Wow! That was my exact reaction after reading Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. It was a whole roller-coaster ride of emotions throughout the whole comic. To begin, I would have to state that at first, I was not over the top to read this comic. It did not look interesting to me. Although the front cover of the book did quite look interesting to say the least. The cover art showed a picture of the protagonist. It also gave me a sense of a serious tone for the mood of the comic for my first expression. I took in that phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover.” And so, my adventure to read it began.
After reading the introduction, it gave me as sense of the book being from another country, and culture. The author even stated how “a nation should not be judged, and so writing Persepolis was very important, it was also so that Iranians would not be forgotten. That was a very powerful statement that even sparked me to further continue to read.
Foreign to me means something unknown, and something that is new to me. What feels foreign to me is anything that I don’t have a quite idea of, or at least know more of. What makes me feel familiar is anything that makes me think more of my culture. Being born in the U.S with Mexican roots from my parents has made me have a sense of home when I read more of my culture and heritage. Other than hearing from foreign countries on the news or social media, I do not know much from actual experience of traveling and discovering foreign countries. Reading Persepolis helped me discover and learn a new culture. I think that it will be helpful for future readers to read Persepolis, to also learn a new culture.
Literally everything from this comic was new to me. From the story, to the graphics, I was new to it all. Just like Maus by Art Spiegelman, to now Persepolis, both comics use different backgrounds and art forms. Persepolis is more of a serious tone. For example, the blackened background on the panels throughout the novel also made me see that it was there for a reason. That reason being so that the readers would be focused on the text itself, and to also give a serious tone overall.
Understanding first the art pictures to the foreign stories help it go together. It makes the text of the stories to better let the readers understand and visually see the importance/signification of the whole text.
Persepolis delivers an insight of Iran life, politics, the Islamic revolution, and the authors life growing up. It is worth reading. You can discover a new culture, a new world in contrast from your own.
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