Persepolis

I recently read Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It is a memoir of the author's experiences in revolutionary Iran in the 80s and 90s. It is interesting to read it at this point in time because the US is currently contemplating going to war with Iran. It is also interesting that the author chose to tell this extremely dark story as a comic book. This surprised me a little, but I had previously read Maus by Art Spiegelman, a comic book telling the story of the Jewish author's father's experiences during the Holocaust, which is a great book and is in many ways similar to Persepolis, so it kind of set a precedent for me. Persepolis starts out in 1979, when Iran was ruled by a brutal dictator called the Shah (a Persian (the language spoken by most Iranians) word for "king"). The Shah's brutal repression of freedoms sparked a rebellion consisting mainly of supporters of democracy as well as socialists and communists. The Shah's regime started a brutal crackdown on these protests, causing many civilian deaths. A year later, the Shah relented and tried to appoint a prime minister, but at that point all the people wanted was for him to leave, so he went into exile in Egypt. Later, elections were held, but they were rigged by the Islamist Party, a group of faux Muslim fundamentalists that basically used their religion as an excuse to do anything they wanted, whether or not it was allowed by the laws of Islam. After falsely announcing that 99.99% of the population had voted for them, they began a brutal crackdown (sound familiar?) on so-called "enemies of the revolution," which was basically everyone who had actually been a part of the revolution. Revolutionaries and communists (such as the author's uncle) who had just been freed from prison were sent back to jail and executed. The torturers in these prisons were the same ones who had previously served the Shah (and had special training from the CIA), and the number of political prisoners went from 3,000 under the Shah to more than 300,000 under the new regime. Soon after the revolution, Saddam Hussein's Iraq attacked Iran and a brutal war ensued, with thousands of people on both sides being killed. The regime used the war as an excuse to begin a reign of terror that could get you killed for wearing lipstick or having hair (or, God forbid, skin) showing if you were female, or wearing a short-sleeved shirt or shaving if you were male. Alcohol and parties were strictly forbidden, as well as listening to anything but government-issued music. However, the vast majority of these laws and the people who enforced them were not actually religious, they just used Islam like Hitler used anti-Semitism: as a means of gaining power. A good example of this is a scene in the book in which the author's family is coming home from a party and her parents have been drinking wine. They are stopped by the "Guardians of the Revolution," (basically the police), who follow them home to see if they have any alcohol (which they do). However, the father easily bribes the Guardians and they are left alone. Persepolis is an excellent book that is made even better by the fact that it is a true story. The author makes many wry observations about the world and human nature. I highly recommend it, but be warned that it is a very dark, violent and sad story.