This memoir in black and white
comic form tells the story of what it was like to grow up in an educated family
as a girl during the "Islamic Revolution" in Iran which started in 1979. 
It starts when Marjane Satrapi was ten years old, and narrates several events
over the following four years until her parents sent her to Austria when she
was fourteen.  She shows how the country moved from one kind of oppressive
regime under the Shah to an even more oppressive and despotic government that
imposed religious rule on the whole of society.  She manages to convey her
confusion, anger and fear very powerfully though quite simple stories.  We see
how her life changed when she had to worry about her teachers reporting what
she said to the authorities and friends of the family being murdered for their
disagreement with the Islamic policies.  Satrapi shows the dangers of
fundamentalist religious movements through her own perception of events at the
time. 

The war between Iran and Iraq soon
came to play a major part in the family’s life, as reports came in of soldiers
dying in huge numbers, and as bombs dropped on Tehran.  One of the saddest
stories tells of the day that the house of one her best friends was destroyed
in a bomb, killing all her friend’s family.  We see how Satrapi engaged in
minor forms of defiance of the Islamic principles governing the society through
her skeptical attitude and her enthusiasm for symbols of western popular culture
like Iron Maiden and Kim Wilde.  We also see how her parents alternated between
supporting her rebellious attitude and wanting to make sure she did not get
into trouble with the authorities.  Through such small details, we get to
appreciate the force of Satrapi’s condemnation of the Islamic Revolution. 
While the stories are full of sadness, they also are funny and charming.  The
artwork is fairly simple, using almost no shading, with faces drawn with just a
few lines for mouth, nose, eyes and eyebrows, but it’s varied enough to keep
the reader’s interest.  Persepolis is an unexpectedly powerful work of
political memoir from a very unusual perspective.  Highly recommended.

© 2003 Christian
Perring. All rights reserved.

 Link: Publisher’s
website for Persepolis