Weekly Round-Up: Books, Films & Homeschooling (No Zombies)

There has been a little too much crazy around here lately. Sometimes I feel like Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day. Waking up every day to the same old mess, hoping something changes yet powerless to make it happen. :-P Things are starting to look up, though.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

This is only the second graphic novel I've picked up, and I fell in love with it. I read it all in one sitting; I laughed, I cried, and at moments, I was speechless with rage. The events in this book were not new to me, but I felt I was looking at them from a fresh perspective, in a way that was more immediate and personal.

The stark black and white drawings seemed deceptively simple at first glance, but they are actually richly detailed and expressive, and the images wedged themselves in my mind more sharply than words could. Is it possible that at my advanced age, I'm about to become a convert to graphic novels? Hmm...


Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir guides us through the events surrounding the Islamic Revolution in Iran, starting in 1979. She was about 10 years old when the Shah was overthrown, an event that, after years of harsh oppression, her family celebrated with other Iranians. Marjane Satrapi is of my generation, but I witnessed these events from a great distance, as if I saw them through the wrong end of a telescope. I remember our sadness and anger over the capture of American hostages in the U.S. Embassy -- fellow citizens wrenched from their families by shadowy evil-doers. I knew nothing about the fate of Iranians at that time, and I wouldn't understand until years later why they blamed the U.S. for the actions of their deposed Shah -- that simply wasn't part of our history curriculum. I hope children today are being educated through a wider lens.

Ten-year-old Marjane's parents are intellectual Marxists -- Marxists who drive a Cadillac and have a maid who takes her meals alone in the kitchen. Marjane is beginning to question these inconsistencies, but this is overshadowed by the turmoil all around her. Friends and relatives are escaping the clutches of the Shah's regime, only to be ensnared by the Islamic Revolution, and the war with Iraq begins.
This book has amazing depth. We are guided through this part of Iran's history and tutored in the politics and philosophy surrounding these events in a way that's simple but thought provoking. We're absorbing these things through the mind of a young girl who's struggling to understand what's happening in her world.

Dark images of violence and death blend seamlessly with the story of Marjane's coming of age, which includes scenes from the schoolyard and her relationship with God; it also offers glimpses of her adolescent rebellion and her love of Western music and clothes. With few words needing to be said, we intensely feel the love among her family members and friends. We experience the constant fear and paranoia, as the vise of the new regime closes around them. Yet there are moments that are surprisingly funny. All this combines to create a story that is heart-wrenching, humorous, and rich in food for thought.

As soon as I finished this, I immediately reserved Persepolis II and the movie adaptation of Persepolis at the library. I am hoping I can involve my family in reading the books or watching the film with me. I am salivating over the potential for discussion -- about contemporary history, our country's role in Mideast history, and life in a theocracy. Religious freedom is something we blessedly take for granted, though there are ripples in the U.S. urging us to replace secular law with "God's law." This book also offers potential for discussion about how childhood can be shaped by fear and violence and also by courage and love.

Read More Reviews: Eclectic/Eccentric; Caribousmom; Small World Reads; Good Books and Wine


Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi

This autobiographical graphic novel picks up where Persepolis left off, bringing Marjane into young womanhood. As the novel opens, she is living in Austria. Wanting their beloved only child to leave Iran, where the vise of the Fundamentalist Muslim government continues to tighten, her parents arranged for her to live with an Austrian friend. The new family does not embrace her, however, and Marjane goes to live in a boarding house run by nuns, contemplating the irony of having escaped one staunchly religious environment only to end up in another.

Living and going to school in a Western society is a radically different experience for her. There is the language barrier -- Marjane doesn't speak German. And she is surrounded by teens who dabble in nihilistic philosophy, babbling about the meaninglessness of life without ever having experienced war or death firsthand. Marjane desperately wants to fit in with her Austrian peers and find her niche. But when she does, she feels she's betraying her Iranian identity, turning her back on on her war-torn homeland and the beloved relatives who died standing up for freedom. She struggles through isolation, academic failure, drug abuse, and first love. Then she eventually returns to Iran. There she is surrounded by loving relatives and friends, but she finds that her return to her own culture, after the freedom she enjoyed in Western Europe, is wrenching. And her conflicts about her identity don't fade away.

I loved this book just as much as Persepolis. Again a short book with simple, almost stark illustrations camouflages an incredibly rich story which weaves together Iranian history and politics, a bit of dry humor, and a painfully honest story of growing up and early adulthood. This author isn't afraid to reveal moments when she was cowardly or cruel, including one passage that actually kept me awake part of the night. The result is a fully developed, flesh and blood character I'll never forget.

