Maus: A Survivor's Tale - Art Spiegelman

Publisher Summary:

"Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history’s most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma."

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My Review:

Rating: 9.5/10

I know this isn't my usual book genre, but I recently read Maus and thought I should post about it here, because it really is a great book. That being said, I've formatted the review a little differently too.

The book is in the form of a graphic novel, allowing it many more little details than you would be able to find in a text-based novel. Spiegelman included many little details into the panels to show motifs throughout the book and they added to the reading experience of the book.

The storyline switches between Artie's (the author's) point of view, and his father, Vladek's, point of view. The whole book is a retelling of Vladek's experience during the Holocaust, but tells a story much larger than that. IT also tells the story about how Vladek's character was changed by the Holocaust, and how this affected the people around him, mainly Artie. I have no complaints about Spiegelman's depiction of his father's character or of his retelling of his father's story. To be honest, I loved everything about this book. The story took me along on a journey with Vladek but also introduced me to what Artie was going through due to Vladek's past experiences. It showed how history changed based on who was telling it, and how different real experiences can be against recorded history. One of the widest themes the book covers was that of intersecting characteristics and people, and how they cannot be put into neat categories. Spiegelman did a great job of weaving a huge metaphor that showed how diverse the world is, and every step that expanded the metaphor was intentional. Especially in the second part of the book, different artistic techniques are used to portray messages in the book, and I loved seeing these themes come to life.

Later in the story, Spiegelman's writing process comes to light, and shows how he struggled to come to terms with his experience with Vladek along the way. This played into the idea of past generations affecting those in the future and how regret for past actions comes into play in one's life.

Overall, Maus was a great book and I loved reading it. This one is definitely a book that I would recommend.