Вдруге перечитала цю історію, і зараз напевно навіть під ще сильнішим враженням, аніж після першого прочиту. Дуже сильна та щемлива книга. Талант Маржан вже вкотре підкорює, бо отак лаконічно та магічно описувати здавалося б не дуже динамічні біографічні історії - це треба вміти.

Upozornenie. Nasledujúci text môže obsahovať stopy lepku a spoilery

Násirovi sa stane to, čo sa občas stane každému. Deň blbec, v práci sa nedarí, tooly nástroje nefungujú, decká vám skáču po hlave a keby toho nebolo dosť, na ulici stretnete bývalú, proste koniec, poviete si, já teď jdu zdechnout do houští a teda idete a zisťujete, že takto po zime je všetko vybookované a do toho vám cez pol obrazovky vyskočí kontextová reklama na Řbitov zvíratek a zrazu si uvedomíte, že ste si tento mesiac neprezieravo predplatili električenku a boh vie, že vy nie ste držgroš, ale snáď to tým ozembuchom nenecháte a keď si ešte spomeniete, že na zajtra máte v robote orazené lekvárové buchty, je rozhodnuté. Zomrieť môžete hocikedy. Nie je nutné aby ste tak činili dva dni pred začiatkom majstrojstvstiev sveta v hokeji /plážového volejbalu žien/ hode valaškou, každý už čo má, (neviem ako vy, ale ja sa rozhodne nechystám umrieť pred tým, ako si prečítam nového Liou Cch-sina, ktorý má ževraj vyjsť v novembri!!!!!) No ale späť k téme, Násir zostávajúc verný svojmu menu sa nasirie a jde a zdechne. End of story.


Ja som skúsený vhúštízdechínista a vhúštizdechínizmu (v odbornej literatúre uvádzané i ako vhouštízdechínista a vhouštízdechínanie) sa venujem od malička takže nechápem, prečo ma toto nechalo emocionálne chladnou, možno keď sa k tomu vrátim v inom mentálnom rozpoložení, tak sem prídem, oči červené,v ruke pollitrové vedro so zmrzlinou, v sluchátkach Mariah Carey kvíliaca svoje I cant live, nabúcham tomu 5 hviezdičiek a odplazím sa späť do houští, zostanú po mne len tri citoslovcia štyri výkričníky capslock a šmuha od čokolády

I am far too old for this!!!

Marjane Satrapi’s Grate Uncle, Nasser Ali Kahn was a famous Iranian Tar player. His death in the 1950’s is the basis for Chicken with Plums. To some degree this graphic novel is a parable. A true parable should have universal appeal and identity. However, this story is particular to this man and does not depend on each of us seeing ourselves in the musician.

His art was tied to his ability to speak his heart through his particular instrument and to his lost first love. She was denied to him because of his being a mumian. When that Tar (A long necked Persian Lute looking somewhat like a very long neck guitar.) is broken and no replacement is found to be satisfying, he chooses to let life leave him. His conclusion is that it is not enough to be alive.

In the 8 days it takes for death to take him, Nasser Ali Khan relives enough of his past for us to achieve some understanding of who he was. We are also shown that in part due to his music he wife, a woman chosen for him, loves him and feels that her love is not returned. His brother and friends rally to him in an effort to take him from his fatal decision, but we already know the efforts are futie.

There is always supposed to be a point to a parable. Exactly what it is, is not clear. The tar is at once his only connection to the only love he has admitted to his heart. And yet his life has offered him others. Is there a message?
His art ties him to his culture. About this there are waves in politics, but has his culture been eroded, modernized or ?

The drawings are classic Marjane Satrapi. She can be simple, stark, florid and almost psychedelic. This is an emotional tale, and the art can convey that these are the emotions from the heart. Feelings of lost love and feeling of love for one’s children, as well as the feelings that neither children, nor family requite or understand his love.

Short as Chicken with Plums is, it could not be made better by being longer.

Traditional Iranian women are so toxic

Chicken with plums, candies and gums, clapping and drums, laughter and jumps.

This is how the title makes you feel but believe me its far from it. Marjane Satrapi and her beautiful picture books can make even the most grim subjects a bag of laughter. She brings in the amazing human ability to laugh and live life even in the most hopeless situations.

This book is the testimony to it - as Marjane narrates 8 days before death of Naseer Ali Khan, his broken tar and heart. He lay there waiting for death to come, giving up music, food and any hope to live, what can make the story any exciting at this point of time. Well the family visits, their stories, their memories and showing the futures unknown to them but past by now. His children play around him unknown to his state, his wife torn b/w love and responsibility cooks his favorite dish - Chicken with Plums, his brother opposite to him in all ways reconciling in the end, his last rondevous with the love of his life - Irene. Each incident is beautifully treated with fine strokes of warmth and irony, that you feel the inevitable sad ending but accept it as part of life.

So this book is more like..

Chicken with plums, life has its bumps, smile only trumps, happiness in the crumbs.

To read more Book reviews and about Books, do visit my blog: Storywala

n  "To the common man, whether you're a musician or a clown, its one and the same."n

Marjane Satrapi's account of the life and death of her uncle, the celebrated musician Nassar Ali Khan, portrays a very strange portrait of depression and melancholia.



The tale is one of a man in search of meaning in life drowning in melancholy. Nassar Ali Khan's story is slowly related over a week as he has given up on his life. One by one, loved ones and their memories come back to him, some telling him to "come back to life". Unfortunately, as we see, Nassar has deep-rooted issues that start from a very young age: a mother who let him go before he did, a lost lover, a broken instrument, an unhappy marriage.