As I was reading Persepolis II, I kept remembering Ana's post on literature being either a homecoming or a journey to a foreign land. If you haven't read that post and the discussion thread under it, I highly recommend it. :-) Ana quoted Alberto Manguel:

What is this homecoming? It can be argued that we perceive the world in one of two ways—as a foreign land or as home—and that our libraries reflect both these opposing views. As we wander among our books, picking at random a volume from the shelves and leafing through it, the pages either astound us by their difference from our own experience or comfort us with their similitude. The greed of Agamemnon or the meekness of Kim’s lama are to me utterly foreign; Alice’s bewilderment or Sinbad’s curiosity reflect again and again my own emotions. Every reader is either a pausing wanderer or a traveller returned.

Persepolis II is literally a tale of a journey to a foreign land and a homecoming. And for me it offered some of the best of both experiences -- reading Marjane's story, I felt like both a wanderer and a traveler returned. Many of her experiences were unfamiliar to me. I know little about Iranian culture. I have never lived through war or political oppression. I have spent my entire life in blissful ignorance of what it's like to be deprived of religious freedom or to lose over a million countrymen to war. And I've never been viewed as a "third world" person by Westerners.

At the same time many of the experiences she described were poignantly familiar: feeling adrift in adolescence and early adulthood, struggling to make a disastrous relationship work, and being horrified at what one has become and scrambling to begin anew. In this story, I saw reflections of myself at 14, 17, and 19 and I loved the author's honesty and humor in delving into her own youth.
There is something about this combined experience -- already knowing what it's like to travel a certain path, yet following it through a completely new landscape -- that is so enriching. Instead of feeling I'm reading about another life and another culture, I feel I'm there, and I absorb a bit of it into myself. I think that is one of the best things multicultural literature accomplishes.

Read More Reviews: Zen Leaf; Caribousmom; Book Nut


Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Chicken With Plums by Marjane Satrapi

This graphic novel by the author of Persepolis was inspired by the life of Marjane Satrapi's great-uncle. Nasser Ali Khan has been passionate about two things in his life: a young woman he once courted, whose father wouldn't allow them to marry, and his music. He's spent his life playing his tar and has become one of Iran's most revered musicians. When his instrument is broken, under circumstances you will discover, he searches in vain for the perfect tar to replace it. When he can't, he takes to his bed and decides to give up on life.

Nasser Ali Khan is surrounded by his four children and his devoted but bitter wife, exhausted from years of  supporting the family, managing the household, and caring for the kids while her husband devotes his life to his music. Nasser is also visited by his brother. But he is disconnected from everyone around him, waiting to die. During the last days of his life, he is visited by odd visions, including the angel of death and Sophia Loren. We also get glimpses of Nassar's life through flashbacks and glimpses of the distant future. Many threads run through this deceptively simple story, revealing Iranian history, folklore, religion and philosophy.

I didn't like Nasser Ali Khan much -- he is intelligent, talented, and passionate about his art, but he is not a kind man. Nevertheless, through brief, artfully crafted flashbacks, the author revealed hidden layers to his humanity.

This is a sad, moving story about yearning and the fundamental things we believe make our lives worth living. It is also a tale about being oblivious to the feelings of the people who love us most. I highly recommend it, and I am in awe of Satrapi's gift for storytelling and her ability to weave a handful of words and images into a tale rich with cultural, spiritual, and emotional experience. This is a book which I read quickly but am unlikely to forget.

Read More Reviews: Reading and Rooibus; Things Mean a Lot; The Zen Leaf; Read About Comics

Rating: 4.5

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

Arab in America by Toufic El Rassi

 

Arab in America blends an autobiographical story with thought provoking social and political commentary. Toufic El Rassi was born in Beirut, Lebanon but has lived in the United States since he was a small child. The book opens right after the September 11 attacks, which sparked frightening ripples of anti-Arab sentiment. Then it steps back in time, going through the 1980s and 1990s.

El Rassi's family immigrated to America, fleeing violence in the Middle East, and settled in a suburb of Chicago. He remembers the first time he realized he wasn't white, and recalls, uncomfortably, that he later had difficulty accepting his cultural heritage. As an Arab American teen, he never felt accepted by his neighbors and peers. He vividly remembers the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Until Timothy McVeigh was caught, many Americans assumed Arabic Muslims were responsible for the attack, and the resulting backlash against Arabs terrified young Toufic.

As a teen he struggled between being outraged, and feeling he should take a strong stand, and believing activism is not in his nature. Eventually he did find a political philosophy he could be passionate about, and he embraced some radical opinions, which would be moderated in time. I found this search for identity, and his struggle between passivity and finding a political voice, to be one of the most compelling parts of the story.

As a young man, six years later, he was frightened and horrified by the events of 9-11 and its aftermath, including the way Americans of Arab descent were questioned, arrested, and often deprived of their civil rights.

