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The Memphis Reads Committee has selected The Compelete Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, as the book for the 2009-2010 academic year. This book will
be required in all ACAD courses and involve the freshman class, some current students
and many University faculty and staff.
This year’s book was chosen with the assistance of a group of students, who reviewed
a set of seven books, and then provided their own insights. The book chosen this
year was one of their favorites.
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Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions
between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact
on the individual spirit. Marjane's child's-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned
whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history
of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal,
profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a stunning reminder of the human cost of war
and political repression. It shows how we carry on, through laughter and tears, in
the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl
with whom we cannot help but fall in love.
You've never seen anything like Persepolis--the intimacy of a memoir, the irresistibility of a comic book, and the political
depth of the conflict between fundamentalism and democracy. Marjane Satrapi may have
given us a new genre." --Gloria Steinem
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