Whether or not our central character made the right call isn't for the reader to decide, for our thoughts wouldn't change the inevitable. Yet, the illustrations and writings do speak of a very distinct hollow felt inside every depressed person. Some try to give it meaning: fill it with music, some with books, some with love or religion. I believe that we all feel a bit akin to Nassar Ali Khan in some way. Maybe we can find stronger will and purpose.
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n  n    The book was adapted into a 2011 film directed by Satrapi herself.n  n  
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Another brilliant, graphic novel from Satrapi. This one is not long at all - in fact, I read the whole thing in less than an hour's time.

Chicken With Plums is a story about Satrapi's great-uncle, Nasser Ali Khan. Nasser Ali Khan is a musician who decides to die after his beloved tar is broken by his wife. His marriage is pretty much a disaster, and as the novel progresses, we find out exactly why this is so - and it just so happens to be the same reason for why Nasser Ali Khan is so very upset over his tar being broken: He had been in love once, not with his wife, and his heart was broken...broken to the point of using his tar as a vehicle to release some of his pain and hurt through music.

Over the course of eight days, the book takes us to the past and to the future, and in each trip, we as readers gain a little more insight into the grander scheme of life and death. Satrapi handles such heady topics with great finesse, and she does sprinkle her trademark, graphic humor around a bit - not too much, not too little, but just enough to keep the novel from being so heady that it becomes depressing.

My favorite quote:

"...Life is the same. We give meaning to life based on our point of view. Only wisdom, like the light of the candle, can bring us a complete view of existence."

Chicken with Plums tells the heartrending story of a celebrated Iranian musician who gives up his life for music and love.

When Nasser Ali Khan, Marjane Satrapi’s great-uncle, discovers that his beloved instrument is irreparably damaged, he takes to his bed, renouncing the world and all its pleasures.
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Over the course of the week that follows, we are treated to vivid scenes of his encounters with family and friends, flashbacks to his childhood, and flash-forwards to his children’s future. And as the pieces of his story fall into place, we begin to understand the breadth of his decision to let go of life.

And it’s then that we get to see a surprising cameo from Marjane herself with her beloved mother in 1998:

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I'm still not over those two astonishing women.

Also, there were a lot of parts that really hit home for me:

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This one made me erupte into a truly impolite laugh. When will farting jokes stop being funny to me...?

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And this next part with Azrael, the Angel of Death, was astounding:
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I was really starting to get attached to Nasser Ali and his intricate life.... but then it ended so abruptly. And I was left with my jaw on the floor.

It seems like I'll never get enough of Marjane Satrapi's writing, which I'm more than okay with. I'm already looking forward to reading The Sigh.

*Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying Chicken with Plums, just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!*
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Frango com ameixas é uma iguaria para o protagonista deste livro e este pequeno livro é uma verdadeira iguaria para os leitores.

Marjane Satrapi conta aqui um pouco da história do seu tio-avô,  Nasser Ali Khan, músico e virtuoso tocador de tar. O tar é um instrumento musical de cordas, tocado no Irão, Azerbaijão, Georgia, Arménia e outros territórios próximos do Cáucaso.

Uma história sobre o amor à música mas também sobre relações familiares, tradições e religião, e sobre viver (ou morrer) com mágoas ou arrependimentos do passado. Em poucas páginas este livro fala sobre tantas coisas. Marjane Satrapi consegue contar esta história triste de uma forma sensível e com algum humor.

As ilustrações são simples, a preto e branco, mas não é preciso cor ou sofisticação para que, ainda assim, transmitam muito bem as emoções e sentimentos das personagens. Eu assumo que gosto deste tipo de BD, a preto e branco.

Esta novela gráfica foi vencedora do prémio de Melhor Álbum de Angoulême em 2005 e adaptada ao cinema, num filme, realizado pela própria autora, que foi nomeado para um Leão de Ouro no Festival de Veneza.

"Chicken with Plums" is based on the true story of Satrapi's great-uncle, Nasser Ali, a famous Iranian musician, whose Tar is destroyed by his wife. After deciding that he has nothing else to live for he takes to his bed and waits to die. Eight days later he dies. In between Nasser's wife, brother, sister, and children all try to convince him to stay in the living world as he dreams of what the future might be.

"Chickens with Plums" has the same great artwork of Persepolis that places the focus on the characters faces instead of the background, but the story is ultimately lacking. Satrapi appears to be trying to show us some of the universal themes of live, love, and everything in between and uses her great-uncle's story as a way to demonstrate that. But the story instead portrays her uncle as a shallow, vain man and its difficult to sympathize or relate to him in any way.

I think I understand what Satrapi's is trying to say with this book, but it just doesn't work. In the meantime I'll treasure Persepolis and I'll wait for another book that shows off Satrapi's brilliance.

Nasser Ali, um brilhante e respeitado músico tem seu intrumento, o tar, quebrado por sua esposa durante uma briga do casal. Após tentar encontrar um novo instrumento que o satisfaça, o músico desiste e decide morrer.
Esta é uma narrativa brilhante em termos técnicos. Os avanços e retornos na linha do tempo são muito bem domindados por Satrapi, que nunca deixa o leitor se perder ou ficar entediado em sua história.
Em nível emocionais, esta é uma história triste sobre uma grande frustração de seu protagonista, suas escolhas de vida e as infelicidades da vida que o acometeram em virtude dessas escolhas. Ele não é um homem perfeito, a HQ deixa bem claro que suas limitações são, muitas vezes, doloridas e traumáticas para as pessoas que os cercam. Por outro lado, ele agoniza em uma vida que jamais quis para si, e caminha para seu final sem nenhum glamour, mas com todas as frutrações e emoções suprimidas à flor da pele.
Agora que, decididamente, Nasser Ali caminha para o seu fim, se vê obrigado a encarar todas as memórias doloridas que carregou em sua vida. O resultado é uma HQ tocante sobre como a felicidade não é um bem disponível a todos.