Persepolis: The Story of an Iranian Childhood

Description

Another astonishing work of graphic non-fiction, the story of a girl growing up in Iran during the Revolution Wise, often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, Persepolis tells the story of Marjane Satrapi's life in Tehran from the ages of six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-grandaughter of Iran's last emperor, Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Amidst the tragedy, Marjane's child's eye view adds immediacy and humour, and her story of a childhood at once outrageous and ordinary, beset by the unthinkable and yet buffered by an extraordinary and loving family, is immensely moving. It is also very beautiful; Satrapi's drawings have the power of the very best woodcuts.

Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She grew up in Tehran, where she studied at the French school, before leaving for Vienna and then Strasbourg to study illustration. She has written several children's books and her commentary and illustrations appear in newspapers and magazines around the world, including the New Yorker and the New York Times. She is the author of the internationally bestselling and award-winning comic book autobiography in two parts, Persepolis and Persepolis 2. She currently lives in Paris.

Telling the story of Satrapi's childhood in Iran, this is funny, wise and sad. * Stylist * Persepolis...has an outward simplicity that utterly beguiles: her black and white drawings resemble old-fashioned woodcuts; her narrative is almost breezily concise -- Rachel Cooke * Royal Academy Magazine * This touching, funny, illuminating memoir deserves a much wider audience. -- Kate Figes * Guardian * The magic of Marjane Satrapi's work is that it can condense a whole country's tragedy into one poignant, funny scene after another. -- Natasha Walter * Independent on Sunday * Persepolis is a stylish, clever and moving weapon of mass destruction. -- David Jenkins * Sunday Telegraph *