Maus I and II: A Survivor's Tale by Art SpiegelmanGraphic Novel Challenge, in their shoes, What an Animal!
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
Spiegelman tells the story of his father's ordeal during the Holocaust, in graphic novel form. The Jews are mice, the German's are cats, and the Poles are pigs. It's a neat technique, and the story is all too familiar. It is partly Vladek's tale up to his internment in Auschwitz and partly his son's coming to terms with being the son of a survivor. Overall it is very well done and shows the build up during the war of sanctions against the Jews in Poland and the measures people had to take in order to survive.
Maus II: And Here My Troubles BeganThe story continues here as Art's parents have been sent to Auschwitz. This part contains a little more present day as Spiegelman gets the story from his father. He includes his own frustrations with his father and the amazing story of both his parents' survival.
Obviously both stories are very moving and at the same time, it was very frustrating to see the level of torture and degradation that occurred in the Death Camps. The comic style makes it very easy to read, other than the content. The art is very well done and any one interested in holocaust stories should definitely read this.
I read both Maus I and II about 15 years ago, and they are two of the books that I have read in a long time that I remember snippets of after all these years. I want to re-read them. Judy
ReplyDeleteMaus and Maus II were my intro to graphic novels. I read them for a college lit class, but couldn't bring myself to sell the books back afterward. I am still in awe of these two of Spiegelman's works.
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