Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir is masterfully written and illustrated. She reveals harsh yet sometimes comical realities of war and religious fanaticism through childhood memories. She exudes all the angst and precocity of youth mixed with the rebellion of a bourgeoning political activist. The setting is the late 1970s and early 1980s in Iran. The Islamic Revolution has begun. The veil has become a permanent part of women's wardrobes as their hair has been deemed "stimulating".  Satrapi struggles with the frustration of being a child who wants to stand for something but is not always sure what that something is. She feels she can't stand idly by while her parents go into the streets to protest the Shah regime, so she stirs things up in her school and often to the chagrin of her teachers. After taking the reader on a journey through this time in Iran's history and seeing the lives of those Satrapi knew personally affected by it, she brings us to a heartbreaking conclusion.

While I'm no expert on graphic novels, I found Satrapi's illustrations so effective in moving the story along. There's a slight whimsy to them-mainly the characters' eyes- that serves as reminder that these are a child's experiences. 

Persepolis 2 picks up just where the first volume ended. Marjane is trying to adjust to her new life as a teen student in Austria in the early 80s. Her political activism/ rebellions become more of a way to procure friends and slowly turn themselves into vices to her detriment. Satrapi explores her struggles with losing her sense of being temporarily and the general demise many young people engender. Later in this volume, we see her enter a questionable marriage and she delves more into the issues and place of women in Iran, or lack thereof, though it's a running theme in both books. Again, women seem to suffer the sharpest blow of the regime with the need to cover themselves as to not present men with temptations. The ending this time is definitely hopeful but still bittersweet.

I love Satrapi's voice and style in both books. She has a delicately acerbic tongue. She really captured the angst of youth and political activism as well as the jaded side of both. I'm now anxious to read her other works: Embroideries and Chicken with Plums. 

Challenges:
POC Reading