Persepolis--Reading Journal

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
By Marjane Satrapi

I find history fascinating, and I enjoyed reading this book for the historical perspective it provided. I found, though, that I needed a little more background information about the Islamic Revolution to follow the storyline more easily. Satrapi provides a brief history in her introduction to the book; however, I had to read, reread, and look back in the book several times to keep the characters and events straight in my mind. I think that a teacher would have to provide quite a bit of background knowledge and specific vocabulary (ex. “dialectic materialism”) to adolescent readers for them to understand and relate to Persepolis.

The artwork in the novel is very vivid and moving. Typically when I read something that is unpleasant to imagine, it is very easy to skim over words. However, the bold images of Satrapi’s artwork ensured that I (the reader) took in concrete images of the words I was reading—torture and other atrocities.

Although Persepolis is an historical novel, it is also a memoir—and that of a young girl. This is what, I believe, would make it attractive to adolescent readers. Marji faces fear and drastic changes in her dress, schooling, and freedoms. She questions some of her own family’s practices and her leaders’ actions. She rebels in her own way against some of the practices with which she disagrees. Persepolis depicts Marji trying to understand, process, and react to what is going on in her world. We see her reactions (sometimes rebellious reactions) to both the political changes she faces as well as the rules of her parents. We also watch as she suffers through many personal losses. Though not faced with a political revolution, many teens and ‘tweens must deal with similar questions and life changes. Satrapi offers a voice of reason, an urging to stand up for convictions, yet a philosophy of forgiveness for her readers through Marji as well as the characters that advise and influence her.