The Complete Persepolis: pp.3-298

Although a graphic novel may have a bad reputation among literary snobs, I find that this particular form of telling a story only makes it easier to understand and absorb information. To be completely honest, I really don’t think that I would be too interested in all of the historical references about Iran if The Complete Persepolis was not a graphic novel. Also, the reading goes so much faster, and I think that I actually retain more because things become more simplified. Also, providing a visual image along with text helps the reader keep track of characters and situations.

I think that the most interesting issue to consider when reading this graphic novel, or any biographical form of writing, is accuracy. I don’t think that I ever really considered the fact that a biography, especially an auto-biography, is relative to the author’s perspective and opinion about situations and issues discussed within the text. However, I think that Marjane confronts this issue by clearly writing with the perspective that she held at any particular age. For example, in the beginning, it is obvious that her memories may be over exaggerated or even imagined by her young self through her sometimes silly images, like when she is describing her growth spurt on page 189.