The Complete Persepolis

Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
ISBN: 0375714839


Plot Summary: The first half of the book deal's with the author's life as a young girl in pre- and post-Revolution Iran, during the Iran-Iraq War, and as a student at a time when there were many restrictions on what female students could and could not do. Her parents, initially in favor of the Revolution, become disillusioned when the result is not the socialist government they had hoped for, and eventually send Marjane to Europe, as they feel it is too dangerous for her in Iran. The second half deals with Marjane struggling to adjust to life, love and school in Europe at a time when few people truly understood what was happening in her home country. When she returns home after a disastrous romance, she finds that she too has changed, and Iran is no longer the home she remembers. She still loves her parents and they her, but ultimately departs again for Europe, this time for good.

Critical Evaluation: Beautifully written, if a bit crudely illustrated, and provides a fresh perspective on Iran's history, culture, and recent events. The fact that it is from a girl and woman's perspective is also refreshing, as we often hear far too little about what it is like to live as a female in Iran from that perspective.
Reader's Annotation: Marjane witnesses a lot growing up in Iran in the 1980s: revolution, war, cultural changes. When she leaves for Europe, what changes will happen to her - and what will it be like for her to go home again?

About the Author: Marjane Satrapi was born in Iran in 1969, making her 10 years old at the time of the Revolution. She attended the Lycee Francais in Vienna, Austria. She then returned to Iran, earning a master's degree in Visual Communication from the School of Fine Arts in Tehran, and then moving to Strasbourg, France, to further study illustration. She currently lives and works in Paris, and has authored graphic novels, children's books, and newspaper and magazine illustrations.

Genre: Non-fiction, graphic novel

Curriculum Ties: World History, World Religions, Current Events, Women's Studies

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: Girls can identify with Marjane's rebelliousness and curiosity.
Approach: Character-based
Notes for Booktalk: Discuss how Marjane feels about the events affecting her and her family. How does she feel about the Shah? About the Revolution? About what happens after it? How does the war affect her and her family? How would these things affect you if you had to deal with them? Ask if anyone there had had to leave their family, home or country, then discuss the feelings and issues involved with this. Have you ever felt misunderstood? Had a romance go wrong? Had to deal with difficult people in your living situation? How has Marjane changed by the end of the book?

Hook: Marjane's mother protests against wearing the veil, and a European journalist takes a photo of her that gets published in all the newspapers. Marjane is proud of her mother, but her mother gets scared, and has to dye her hair and wear dark glasses to avoid being recognized in her own country. (p. 5)
Approach: Scene-based
Notes for Booktalk: We applaud people for being brave and standing up for their principles, but their actions have real-life consequences, sometimes bad ones. For example, current protesters in Iran who contested the election results got their pictures in the paper, but the government identified them by those pictures, and many of them have been imprisoned and tortured because of them. Should the photographer have taken pictures of Marjane's mother? Why or why not?

Reading Level/Interest Age: Adult/High school

Challenge Issues: Sexual content, religious viewpoint, offensive language, violence. The author has pre-marital sex in the second half of the book, and in the first half a girl is raped prior to being executed. Neither of these scenes are explicitly portrayed, but there is no ambiguity about what happened. Violence and death are implied and sometimes shown as a result of revolution and war. Marjane and other characters sometimes swear, and the book is written from the perspective of a Muslim, although Marjane's relationship with her religion and God is sometimes troubled. (This part may offend Muslim readers as well.)
In response to the violence and religious perspective questions, I would argue that it is entirely too rare to hear a female perspective on recent and current events in Iran, and that readers deserve to know what the experience was like from the other side, "warts and all." Some of Marjane's Iranian girlfriends in the book judge her for having had pre-marital sex, although Marjane herself does not regret it; I would argue that this leaves open an area of discussion of the pros and cons of pre-marital sex, especially since Marjane's subsequent falling-out with her boyfriend ends up being hazardous to her health. Although the war scenes might be too disturbing for younger readers, they are based in fact, and I would urge parents to decide whether their individual children could handle them, rather than making a blanket decision for all children.

Why I Chose This Book: I knew very little about Iran prior to reading this book, except for the negative images of oppression and religious fanaticism I had seen in the news. To get an insider's view, especially from a woman's perspective, is what makes this book indispensable for older readers, and possibly for younger ones if they are mature enough to understand it.