranian adolescent. She records the beginning of the Iranian war with Iraq as she entered her teenaged years, her parent's decision to send her to Austria for safety, and her return to Iran. During this time she shares intimate details about her growing-up process. She highlights the Iranian government's reaction to the war, several invasions on her hometown, and the effects of these on the Iranian culture. Satrapi simultaneously details how she deals with all of the immense changes that are going on around her and within her.

Evaluation:
The characters in this novel are dymanic and realistic, but their development is some what overshadowed by the setting with the detailed information of the war. The plot is clear and interesting as it develops and closes. The autobiographical style personalizes the war, increasing the reality of the devestation it causes. Adolescents should be intrigued at least with the story, if not be able to relate with the Satrapi. While the difficulties and hardships she experiences are more extreme than most adolescents' experiences, they will definitely be able to identify with her desire to fit in and belong. An overarching theme of loneliness and the longing to find one's identity are constant throughout the book. Satrapi addresses the physical, social, cognitive, and emotional development that all adolescents go through, so there are many areas to which adolescent readers can connect. This book's message is that multicultural issues of language, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and religion are important and each person should find value in firmly establishing themselves using these various facets. Satrapi struggles to find herself in all of these areas, and eventually she succeeds by becoming comfortable with herself in all of these areas.

Reaction:
I felt that Persepolis accurately details the condition of iran in the 1980’s. sometimes I got lost in the details of the battle which caused me to disengage from the overall story. I appreciated the Satrapi’s desire to convey the truth about the Iranian war, but I felt that there might be too many details that might seem boring to adolescents and not enough emphasis on the story so that adolescents could truly connect with the characters. In any autobiography, the setting is extremely important, but in this case I felt like it was overemphasized. I felt like she was trying to do too much at once. If she wanted to write an autobiography of herself, she should have focused more on her particular circumstances; if she wanted to write about the war in iran, she should have emphasized her personal story less. I just got frustrated in reading it because I felt like she was having two competing main topics. She should have chosen one or the other without having both of them be equally important. There were simply too many details to record about both her life and the war in iran to have both of them be equally represented in one book. However, I did enjoy the simplicity of her graphics. They were creative and descriptive, but they were also clear and concise. Overall, I felt like this was an important piece of history that needs to be shared with the world, but I wish it could have been told more cohesively.