I made the mistake of reading some other reviews that claim that Marjane's depiction of alienation, drug use, and homeless in Austria was largely her own fault, which somehow makes this second part of Satrapi's memoir less enjoyable, which is a ridiculous assertion. From a war torn country, a young (though independent) Marjane struggles to navigate an entirely new culture without the benefit of a personal ambassador or the ability to go home to regroup before attempting again to find herself in a new country that treated her coldly. When she finally must admit failure, she returns home to find that she no longer quite fits there, either. Her story is told in a way that I really related to, despite the fact that I did not grow up in a war torn country or attempt an education overseas or return to find my home country ruled by fear of torture, death and enforced ignorance. I still wanted to hang out with Marjane and drink and smoke cigarettes and talk about fundamentalism, feminism and Marxism. (And the cold nature of Nordic peoples.)

I have been loving my library access and there are so many more graphic novels to come. Love this book.

I borrowed both parts one and two of Persepolis from my friend Margaret. I flew through them both in one afternoon.

They are a stunningly beautiful story of a girl growing up. People talk about the politics, the history and all of that... Yeah, that stuff is there, but ultimately its a story about a child trying to find who she is. The circumstances surrounding her are extraordinary, but that's only part of what makes it a good story.

To me its greatness comes from how she tells her story, and how drawn into it you become. I was telling a friend about it the other day, and while her art is really cool, and fairly unique (at least in the graphic-novel world), it doesn't ever make you delay turning the page so you can linger on the art. It is all about telling the story in a compelling way, and it really does that.

Its beautiful, heartbreaking, and I loved it.

I understand why people generally seem to not connect with Persepolis 2 in the same way that they connected with Persepolis 1. There seems to be an element that is much more present in Part 2 that wasn't as prominent in Part 1: Marjane.

Part 1 was her story, yes, but it was shaped and defined by the stories of her parents, uncle, country, and the revolution. Part 2 begins with all of that behind her, and her character begins to fill up the space left behind. This is the story of her becoming. And when we see her return, she comes back with an identity as an adult that is uniquely her own.

I teach Persepolis Part 1 to my eighth graders, and although I could never require them to read Part 2 (because...well, *adult themes*), I hope that they will one day. Her memoir is not the story of the revolution: it is her story. Whereas Part 1 simply ends, Part 2 concludes.

This 2nd volume of Setrapi’s autobiography is a bit more personal. It covers her failure to adjust to life in Austria and her return to Iran, her struggle to readjust, her short marriage and it finishes with her decision to return to Europe, this time to France where she will remain.

Πολύ καλό, στο ίδιο στυλ με το πρώτο μέρος, το οποίο όμως ομολογώ ότι με σόκαρε λίγο περισσότερο... ίσως τώρα είχα απλά συνηθίσει στην καταπίεση (!!!).
Το παρόν βιβλίο περιγράφει τα εφηβικά και νεανικά χρόνια της συγγραφέα (όπου για το Λύκειο βρισκόταν στην Αυστρία) και είναι ενδιαφέροντες οι τρόποι με τους οποίους προσπαθούσαν να επιβιώσουν στον παραλογισμό του κράτους οι άνθρωποι.

Για όποιον διάβασε το πρώτο μέρος, επιβάλλεται να διαβάσει και αυτό!

This is the continuing story of Marjane when her parents send her away to Austria where she has to live in a bunch of different places and doesn't understand a lot of what's going on. It's still a really sad story.

I watched this dvd and my friends link will show some of the gifs from the movie. It's a sad book and movie.

Anne's Review

ভালো-লাগা শুরু সেই ১ম পর্ব থেকেই, ২য় পর্বে তা আরও শাণিত। ২য় পর্বও একই রকম মজার আর বুদ্ধিদীপ্ত। আর উপলব্ধিগুলো ১ম পর্বের চেয়েও আরও গভীর, আরও পরিণত।

There are spoilers ahead for Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. As a teenager, Marjane Satrapi has fled Iran to live in Vienna, but she struggles to grow up so far from her family and friends. She finds solace among fellow outsiders and rebels and faces heartbreak, homelessness, and depression. After graduation, she returns to Iran feeling as though she’s failed to make a life for herself in Austria. Though comforted to be among family again, she feels like more of an outsider than ever, her years away from Iran having created a distance between herself and her former life. With humor, empathy, and observation, Satrapi chronicles her life from adolescence through her first marriage. Trigger warnings: death, war, homelessness, illness, oppression, sexism, mental illness, depression.

I’m having the same problem reviewing this that I had with the first book: there’s really nothing I can say about Persepolis that hasn’t already been said. It’s well-loved, widely read, and deserving of its praise. If the first half of the collection focused intensely on Satrapi’s childhood and the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the second half is more a coming of age story and the struggles of being far from home. Her homesickness for her country and her family is palpable, and it serves both to make her an extremely sympathetic character and to create much of the conflict for the first half of the book.

Like most memoirs, it doesn’t go in expected directions or contain a lot of closure, as real life usually doesn’t. The second half of the book focuses on Satrapi’s return to Iran and her struggles with depression and feelings of failure. It expertly captures her unique situation of being an outsider: Having been raised in conservative Iran, she doesn’t fit in in Austria, but having spent so many of her formative years elsewhere, she longer fits in at home either. This second installment is less political and more personal, but no less moving or immersive in a culture that’s not often depicted in American media.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

Wow like I said in my review of the first book of this set. I had seen the movie way way back and wanted to read this since then and now I can safely remove it from the list of my unread books hopefully I shall be able to reduce my TBR pile a little bit before this year is through. This book tells us Marjane's story of her life in Vienna and her ultimate return to Tehran, Iran and how she copes up with all this. This was an honest and heartbreaking memoir and to boot the illustrations are killer.

This was wonderful, having read the memoir I can only say that there are a lot of similarities in Iranian thought and Indian society. Not answering elders disrespectfully, Family values, etc. Though rightly so Iran was far more westernized before the revolution.

This gave us a sneak peek behind the memories of a graphic artist who lived through the war and sometimes saw the war for the smokescreen it is and sometimes not. Sometimes she was the rebel other times she struggled.

But like all the great heroes it's also a story where our protagonist was able to grow beyond the norms and can afford to live the way she wanted to, granted it was possible only because of her family which was pretty liberal and had money too. But then again if her family was poor then her thoughts and life would have been completely different.

Yes everyone lives their own lives and despite wishing it no one has gone ahead and lives someone else's life. So yeah now I shall go ahead and try to watch the movie again to see the similarities with the book which would be plenty considering the movie adopted the graphic style of the book itself. Yeah do pick it either in this two-parter set or the single issue one but do give it chance if somehow you missed it so far.

Well.....I truly loved the first Persepolis, where the childhood story is told. I find the older (less wiser?) Satrapi far less sympathetic or engaging. Often, the character is downright abrasive and huge gaps are left in the story, with, once again, an ending that does not provide complete closure (not that it's a necessity to tie up loose ends... but it seemed like this book could warrant it more). Despite the paling against Persepolis 1, (less text, more action in that book, at least), this continuation was still interesting and I felt compelled to explore her life as she tries to survive Europe and visits to Iran. (I;d write more, but I"m exhausted right now... how sad!).

I'm glad I have the 1 & 2 of this book as two separate books, since now they are selling them bound together. The first one I may keep indefinitely. The second I would consider selling or loaning out for awhile.

made me cry at the end, why would Marjane do that to me :'(

great sequel, things are very different from the first since she's more grown up now, but it tackles the tough part of grappling with identity, going home after a struggle etc.

i loved both, thank you banned book club