The Iran people don't know

Satrapi, M. (2003) Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon Books

Persepolis is a graphic novel that tells the story of Marjane Satrapi’s childhood, growing up in Iran.  It has an introduction that gives a brief history of Iran as a start.  It continues to give a first-hand account of the more recent history, the changes of regimes that control Iran.  As a young child Marj wanted to be a prophet and would talk to God every night.  She had very strong ideals on how the world should act. As the political climate around her changed, she begin to learn more about the world around her and she began talking to God less and less.  At age nine, she discovered that her grandfather was a prince.  When the shah took over, with western help, he supplanted the emperor and made her grandfather prime minister.  However, grandfather’s ideals did not align with the shah’s so he was imprisoned.  The Shah’s regime was not popular and was fought and eventually overthrown.  It was supposed to lead to a better, freer country.  The opposite became true though. As a Nationalist Muslim group took over, many of the original freedom fighters, some of which friends and family to Satrapi, were imprisoned, tortured, and executed.  Schools became segregated, western influences outlawed, and the veil required clothing.  Then came the war with Iraq.  The war was devastating, but helped cement the regimes power.  With Marj’s outspokenness, intelligence, and rebellious attitude, her parents knew keeping her in the country would be dangerous.  So they sent her away to live with a family friend in Vienna.

        I really enjoyed this book.  It was clever and intriguing.  Like many others, I really had no concept of Iran outside its role during our “war on terrorism” in the 2000s.  This book was quite illuminating, giving me a history lesson, but one that had me empathizing with the people in the book.  This would be a great book for helping kids learn about other cultures and their views on world events.  I’m going to recommend it to a friend of mine who teaches human anthropology and history.

        This book is one of my required readings for YA lit.