By Marjane Satrapi
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 9780099523994
This book’s been around a while now, and even been turned into a movie, so I’ll hold my hands up and say I’m a bit late to getting around to reading it. It collects a series of autobiographical cartoon strips telling the story of the author’s childhood in Iran as she grows towards adulthood, leaves for study abroad, and later returning as a young adult. All of this is against the backdrop of a war with Iraq and then the domination of the country by hardline Islam.
Satrapi isn't quite the most ordinary of citizens, being the great-granddaughter of Iran’s last emperor, and she’s brought up in a loving family that follow Marx. She herself is bright, inquisitive and outspoken from an early age, which does lead to a few incidents and problems through the course of the book, but also serves to highlight the differences between cultures, beliefs and individuals that ultimately make this book so interesting. There’s humour too, although this isn’t by any means a funny book, often used as a welcome contrast to the tragedies unfolding in her country, or in her failures to adapt to a different world beyond.
When compared to the likes of Maus and Barefoot Gen, I think this lacks a lot of the emotional impact of those tales, and if you were to compare it to the likes of Joe Sacco’s Palestine then you wouldn’t be getting quite the same up-close and personal viewpoint of the hardships, injustices that division that people can bring in the name of religion. This is, though, a different kind of book, and perhaps may not even have been possible had it been somebody from a different tier of Iranian society.
It does hold a light up to the dreadful practices of imposing a religion, or even a way of practising that religion, on others, and it allows us to explore a period of history where meddling by other countries contributes so much to the misery of another. I’ve read elsewhere that some people didn’t find Satrapi a likeable character, but I applaud the fact she was able to put down a warts and all portrayal of herself which successfully combines her triumphs, fears and discoveries as she grows up. Anything less wouldn’t have been honest.
It’s by no means a difficult or uncomfortable read, and gives those of us beyond the country's borders – or separated by time – the opportunity to learn about the circumstances through the eyes of someone who has lived it and lost loved ones. That alone makes it worth your time.
And if you liked that: You should read Joe Sacco’s Palestine
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