Satrapi todo lo que haga me encanta. Todo el mundo debería leer sus novelas gráficas. Está en concreto el final me ha dado un vuelco al estómago. La vida y sus dificultades, ay.

Una novela gráfica bastante corta, que comparte, al igual que Persepolis, la firma personal de la autora.
A mi parecer, encuentro que Persépolis es un libro superior a este. Pero aún así, reconozco que me ha gustado.
En este libro, la autora nos presenta los momentos de depresión del protagonista, un músico iraní cuya mujer ha roto su instrumento (un tar regalo de su antiguo maestro). Poco a poco, este va cayendo en un pozo sin fondo, hasta desear dejar de vivir, ya que no tiene consigo la única razón de su existencia.
No creo que la autora pretenda que el lector empatice con su protagonista, ya que el egoísmo del mismo, y su desinterés por su familia, hace que no simpatices con él en ningún momento. Más bien pienso que su intención es dar una lección de vida: luchar por lo se quiere, y no rendirse ante los impedimentos.

Quando o nosso prato favorito já não nos sabe bem será hora de partir?

Talvez Nasser tenha sido um pouco melodramático e radical na sua decisão, mas que foi bem sucedido, lá isso foi. Uma história, real, que dá que pensar.

'Chicken with Plums' is the story of Nasser Ali Khan, one of Iran's most cherished tar (traditional string instrument) players. One day his tar is broken and Nasser Ali tries to replace it alas no other tar is good enough. That leads him to fall into a deep depression and decide to kill himself. The book then shares Nasser Ali's final 8 days interspersed with snippets of his and his family's lives from both past and future. A beautiful graphic novel in the same art style as beloved The Complete Persepolis that encloses the tragedy of lost loves and broken hearts and the complication of relationships.

Marjane Satrapi is a genius and I really want to eat chicken with plums now.

Uma graphic novel pequena em tamanho, mas grande em significado.
Não posso deixar de a comparar com Persépolis, da mesma autora, e por isso não lhes posso dar a mesma classificação.

This is classic Satrapi. What a sad, depressing love story! This is the story of Marjane's great-uncle, a tar musician who fell in love but was rejected by his lover's father. He then took his mother's advice to marry sensibly, but to a girl he didn't love. His wife had loved him since she was 8, but not being loved in return and feeling like she had to do all the work in the family made her resentful and in anger she broke his beloved instrument. The final straw, however, was when the musician passed his former lover in the street and she didn't recognize him. The loss of his instrument and, more importantly, the loss of his muse broke his spirit and he retired to his bed until he died eight days later.

The illustrations are perfectly simple and expand the story, all in Satrapi's black and white style. The story is real and magical at the same time. All are at fault. No one is perfect, and all are forgivable. What a great story. It inspires me to write my own.

Marjane Satrapin "Luumukanaa" (Like, 2008) on kertoo Nasser Alista, iranilaisesta tar-soittimen taitajasta, joka instrumenttinsa myötä menettää myös elämänilonsa ja jää sänkyynsä odottamaan kuolemaa. Satrapi kuljettaa melankolista ihmissuhde- ja perhetarinaa taitavasti monessa eri aikatasossa, ripottaen mukaan hyppysellisen Iranin historiaa ja kulttuuria.

Crushed this book in a single sitting today (tho it's a graphic novel, so that's not at all difficult) and was just devastated by that ending. Ostensibly the story of a musician who gives up on life after he cannot find a suitable replacement for his broken instrument, it's a heart-rending tale of... well, I can't say much more without giving it away. But, as usual, Marjane Satrapi plumbs her personal history for an exquisitely moving tale, that in this case examines what gives our lives meaning, and the little slights that can turn into fatal wounds, and all the different ways we cling to this world. It was also refreshing to read a book so firmly and lovingly set in Iranian culture and history. Ms Satrapi is a genius and a treasure.

I prefer when she's telling stories of women, such as Embroideries and Persepolis. This is a story of an artist with a broken instrument and a broken heart. He realizes he can't fix neither of them, so he decides to die. In the final eight days of his life we get to know him and his story, the people, the connections, his loves and disappointments... Him flirting with depression at least once before.

Other than the incredibly unnecessary fatphobia presented in this book, I really enjoyed it. I loved the way the story was told, how it was circular and we got to see each day of Nasser Ali Khan's life from the time he gave up on living to the day he died. I really like Marjane Satrapi's art style, and I loved Persepolis.

Unfortunate that it was so fatphobic.

On the face of it, Chicken and Plums is simply a story about Nassir Ali Kahn, a revered musician, who is on a search for a new tar because his favorite one has been broken. His search leads him far, including humor and disappointment, for one that will sound as beautiful as his former, beloved one did. Sadly, other tars, no matter how expensive, fail to satisfy him and he therefore decides life is not worth living and lies down waiting to die.

We learn much more though, as after he makes the decision to die, the story follows the final eight days of his life until his funeral with flashes of his life, both past and future, and the people in it.

These flashes are filled with humor, sadness, family relations, regret, and lost love. Through his encounters and these flashes we find perhaps other reasons why he has decided his life is not worth living.

Is it really the loss of his tar that has cost him his will to go on? Or something else? I believe the answer is clearly shown in the beginning and ending of this poignant tale; but I will leave the reader to draw their own conclusions.

I will add to my thoughts a few quotes by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, one of Marjane Satrapi's favorite authors, that I believe sum up my feelings on why Nassir Ali Kahn has lost his desire to live:

"What is Hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love."

And

"With love, one can live without happiness."

I personally believe, that this tale causes one to wonder: can one live with all the "happiness" that life can provide, but without the love one's soul desires?

Finally, one more by Dostoyevsky:

"For the secret of man's being is not only to live, but to have
something to live for."

Whereas Marjane Satrapi's most main-stream work, "Persepolis" is a graphic novel, "Chicken with Plums" is more of a graphic short story. The limited page count belies the power of the story, and indeed forces a precision upon the bittersweet musician's tale that brings the point home all the more effectively.

The story ostensibly covers eight days in the life of Satrapi's great-uncle and renowned tar player, Nassar Ali, but the use of flashbacks provide insights into the family and personal histories which ultimately give weight to the story's sad climax. As each day goes by, Satrapi peels back the layers of the relationships with Ali's seemingly bitter wife (who ends up far more sympathetic than you would have suspected), his goofus of a son (whose heart is bigger than you would have suspected), and even with a stranger on the street. Even Ali's seemingly selfish obsession with his music is transformed into something haunting and beautiful when that part of the story is revealed.

This series of emotional turns is what marks Satrapi as a really great writer. The fact that she is also a great illustrator is almost a bonus. Her style is loose, used to humorous effect at times, but always sturdy enough to bring to life stern and somber characters like Ali and his wife.

Though based on the life of her actual great-uncle, one would assume some poetic license was taken to enhance the story's literary elements. Satrapi's ability to take her uncle's life and to fold it, origami-like, into such a moving tale marks her as a great story-teller, and elevates "Chicken with Plums" to a remarkable level of quality.