Art Spiegelman’s Maus created a lot of mixed feelings in me as when I read it.
Initially I was intrigued by a Holocaust story told with a different perspective. With the various races of people being portrayed as Mice (Jewish people) Germans as cats and the pigs as the Polish, I was interested to see how the characters interacted. A few panels in I realized that it was a human story. This choice of using characters specifically mice with no mouths to tell an emotional story is an unusual one.
I had a hard time reading the characters gestures so I had to rely on the dialogue in order to follow the story. I felt this aspect was the weakest part of Maus.
The strongest part of mouse was the theme of survival. I think because the story is based on a first hand account, there are certain details that create a hauntingly authentic atmosphere. This tone is prevalent throughout the entire story and while there are glimmers of hope they never shine through and bleak atmosphere. This makes it hard to read through and therefore hindered my experience while reading.
An aspect of the illustrations was that each panel seemed really cramped which when looking at the story as a whole fitting visual metaphor for the circumstances in which the Jewish people are put in when they reach the camps. An element I would have liked to have seen, would be to have a more expansive panel when the story shifts from the past to the present (captivity vs. freedom) this would provide a much needed element that would significantly enhance the visual aspect of the novel.
As I finished volume two of Maus I really didn’t walk away from it with much to think about…to me it was just another Holocaust story with a bit of an interesting visual layer, and even that doesn’t make it stand out significantly for me.
That’s not to say it wasn’t good, I just think there have been so many already and all tell the same
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