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Child's Eye View

Molly's picture
Submitted by Molly on Tue, 04/06/2010 - 12:51am

 I'll start by saying I absolutely loved "Persepolis," and it was one of the best things I've read in awhile.  

One of my favorite things about "Persepolis" was that it told the story of something very complicated through the simple view of a child.  It could have just been like any history book on the war and revolution that took place in Iran that's ever been written, but instead it's brought to life through the illustrations and through the telling of the story through the eyes of a child. The reader learns about revolution and all that goes into it along with Marji, which for me was very enjoyable.  I never thought I would enjoy graphic novels, but because of "Persepolis" they may be starting to grow on me.

Everything about "Persepolis" was really appealing to me, especially after the rampant disturbing images in "A Game of You."  Disturbing images did come up every so often in "Persepolis," but considering the subject matter, it wasn't that often.  Also, when reading "A Game of You" I was much more focused on words than images, but in reading "Persepolis" I found myself much more able to focus on both words and images equally, which was good.

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aseidman's picture

Child's eye: More discerning

Submitted by aseidman on Thu, 04/08/2010 - 1:00pm.

Maybe this was just me, but I felt that the simplistic way in which the images were drawn emphasized the elements of the atrocities which were the most significant, especially in the eyes of a child. For example, when the cinema burned down, we get the image of several people going up in flames...and that's all. Rather than a huge, complicated crowd scene, with several individually dressed people, we see only the basic but horrific atrocity...which I think is very helpful in conveying to us the un-comprehensibility of said atrocities.

aybala50's picture

Child's Eye...Good or Bad

Submitted by aybala50 on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 10:33pm.

 I agree with Molly that "Persepolis" was a very enjoyable read, however I did find myself frustrated at times because of the simplicity in which very serious issues were framed. I had to continuously remind myself that the world was being viewed by a child and at best a young adult. When it comes to such serious problems, I find it hard to look at said problems in such a simplistic manner. As long as I kept reminding myself that Marji was a child through most of the story line I was still able to love the work. 

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