Ai että, mikä herkku! Satrapi on kerännyt iranilaisten naisten tarinoita ja kuvittanut ne ilmeikkäästi sarjakuvateokseensa Pistoja. Kapinallisia, surullisia, kekseliäitä ja ironisia tarinoita lukiessa on tietysti mielessä Iranin naisten tämänhetkinen tilanne ja heidän vapaustaistelunsa.

Naisilla on konstinsa ja hiljainen tietonsa. Makuuhuoneeseen sijoittuvia tarinoita puhutaan vain naisten kesken. Käytännön ohjeet ja neuvot tulevat suureen tarpeeseen, koska tietoa ei löydy oppikirjoista eikä julkisuudesta. Satrapin huumori on mustaa, kuten kuvatkin, mutta pakko on nauraa naisten kanssa.

Uma leitura divertida. São várias mulheres com uma conversa bem ''café da tarde'', falando de histórias que aconteceram com elas ou com amigas próximas, focando na vida amorosa/sexual de mulheres no Irã. Pode parecer um assunto meio pesado mas foi tratado com muita leveza na hq. Segunda hq da marjana satrapi que leio (a primeira foi persepolis) e sempre me dá uma sensação de MEU DEUS a gente realmente nao sabe nada do que rola lá no oriente medio msm!!

Hablar a espaldas de los otros sirve para airear el corazón...

I didn't expect this.The story was completely aimless, offensive and Try to show body and gender shaming. Don't ever try to read this never.

Yes to women gossip and yes to Iranian women having their voices heard.

n  n   

"To speak behind other's backs is the ventilator of the heart."

n  n

Το όλο comics/graphic novel συνοψίζεται σε αυτή τη φράση. Τα κουτσομπολιά και οι πικάντικες συζητήσεις που κάνουν οι γυναίκες με το χιούμορ και την -ας την πούμε- ωμότητα του Περσέπολις!

Entretenida pero para leerla sin muchas expectativas. En esta ocasión, la autora, Marji, nos relata en forma de cómic las conversaciones que ella y otras mujeres de su círculo mantenían en torno a los hombres, el sexo y la vida matrimonial.

En comparación con la anterior obra que he leí de esta misma escritora, me ha parecido que peca todavía más que la otra de esa tendencia a centrar las anécdotas y sucesos en familias de clase alta iraní. Es decir, no son conversaciones que identificaríamos con mujeres comunes de países musulmanes.

Los personajes son divertidos y las historias te hacen pasar un rato agradable. La recomiendo, pero no es para nada un cómic que destaque especialmente.


NOTA: 6.5/10

Creo que Satrapi no necesita presentación. 'Persépolis' es una de las lecturas tops para iniciarse a los cómics, para regalar y recomendar. Junto a 'Maus', es una apuesta segura y un imprescindible en cualquier biblioteca.

'Bordados' cuenta una historia menor y más breve. Nos presenta a un grupo de mujeres que se reúnen para el samovar, y cómo pasan la tarde entre confesiones sinceras y atrevidas que escandalizarían a los hombres. Las mujeres desvelarán intimidades y secretos gracias a los cuales seremos testigos de la lucha de la mujer iraní por su independencia. 

Me ha encantado. Las conversaciones entre estas mujeres son dos divertidas, emotivas y a veces hasta disparatadas teniendo en cuenta la seriedad de los hechos que nos están contando. No hay que olvidar que son mujeres iraníes que no han tenido una vida sencilla. Y que 'Bordado' no solo es un adorno sino que también significa la reconstrucción quirúrgica del himen. 

Me había olvidado de lo bien que se le da a Satrapi meterte en la vida de estas mujeres a través de diálogos y pensamientos íntimos que desbordan vida, que son como un grito de libertad.

Muy recomendado.

awal na bingung dengan judul na. bordir. kirain diskusi selama kisah ini berlangsung ketika acara membordir bersama, atau mungkin kegiatan membordir (yang notabene kebanyakan dikerjakan oleh perempuan) membuat para perempuan ini saling bercerita, ngobrol dengan peserta lain. ternyata... jauh banget hubungan na.

kegiatan ini dilakukan bukan saat membaut bordir tapi saat minum teh. dan bordir di sini menggunakan media yang berbeda. tidak hanya sekedar obrolan, tapi kalau dicermati lebih lagi...

