Book Review of Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Volumes I and II)

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Spiegelman, Art. 1993. MAUS: A SURVIVOR’S TALE. (Volumes I and II.) Artwork by Art Spiegelman. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, a Division of Random House, Inc. ISBN 0679406417.      

 

PLOT SUMMARY

Artie Spiegelman is writing and illustrating a graphic novel about his parents, their family, and friends during the Jewish Holocaust. He listens to his father talk about this tragic time in his life. During the course of his father’s narrative, Artie grows to realize how his father’s experiences shaped the man that his father became.          

 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The writing draws you into the storyline. The man who the story is about speaks broken English due to his learning English as a second language. Yet, this broken English adds a pathos to the story that normal English would not have. The artwork is tight and without unnecessary images. Everything in the words and pictures is simple, direct, and to the point, which drives home to intensity and drama of the story itself. Together, the text and drawings work together to deliver the story. As the story advances through the ordered panels on the pages, the reader experiences the memories of a Holocaust survivor. The visuals add content to the text, that the text alone wouldn’t have been able to provide. The novel exists in two times- in the past where the author’s father experiences the Holocaust, and in the present where the author struggles to have a relationship with his father, and where his father struggles to have a relationship with his second wife. The way the author uses animal imagery to portray the humans in the story adds an additional contextual layer to what the reader takes away from the narrative. In one sense, it provides a kind of buffer for the young adult reader who may feel overwhelmed had the depictions been purely human in their portrayal. In another sense, the symbolism of replacing humans with animals adds its own meanings. The author leaves it to the reader’s interpretation. All in all, this graphic novel is unlike any graphic novels before or since. It stands alone.      

 

AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS

1992 Pulitzer Prize Winner in the Category of Special Awards and Citations – Letters

1992 Eisner Award Winner

1992 American Book Award Winner

KIRKUS Review: “Full of hard-earned humor and pathos, Maus… takes your breath away with its stunning visual style, reminding us that while we can never forget the Holocaust, we may need new ways to remember.”

 
CONNECTIONS

* This book would be a good supplement to studies of WWII; the Holocaust; racism; stereotypes; immigration and emigration; and family relationships & dynamics.    

* Books similar to this one include:

Satrapi, Marjane. PERSEPOLIS. ISBN 0224080393.

Nakazawa, Keiji. BAREFOOT GEN, VOL 1: A CARTOON STORY OF HIROSHIMA. ISBN 9780867196023.  

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