The Complete Persepolis

Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author:  Marjane Satrapi

This is a great graphic memoir. Satrapi's story will move you, sometimes it will make you laugh and sometimes it will make you cry. But what i like mostly about this is that it shines a light on Iran and its people pre-Islamic revolution (which could have been any western society) and post (today's Iran)

You can get it in installments, but I think it's better to just get the Complete Persepolis because you wont want to put it down. Also "The Complete Persepolis's" cover has a better illustration than the installments (you will find the latter each in a primary color)


N.B Persepolis (whether complete or in installements) has been banned from all the countries of the middle-east except from Lebanon. 



Official Description

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming-both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up. Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom-Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.

My Rating:

5/5 Stars

Edition i own:

barcode: 9780375714832

publisher: Pantheon

3,096 Days

3,096 Days by Natascha Kampusch

I really liked this book. Natascha just inspires you. 

Nothing that happened to Natascha was fair - to say the least. Her childhood, her freedom, her parents, her friends, her chance of a normal life, basically everything was stolen from her one day as she was walking to school.

Still the girl from early on adapts an attitude that would save her, and the would keep her strong, mentally unbroken.

In 3096 days. Natascha tells her lifestory in a"matter-of-fact" tone. You never feel that the story she's telling is embellished and yet there are great philosophies steted modestly here and there. You will want to learn from this little girl as she forgives her captor while she is still kidnapped, while she is still wronged, and  She explains that is why she doesn't break.

What i didn't like:


There is at the end of each chapter a diagram-thing that you photograph by your phone and it decodes it, (after you have sms'ed Austria and they send you the application to save on your phone) Once you decode it, you go on a special website to see pics and videos about Natascha...but it's so not worth the effort. The pics of the room where Natascha was held, you can find them online. There are videos in German (i think) about:
- the reenactment of Natasha's escape, (they just show the ground as she runs away)
- about her mom and dad's statements to the press (all in german-i think - with no sub-titles)
- and other things i did not understand because again they were in German (i think).




Official Book Description:

The incredible of eight years of above and humiliation.. and the fighting spirit that allowed her to escape unbroken.
On 2 March 1998 ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was snatched off the street by a stranger and bundled into a white van. Hours later she found herself in a dark cellar, wrapped in a blanket. When she emerged eight years later, her childhood had gone.
In 3,096 Days Natascha tells her incredible story for the first time: her difficult childhood, what exactly happened on the day of her abduction, her imprisonment in a five-square-metre dungeon, and the mental and physical abuse she suffered from her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil.
3,096 Days is ultimately a story about the triumph of the human spirit. It describes how, in a situation of almost unbearable hopelessness, she slowly learned how to manipulate her captor. And how, against inconceivable odds, she managed to escape unbroken.

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Though it's a good interesting, there are places in the book where the "matter-of-fact" tone will bore you. You don't HAVE to have it in your library, you can get it as an e-book.

The Edition I own:
ISBN: 9780670919994
Publisher: Viking