Translator
Persepolis
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is the first English-language volume of Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir about growing up in Tehran. Told in stark black-and-white panels, it follows Marji from age six to fourteen while the Shah's monarchy collapses, the Islamic Republic tightens its grip, and war with Iraq changes daily life. Because Satrapi grew up in a secular, politically engaged family, history arrives as kitchen-table argument, family loss and a child's shifting questions about God, class and justice. Comedy and grief share the same page, and the child's viewpoint keeps vast political events personal. For anyone collecting memoirs to read about revolution, repression and coming of age, it is a compact, approachable starting point.