Two Satrapis and a Collection

After reading and adoring Persepolis, I wanted to get anything I could find by Marjane Satrapi. I loved everything from her style of art, to the way she tells her stories, to the actual stories themselves. I enjoy her perspective, which I see as realistic with a sense of humor, and her portrayal of friends and relatives. Chicken With Plums is the story of Nasir Ali Khan, her great uncle and fantastic musician, whose life is challenged by a serious turn of events. (I hope no one minds a vague description; I really dislike giving away too much plot in these reviews since they're really just for my own purposes of noting opinion and being able to go back and remember what books I've read!) His story has moments of heartbreak, happiness, humor, and sadness, as anyone's real life tale usually does. But to watching it unfold as told by Satrapi becomes an almost magical experience, because things are pieced together bit by bit until you finally come to understand the point at which Nasir Ali Khan has reached in his most current stage of life. Despite the overarching tone of sadness, it's beautifully done all around.

OVERALL RATING: 5

In American culture, one rarely gets a glimpse into the private lives of Iranian women. Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi is graphic and hilarious, sad and beautiful. "Controversial" as noted in a review on the back cover is probably another good word for it. I was happy to see Marjane's grandmother, who is both a know-it-all and comforting. The story is basically a collection of stories told by various women in Marjane's life. As they come together for a tea, each begins to reveal a look into her private love life. I really can't give away more than that without revealing too much of one story; they're best read all together. At times Embroideries can be uncomfortable, but it's nothing short of interesting for sure. It will leave you thinking "Wow..." no matter who you are!

OVERALL RATING: 4.5

Best American Comics 2009 of The Best American Series is edited by Charles Burns, Jessica Abel, and Matt Madden. This is the fourth book in the series of Bests. It gathers, obviously, the best of comics from various sources and compiles them into one book. I was happy to stumble across this at a used book store, and even more happy that it introduced me to a plethora of comic artists I hadn't yet heard of and reminded me of some I had. If you're just getting into graphic novels and you're not sure what you would like, this book would be a great way to find your answers. It has a variety of art and story-- plenty to choose from. There were certainly some I didn't like but I mostly enjoyed peeking into all of them at some point or another. And one of the nice features is that it's a collection of clips from different artists, so it invites flipping around instead of reading entirely linearly. I definitely have a new list of things to check out thanks to this. So get it, read it, love it! It's great.

OVERALL RATING: 5