El Rassi describes these events and explores some facets of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, including our support of Israel and the two Iraqi wars. At the heart of this book are El Rassi's feelings about American prejudice toward Arabs and how pervasive destructive stereotypes are in our popular culture, particularly in movies. He gives a wealth of examples, from music, talk show commentary, action movies, even Star Wars.

I think this is an important point for discussion. As El Rassi points out, these stereotypes are quite pervasive. Americans may not realize we're seeing anti-Arab propaganda in popular media. When people are unaware of these messages, there is a danger they will unconsciously absorb them, eventually mistaking them for truth.

When viewed as a story, Arab in America is a bit disjointed. We see glimpses of El Rassi's character, and of his story, in scattered bits, mixed with passages of cultural and historical information and an occasional outright diatribe. As a result, the book doesn't flow as smoothly as it might, and I never felt I got to know him well. The experiences and events he describes are heart wrenching, but I never felt a real connection with him.

I agree with Jason Sacks in his review in Comics Bulletin ... "When we are shown how characters feel, we feel empathy. When we are told how characters feel, we feel a distance from events--and that’s the problem here: too much telling and not enough showing."

On the other hand, it is a complex, informative ,and persuasive work. While it is not the best of the graphic novel medium, from what I've seen so far, El Rassi is a talented artist and writer. Parts of his story are definitely compelling, and I recommend the book. I think it would be a great tool for teachers and homeschoolers wanting to explore certain aspects of contemporary history, propaganda, and different forms of racism -- from the more subtle to the overt.

Read More Reviews: Booklust; Comics Bulletin



Rating: 3

5- Cherished Favorite	4 - Keep in My Library	3 - Good Read	2 - Meh	1 - Definitely Not For Me

The Squirrel Machine by Hans Rickheit

The Squirrel Machine revolves around two brothers, William and Edmund. They are heirs to a fortune, living with their widowed mother in a rambling, Gothic New England mansion. They are gifted, eccentric children who become even stranger young men. The story goes back and forth in time between their adolescence and adulthood. It is around the turn of the 19th century, a time when rapid scientific progress -- including Darwinian biology and the industrial revolution -- mingles with slavish devotion to tradition and propriety.

William and Edmund spend their time creating wild inventions. They have built a sort of labyrinthine world under their mansion. They're outsiders, bullied and feared by the staid, traditional townspeople. This is partly because the boys do things that are disgusting and bizarre. Nevertheless, I couldn't help feeling sympathy for them. After all, "normal people" also do things that are disgusting and bizarre. They just keep it cloistered in slaughterhouses and labs and don't drag it to a public exposition.

As a child, William wears a pair of goggles, which makes him stand out even more. He says he needs them "to filter things." He seems to be  suggesting he can see things in his environment that others don't, and if he didn't filter out some of these images, it would be overwhelming. This is very intriguing but never fully explained. William is also a sleepwalker who roams the countryside at night.

I like this premise. I'm drawn to the Victorian setting, the outrageously eccentric characters, and the idea of two bizarre autodidactic boys creating their own world filled with wild, imaginative inventions. And the artwork is excellent. It's very visual, even for a graphic novel. The whole thing has a dreamlike quality, full of images that are never fully translated into words. I liked some of the surreal, dreamlike bits. For example, there is a frame where William is approaching the door to his boyhood home, after one of his nighttime ramblings, and finds his childhood bicycle fused with a tree. It's odd and hard to explain, but  love that visual, dream-like blending of past and present, and of the child and the man.

The imagery is captivating throughout the book, especially the labyrinthine levels, filled with odd devices and inventions. It has a steampunkish feel, and there's a slightly Jungian quality to the dream-like images of all those spiraling levels in the house.

But as intriguing as this was, I did not like the book. I was unable to follow the narrative flow; it was just too dang bizarre. Just when I'd think I was picking up on the rhythm of the story, I'd be thrown into something even more bizarre and incomprehensible. Maybe this is exactly what makes this book work for some readers. But I like a good story mingled with the odd, dream-like ebb and flow of a surreal piece (think Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).

What really bothered me were the disturbing images -- inventions constructed of animal corpses, and things that were even worse.  I hated the animal cruelty. I couldn't discern the author's purpose in it, and I felt he was just trying to push the envelope, shocking and disgusting readers for his own sake. Others might read this differently, of course.  There could be social commentary in the grotesqueness and animal -- and human -- cruelty. After all, many attempts at scientific progress are predicated on mistreatment of living things.

There could be a wealth of  meaning camouflaged in this bizarre comic book. On the other hand, perhaps the author is just looking for an outlet for his grotesque nightmares and fantasies. Or maybe he's just trying to screw with our heads. :-) I couldn't tell.

If anyone decides to read this comic book, I'd love to hear your take on it!

Rating: I don't know how to rate this one.