Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
What a wonder! When I first discovered this book, I was aghast. Satrapi has rendered a memoir with humor, frustration, love, and angst in a unique and compelling way—the comics. The combination of the two media—visuals and text—provides gritty realism and pathos. Born in Iran, Satrapi tells the story of her growing-up years through the advent of the Iranian Revolution of the early 1980s. Coming of age at the time when Iran becomes extremely rigid and merciless in its values and attitudes, Satrapi is eventually sent to France by her parents who fear for her safety. The first volume concerns Satrapi's childhood until she is sent to friends in France, while the second volume focuses on her adolescence and young adulthood. The visuals are not meant to simply attract the reader; rather, they tell the story as much as—if not more than—the text. Movie Companion. By Natosi, high school/college English instructor.