08.Dec.2008 Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi
I had Coraline and Persepolis 2 on my hands, and I reckon I’d have time to read only 1 before I leave Singapore. So I chose Persepolis 2, because it seemed to be shorter, and is also part of a series. I really love the first one.
In the second Persepolis, it tells the story when Marjane went to live in Austria when she was 14 to run away from the war in Iran. So a good half of the book is set in Austria. How she struggled to live alone away from her family in such a young age, how she tried to fit in as an immigrant, how she felt that she’s lost her identity as an Iranian, and how she struggled through love.
Satrapi decided to return to Iran when she was 18. So the second half of the book is about the story of a return. How still oppressed was Iran, how she struggled to fit back and re-found her identity. Social and politic issues at various places were discussed throughout the book.
I can definitely relate Marjane’s story with my own. I too was sent away out of the country when there was an internal war (although not with guns and tanks, but more with fire and stones). I too had struggled to live alone at other people’s country. But I was 17. And I never returned.
Different with the first book, the tone is more serious, considering that it deals with a lot of depression problems and struggles to become an adult. The book loses little Marjane’s innocence and hope as a child, as the adult Marjane does. But who doesn’t, having to go through all that?
I love the book, though not as much as the first one.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
