Persepolis: The story of a childhood and Persepolis: The story of a return are two graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, telling of her childhood growing up in Iran, her experience of the wars, the revolution, being sent to Europe away from the war and ending up an Iranian in Europe, but a European in Iran.

I suppose a lot of people know it more from the movie that was made. Me, I only heard about it when people mentioned it to me following my Gaza comics. I didn’t know it was originally written in French, I didn’t know about the movie, just that “the feel and style is kinda similar”. So when I saw it at the bookstore I just got it.

I’ve been studying rather intensively for my exam, but when I took a break, I picked up the book, intending to read a bit, then go back to my Chinese communists.

I PLOWED through the book. I couldn’t put it aside until I finished, which was something like 4 hours later.

There is so much that I relate to in that book. A lot of Ms. Satrapi’s experiences were harsher than my own, of course, as this country hasn’t undergone a Halachic revolution (yet?), and I was in France during the Gulf War, so I didn’t experience being directly threatened by a SCUD – although I do remember crying every time I heard about an alert because they were falling on houses in the vicinity of my grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s homes – but some experiences and feelings she describes are just so close I think I can sort of relate.

There’s a lot going on in my head but I’m not sure I can put it into words. I will just post a few images, and I heartily recommend anybody to pick up the book.

This graphic novel just tackles so many issues that matter, and does so not by debating, but just by putting the things out there. The real experiences she’s had, and the emotions they provoked. Just like that.