Hooked on YA books 2015 discussion

Persepolis is the story of a girl named Marjane who grows up during reign of Shah and then the Islamic Revolution followed by the Iraq, Iran war. She struggles with trying to maintain a somewhat "normal" teenage existence while surrounded by immense sadness, violence, upheaval, and unpredictability. She protests the violence and oppression of the Government and rebels against the new "world" that she is placed in. She struggles with her faith in religion, her innocence, class structure and her identity. Being a modern family and modern woman are both absolutely forbidden. Her friends and family constantly leave to escape the oppression. Most of the adults in her world are either executed, imprisoned or die. She watches young men be sent to war and never come back. Parts of her city are demolished and there are supply shortages. She struggles with wanting to stand up for what she believes to be right, and the real possibility of being persecuted. Ultimately her parents send her to Europe so she can try to live a more normal life but with that move she has to give up the only people she loves and start anew.

Oh wow. I could write a separate book about the social world dilemmas when it comes to Persepolis! I was first introduced to Persepolis when I was an undergraduate French minor at Ball State University and the French club sponsored a French film screening of a cartoon version of this graphic novel. I have been in love with Marjane Satrapi ever since.

Persepolis gives a historical and cultural overview on the Iranian Revolution from the viewpoint of someone who lived there and lived through it rather than a westernized account. For this reason, alone, I really love this novel –the politics that are discussed are from the perspective of civilians – not media pundits or government officials or politically backed textbook makers (although I can’t say for certain whether or not Pantheon publishing did any censoring during the manuscript editing process), but I found this perspective to be refreshing and told a great story. It helps to contextualize (and humanize) an area of the world that we have come to associate with extremism, violence, and terrorism. We can easily forget that a minority group can impose harsh punishments on a majority and project an image of solidarity when, in fact, there are a lot of differences of opinions. This book should be required reading.

I guess to quickly go back to the prompt in question – little Marjane finds herself having to navigate the world she knew prior to 1979 and Islamic regime she finds herself under post-1979. She witnesses protests, secret arrests, and countless bombings. She has to toe the line between what she believes to be true and how she must act to stay alive and out of jail. A lot for a young person to handle.