PERSEPOLIS

Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel of growing up in Iran grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go.  The memoir has more recently been adapted into a feature length animated motion picture.  Satrapi tells the story of her life from age six to early adulthood, commencing with the overthrow of the Shaw of Iran, the Islamic revolution that followed, the war with Iraq and Satrapi's subsequent European exile from her home and family.  Despite the harrowing subject matter this story radiates warmth throughout and the author digs out offbeat humor whenever she can.

Satrapi achieves the delicate balancing act of being both intimate, as an autobiography should be and panoramic in scope in dealing with the ways peoples' lives can irrevocably change when governments subvert their beliefs.  Childhood and adolescence are fraught with universal desires that have little to do with government decrees.  Throughout her book Marjane remains resolutely human.  She is anything but a rote comic book heroine.  She is not always wise, she is often off track and that makes her all the more recognizable.  This is what makes Persepolis such an infectious read and it is not surprise the book has already proven popular with adolescent girls throughout the world.

The images in both film and graphic novel are rendered in black and white punctuated with various shades of grey.  They are stark, elegant and consistently involving.  There are cheeky pop culture references throughout the book and film.  In the film's score there are playful off-key renditions of "Eye of the Tiger" and the theme from Rocky.  Young Marjane loves Bruce Lee, Nikes, and Iron Maiden.  Through her childhood and difficult adolescence, she grapples with horrors few westerners could comprehend.  As much of the novel is told from a child's partly comprehending point of view, reactions to such strictures as the veil are often visceral and this proves an effective means of what went wrong in those years.  It also compellingly conveys how a child's sense of injustice can evolve into an adult sensibility.  

Reading Persepolis, one is made aware of many Iranians who don't embrace the restrictions they are made to live under, particularly the women.  Yet the book never tries to be an Iranian history lesson, the author is more concerned with how people try to live ordinary lives in extraordinary circumstances.  Satrapi's strong family ties are conveyed warmly.  She is close to her secular leftist parents who campaign ceaselessly for change and find their relatives tortured and imprisoned.  She is even closer to her witty and pragmatic grandmother.

Persepolis should bridge the gap between those who read graphic novels and those who do not.   It is also a resonant, universal coming of age tale with a heroine who is smart, loveable, deliciously funny and full of gumption.  In the face of geopolitical upheaval Persepolis is unfailingly, robustly alive.  This sturdily poetic novel full of difficult questions and uneasy answers.   Persepolis renders in black and white a world that never is.