Persepolis 2

Persepolis 2.  The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi wrote of her true experiences growing up in IRAN in the 1980's when she flees to Vienna to escape the rising Islamic Fundamentalism pervading her country in Persepolis 1.  If you haven't read the first Persepolis I highly recommend it.

In Persepolis 2, Marjane's chronicles her teenage years alone in a foreign country and her longing for love, familiarity and family.  This book is more edgy than the first as Marjane experiments with drugs, sex and becomes homeless for a time.  She eventually decides to return home to Iran but she feels like she doesn't belong anywhere and has a hard time fitting into Iran society as well.  Stuck between two worlds Marjane makes choices that may ruin her life.

This is a memoir written graphic novel style.  Marjane goes to college in Iran to become an artist and yet isn't allowed to draw the basic human form.  Stuck drawing fruit and women in hijabs, fully covered, she becomes frustrated.  Because Iran is a Islamic state, their religion is incorporated into the rules of society and women must be fully covered.  Men must have short hair and unmarried couples are not allowed out in the community together.  Women aren't allowed to run and if they do they can fear being arrested.  See excerpt from the book below:

Satrapi has great artistic skills which are evident throughout the book as you laugh and cry through the black and white storyline. It is timely as a lot of what Marjane went through in Iran is still happening today.  I highly suggest you pick these books up for quick, entertaining and informative reads about Iran and its Islamic culture.

With the recent revolutions in Islamic nations, I read recently that Iran has arrested college students and people who they fear will rise up in opposition to prevent a revolution.  The police are targeting men whose haircuts are decadent and western and women who veils are too short or loose.