Persepolis

     So, when I first started to read Persepolis, I found myself stomping every few minutes. I couldn't find an on ramp for the story. My knowledge of the Iranian Revolution was super limited and rather than creating curiosity for me, it created annoyance (I like to be a know-it-all; leave me alone). I also think that the illustrations didn't catch my eye, either, which made it difficult to jump in, too. I started to become interested in what I was reading on about page 14. At this point, we're still receiving mostly historical context with spurts of who Satrapi's family is. We learn a little about her character, too -- she's an oddball, a precocious kid obsessed with marxism and speaking directly to God (or Marx?). Her father is a proud man and her mom is a progressive woman. I consider page 14 my entry point though because -- ironically enough -- the illustrations. The ghosts on page fifteen, the spirits of the murdered theatre inhabitants, caught me eye. From then on I started paying closer attention and I thought of a comment made by our craft instructor last semester (this is very loosely paraphrased so someone please correct me if you wrote it down. : 

you don't tell the war story, you tell the story of the bloody sock by the road. 

But Satrap is doing the opposite here and it works. And one of the reasons I think it works -- and so well -- is because of the narrative voice + form. Telling this tale in the form a graphic novel was genius on Satrapi's end along with the illustration style. The child voice is blunt, often crass (the whole brass knuckles scene), and unflinching, but also at the same time still innocent. On page 59, Satrapi is discussing revolution with her uncle who is visibly bitter about his relationship with a woman in Russia. Her uncle says that Russians aren't like Iranians and Satrapi says 'why, they don't have heads?' It's such a small moment, but in the scheme of things -- executions, uprisings, revolutions, its a beautiful moment of innocence that contrasts starkly against Satrapi wanting to beat a classmate with nails between her knuckles. This voice anchors the reader who is, sadly so, more than likely not familiar with Iranian history because the story can't be separated from the war and just a bloody sock on the side of the road wouldn't do the story justice here (though we do  have those moments -- Satrapi's friend's bracelet; the lies parents tell about the absence of a loved one).

Also, the way the novel illustrates the war is very simplistic. There aren't a lot of shadows and no shades of grade (pretty much the way Satrapi tells the story, too). The simplistic drawings are effective and easy to follow (almost too easy to me at first). The graphics serve as a guideline and a way to present the child voice more effectively.