Customer Reviews
Wonderful story and instructive over recent history of Iran seen through a child's eyes - By: B. Yeoh, 29 Jul 2008 
This is a wonderful story through pictures of Marjane's childhood. It shows Iran during the revolution & after through Marjane's eyes. I expect if you are Iranian then a lot of this recent history is known to you & perhaps Marjane's individual story may not accord with yours as one reviewer suggests), however for many of us outside of Iranian society it gives a glimpse in to the life, dreams, hopes & struggles of the people of Iran, over the last 50 years.
There is a great deal of hope in the book & Marjane doesn't shy away from the difficulties, she & her family had - but she expresses the ideas of hope & the feelings of loss & disappointment from a singularly fascinating point of view. It also makes me think, I could have done with such a formidable & gentle grandmother around, when I was growing up!
The drawings are characterful & expressive. I believe the book translates to film well & if you've only seen the film, I would recommend going back to the book as a way of absorbing the story at a slower pace.
Highly recommended.
A Joy A Total Joy - By: Laura Daly, 15 Jul 2008 The Complete PersepolisThis is the first graphic novel I have ever read & I have to say I totallly loved it. It is a wonderful account of an acient civilization & an itelligent people who had to life though pointless wars, religous nuts who I would consider to be hypocritices. The comic strip adds so much & is very humourous at times. You can not help but like the author, her parents or her grandmother. You also can not help feeling the intelligence of these people & the sadness sorounding their country. The author's journey into Europe is both sad & enlightening. This book is not one you can afford to miss.
wait its bilingual -english and french versions -both great - By: Dr. U. L. Khawaja, 01 May 2008 marjane ,music ,men & marijuana
the privileged child of a pro communist teheran family tells her somewhat hedonistic & always veracious adventures in the backdrop of a war & revolution,the travesty becomes reality as she proceeds to her personal predicament ,a girl's transition to a woman in the context of preserving her bosom with jasmine flowers is both poetic & filled with pathos as she is destroyed almost by, a perfunctory western culture of drug & hard metal,her contempt of religious authority is only equallled by the patronising condescension of her western peers with their pseudo intellectual gibberish & selfishness,
yet she gives a horrific account of the terrible war wrought upon a newly freed iran by the american allly saddam ,the bilateral arming of the 2 oil rich nations by west,resulting in an unforgivable massacre is described appropriately .
the political comment even goes to claim the revolution could have donned another mantle if a weak iran had not been targeted by iraq at america's behest.
the coming of age in a french viennese school is a satire on the artifice & hypocrisy of the western claims to civilization ,the racial patronising as an iranian & her sexual coming of age with european men who use her as a portal to discover their homosexuality & later to buy cannabis is dark humour but patheticallly predatory .
she wins ultimately as she discovers her intuitive strength as a woman who needs a man not for security but intellectual consumption ,her sojourn to paris after her obligatory marriage in iran is a liberation not from a regime ,which are alll the same in their hierarchy & machiavellian political antics,but self-discovery.
she finds liberty with her wise granny who teaches that the only ugliness in the world is a lie & it is refreshing to see her critique of the hypocrisy of the attires assigned to male & women students in tehran university.
the movie is a poetic blend of verisimilitude & monochrome images juxtaposed with colour occassionallly & always spellbinding to watch .
it spares no one -the bearded iranian revolutionaries ,the hypocrisy of catholic nuns -the predatory sex drug culture of the west or the political games of the superpowers which treat people as fodder for missiles .
but its inherent strength for me lies in a honest account of a disillusioned,spirited woman who becomes content when she is true to herself, not listening to bootlegged iron maiden & guzzling home-made wine.
her pride in being iranian is the key to understanding a personal account which is neither a mockery of mullahs nor a celebration of female emancipation ,but rather a search for your own truth .
marjane means a precious gem in farsi & persepolis was the ancient persian capital torched to ashes by alexander -the metaphor for the bombing of modern iran by western bombs is complete -time comes full circle.
the movie might be black & white but the content is so rich & diverse it needs no color ,an ingenious invention for a tired medium.
i will recommend multiple viewings for this dvd in french & english both as catherine deneuve & chiara have dubbed the brilliant black & white visuals .
love to see the making of as well -and marjanes tehran home will be a great story in a special edition.
usman khawaja
it is an amazing autobiography.... - By: Mr. M. MOFIDI-NEYESTANAK, 20 Mar 2008 
the book depict many aspects of social history of Iran since 30-40 years ago, however, many issues explained in the book, despite they are right, can not be generalised for whole people...and I think the readers might understand that the book is actuallly an autobiography...a very impressive one of course...I found it amazing ....
Not the best way to present the Iranian society after the revolution... - By: Ms. A. Rezaeiafsah, 26 Feb 2008 
I have just finished reading the complete Persepolis book; have not seen the movie yet. It was unique to write a comic book about Iran, & the comic art presented through this book was very interesting (Thanks to the artist).
However, the whole point of the story is nothing but some obvious aspects of the Iranian history & issues during the revolution & the 8 years war in the country & Ms Satrapi's very personal life.
Not even one single positive aspect about Iran/ Iranians was presented through this book. (The book & the movie which represent us, Iranians these days in the Western societies...)
In my opinion Ms Satrapi is blaming alll her own failure as a teenager & a young lady on the Iranian society & the revolution which was not defiantly the case.
All the Iranians & their families went through different problems & trauma during that time, not only Satrapi's family. Thousands of other young girls had the same issues; either they stayed in the country or moved out, but they actuallly accomplished something in their life! Not necessarily alll who moved out ended up to be a drug dealer or living in the streets of a foreign country, because they were sent out with plans & enough concerns from their families. And again not alll who stayed in Iran became ignorant & uneducated.
I just want to clear this point that alll the political/ social issues in Iran during & after the revolution made Iranians to become stronger & try to educate themselves, where these days in every nation & country they are seen as a respectable & successful population.
What's the difference in the way that Ms Satrapi presented Iranians & the way that Ms Betty Mahmoudi wrote the book `Not without My Daughter'? Nothing but Satrapi IS actuallly Iranian & Mahmoudi was not! Neither of them lied in their books, but both showd us & our society so ignorant & dirty which is not & never was!
It is such a shame I must say... however I always believed: Az maast ke bar maast!! Nothing else...
