Persepolis 2: The Story of A Return

From the first few panels I was immediately drawn back into Marjane’s world.

I had first been introduced to Persepolis in the movie form. The style caught my eye it was simplistic but the curves of the characters were used in such a way that each character was distinct but fit in the world. The curves essentially made the world more organic. A technique that was used that I noticed was the use of mainly upper body shots, and I found that the story became more personal, because I was on the same level as the character talking. This technique creates a great sense of immersion that kept me engaged in the story. The drawings are flat and I was able to relate to the character designs better because I tend to draw in a similar way. That’s when I noticed that the interiors were flat but were trying to give the illusion of space. I wondered about whether this was a stylistic approach to convey a sense of disorientation. The emotions were expressed with a sense of authenticity. The author is the character and this first hand experience brings a great depth to the character. To me she was an onion and I wanted to peel away her layers (mentally) but to my surprise she did it for me through very touching character interactions and the fact she ages throughout the novel, that gave me a great insight into who Marjane is how she thinks and why. Text was a really prevalent factor in the novel and I felt it could have been toned down, I just felt overwhelmed with mounds of text, but that relates back to my previous comment regarding the onion layers, if Marjane Satrapi had used more visuals and less text, would I have been able to get as much insight into the character as I did? The parts where Marjane was traveling seemed to be when her true character was revealed. This method was really interesting to see in action. Finally I thought the story had real depth because of the history backing it. The Iranian revolution and the various conflicts in the Mid East have rich history and vivid events that kept me really interested in the matters, and a curiosity to find out more about them. So to anyone who wants a first hand account of a major historical event or a good character development story Persepolis is a great read.