1. perempuan hobi banget ngomongin orang
2. perempuan susah menjaga rahasia karena susah banget menjaga mulut
3. perempuan hobi banget menjaga penampilan na untuk memuaskan pria

untuk point ketiga, mungkin inilah kritikan yang ingin diangkat oleh penulis. saat keperawanan sudah bukan hal penting lagi dipertahankan. namun sebagian pendapat adat masih memegang na. sehingga memasuki gerbang pernikahan, hal ini yang kadang menjadi sorotan dan kekhawatiran mereka yang sudah tidak perawan. setelah masuk ke pernikahan, lagi-lagi perempuan yang harus kembali cemas. sebelum na khawatir masalah keperawanan, sekarang khawatir suami na selingkuh dengan wanita lain. mengapa suami selingkuh? karena alasan fisik yang tak lagi fit dari istri na. apakah sebagai perempuan mereka harus merasa rendah diri seperti itu? jika mereka aja memandang rendah diri mereka, bagaimana orang lain bisa menghargai mereka?

perempuan yang mencari penghormatan akan harga diri mereka dinilai sekedar dari ukuran fisik semata rela melakukan apapun demi tubuh indah na. ah, perempuan.. kenapa kalian masih saja mau menerima pandangan umum itu? bahwa kalian adalah makhluk yang leman??

A nice little companion piece to Marjane Satrapi's wonderful memoir Persepolis.

An anthology of sorts, it's a short collection of stories from middle-aged Iranian women discussing their marriages and sex lives. Even from conservative and religious backgrounds, the discussions are very frank.

There are some disturbing parts about what life was like in another time (the ages thing), but it's definitely criticized albeit in a whimsical way.

The book is a very funny way to tell these stories, with relatively simple art underlaying much depth. Recommended

O desenho e as histórias continuam bons, embora mais distante de Persépolis.
É uma autora/ desenhadora que deve ser conhecida.

The embroideries of the book’s title refer to the surgical restoration of one’s vagina to a state similar to that of a virgin. Whether this includes hymen reconstruction or merely the tightening of an age-and-use-worn genitalia, Satrapi’s book never makes clear. In the end, it doesn’t really matter, probably. What is equally unclear is the reason for naming her extended anecdote in this way. Really, I just don’t know.



Embroideries covers the ground of a single afternoon’s conversation between ten women over tea. While the men of the household nap (after leaving the women to clean up the meal’s remains), the women banter and gossip, releasing the tensions of days and weeks and lifetimes as they speak. Catharsis through ribald storytelling. The topic never veers even once from stories of sex and the veiled sexuality of the last several decades in Iran. These are women of Tehran, several generations, and the lives they’ve led are each unique in their own ways. These women have struggled under a society that in some ways doesn’t value women as we do in the West—that is, as individuals with rights and hopes and dreams and desires. Their histories and choices have been hard and sometimes deeply unkind, yet as they unburden themselves, their souls find laughter.



The work is rather inconsequential so far as plot and character are concerned. Satrapi seems content to leave this as a series of Polaroid moments, an anthology of brief visits into the lives of women whose sexual history is sometimes dumbfounding, sometimes tragic, and almost always humourous if one is willing to find the humour in the horrors of a repressed culture’s sexual hang-ups.

For instance, what about the elderly woman who though long-married and the mother of four has never seen a penis? Or the girl who feared her new husband would discover she wasn’t any longer a virgin so she took a razor to their honeymoon bed and had it all go wrong? Or the girl who married an old man when she was thirteen years old? All the conversations are fairly explicit and that’s really a breath of fresh air when one considers the world these women inhabit.



Despite being a rather inconsequential book in all the ways we commonly judge these things, there’s still something rather valuable in the telling of these stories. Readers, especially Western readers, are given window into a world beyond their experience, into stories that aren’t the mere fabric of imaginations but are the foundation of real lives. These women are not just the butts of Embroideries' jokes, they are its lifeblood. It’s only because they are real that any of this book matters. That these stories are veritas is what grants them their gravitas.



And yet, the title still remains to me a mystery. Are these women’s sexual natures revitalized by the surgery of words? Not really. I suppose one could stretch things a bit and say that their circle is stitched tighter by the histories and embarrassments they share, but that’s still a bit unsatisfying. Or maybe the tight bond formed through their catharsis renders them refreshed and immune to the intrusion of men? Grasping here. Or perhaps there was something lost in the translation (from French to English) and I’ll just have to leave it to the realm of mystery.

[review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]