Persepolis

After finishing Harmony of Dissonance, I was certain that I could jump into another lengthy book and finish it off before the month ended. Unfortunately, while the book I chose was good, I got about 20 pages in before realizing what a dense read it was, and that now was just not the time for it. Instead I opted for something a little lighter- memoirs of a girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran! Okay so subject matter-wise, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis would seem to be a tough book to get through, but get this- it's a graphic novel. That's right, Sweeney's jumping on the graphic novel train, all aboard for Easy-Readingsville. The book was finished off in a night. And I liked it. It was originally released in four parts, then combined into just two- the first detailing Satrapi's childhood and what Iran was like during a war with Iraq; the second tells of her life and education in Austria. While part one had much more historical significance, I found part two to be much more engaging- instead of Marjane as a little girl with a lot to learn, we see a much more interesting character who loves, loses, deals drugs, becomes homeless, rebels against basically everything, and eventually grows up into a mature woman. The art style is simple but effective, and was carried over to the film adaptation released a few years back. So yeah, despite being about a subject I didn't have much interest in, and at times later in the book bordering on chick-lit, I still found Persepolis to be a great read and highly recommend it.