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The Complete Persepolis

Author: Marjane Satrapi
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł12.70~~
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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

6 reviews
Sales Rank: 4396

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 1.3

ISBN: 0375714839
Dewey Decimal Number: 955.0542092
EAN: 9780375714832
ASIN: 0375714839

Publication Date: October 30, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New book. Due to problems with Standard Airmail delivery times from the USA, we have switched to using PRIORITY AIRMAIL ONLY. UK & European delivery is 7-10 days.

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Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

A Joy A Total Joy July 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

The Complete PersepolisThis is the first graphic novel I have ever read and I have to say I totally loved it. It is a wonderful account of an acient civilization and an itelligent people who had to life though pointless wars, religous nuts who I would consider to be hypocritices. The comic strip adds so much and is very humourous at times. You can not help but like the author, her parents or her grandmother. You also can not help feeling the intelligence of these people and the sadness sorounding their country. The author's journey into Europe is both sad and enlightening. This book is not one you can afford to miss.

5 out of 5 stars

wait its bilingual -english and french versions -both great May 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

marjane ,music ,men and marijuana
the privileged child of a pro communist teheran family tells her somewhat hedonistic and always veracious adventures in the backdrop of a war and revolution,the travesty becomes reality as she proceeds to her personal predicament ,a girl's transition to a woman in the context of preserving her bosom with jasmine flowers is both poetic and filled with pathos as she is destroyed almost by, a perfunctory western culture of drug and hard metal,her contempt of religious authority is only equalled by the patronising condescension of her western peers with their pseudo intellectual gibberish and selfishness,

yet she gives a horrific account of the terrible war wrought upon a newly freed iran by the american ally saddam ,the bilateral arming of the 2 oil rich nations by west,resulting in an unforgivable massacre is described appropriately .

the political comment even goes to claim the revolution could have donned another mantle if a weak iran had not been targeted by iraq at america's behest.

the coming of age in a french viennese school is a satire on the artifice and hypocrisy of the western claims to civilization ,the racial patronising as an iranian and her sexual coming of age with european men who use her as a portal to discover their homosexuality and later to buy cannabis is dark humour but pathetically predatory .

she wins ultimately as she discovers her intuitive strength as a woman who needs a man not for security but intellectual consumption ,her sojourn to paris after her obligatory marriage in iran is a liberation not from a regime ,which are all the same in their hierarchy and machiavellian political antics,but self-discovery.

she finds liberty with her wise granny who teaches that the only ugliness in the world is a lie and it is refreshing to see her critique of the hypocrisy of the attires assigned to male and women students in tehran university.

the movie is a poetic blend of verisimilitude and monochrome images juxtaposed with colour occassionally and always spellbinding to watch .

it spares no one -the bearded iranian revolutionaries ,the hypocrisy of catholic nuns -the predatory sex drug culture of the west or the political games of the superpowers which treat people as fodder for missiles .

but its inherent strength for me lies in a honest account of a disillusioned,spirited woman who becomes content when she is true to herself, not listening to bootlegged iron maiden and guzzling home-made wine.

her pride in being iranian is the key to understanding a personal account which is neither a mockery of mullahs nor a celebration of female emancipation ,but rather a search for your own truth .

marjane means a precious gem in farsi and persepolis was the ancient persian capital torched to ashes by alexander -the metaphor for the bombing of modern iran by western bombs is complete -time comes full circle.
the movie might be black and white but the content is so rich and diverse it needs no color ,an ingenious invention for a tired medium.

i will recommend multiple viewings for this dvd in french and english both as catherine deneuve and chiara have dubbed the brilliant black and white visuals .
love to see the making of as well -and marjanes tehran home will be a great story in a special edition.

usman khawaja

4 out of 5 stars

it is an amazing autobiography.... March 20, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful

the book depict many aspects of social history of Iran since 30-40 years ago, however, many issues explained in the book, despite they are right, can not be generalised for whole people...and I think the readers might understand that the book is actually an autobiography...a very impressive one of course...I found it amazing ....

1 out of 5 stars

Not the best way to present the Iranian society after the revolution... February 26, 2008
2 out of 20 found this review helpful

I have just finished reading the complete Persepolis book; have not seen the movie yet. It was unique to write a comic book about Iran, and the comic art presented through this book was very interesting (Thanks to the artist).

However, the whole point of the story is nothing but some obvious aspects of the Iranian history and issues during the revolution and the 8 years war in the country and Ms Satrapi's very personal life.
Not even one single positive aspect about Iran/ Iranians was presented through this book. (The book and the movie which represent us, Iranians these days in the Western societies...)

In my opinion Ms Satrapi is blaming all her own failure as a teenager and a young lady on the Iranian society and the revolution which was not defiantly the case.
All the Iranians and their families went through different problems and trauma during that time, not only Satrapi's family. Thousands of other young girls had the same issues; either they stayed in the country or moved out, but they actually accomplished something in their life! Not necessarily all who moved out ended up to be a drug dealer or living in the streets of a foreign country, because they were sent out with plans and enough concerns from their families. And again not all who stayed in Iran became ignorant and uneducated.

I just want to clear this point that all the political/ social issues in Iran during and after the revolution made Iranians to become stronger and try to educate themselves, where these days in every nation and country they are seen as a respectable and successful population.

What's the difference in the way that Ms Satrapi presented Iranians and the way that Ms Betty Mahmoudi wrote the book `Not without My Daughter'? Nothing but Satrapi IS actually Iranian and Mahmoudi was not! Neither of them lied in their books, but both showd us and our society so ignorant and dirty which is not and never was!
It is such a shame I must say... however I always believed: Az maast ke bar maast!! Nothing else...

5 out of 5 stars

Highly reccommended! February 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Amazing read! Through the narration of the author's spirited, likeable and slightly mad younger self growing up in Iran, the reader learns so much about life there from an insider's perspective, without ever feeling even remotely lectured to. The illustrations are original and witty, and draw you into the world Marjane Satrapi vividly evokes. The characters of her family, friends and neighbours are very well portrayed and there are definitely more than a few laughs despite (because of?) the serious subject matter.

If you know French, I really recommend getting the original, because the graphic novel format makes it very easy and motivating to read and the conversational style will be a nice change from textbooks and newspapers! If not, the English translation is very good and was supervised by Marjane Satrapi herself, whose English is good enough to make sure the sense has been captured exactly by the translator (a friend of hers, I think I remember reading).

Also, the Amazon price at the time of writing is an absolute bargain, if you are getting all four books in one! I bought mine separately for about that price each!