User Profile

Det er eit godt poeng. Ein talar mykje om "offentleg sløsing" for tida, men den private sløsinga er openbert mykje verre. Eg har aldri vore inne på ein sjukeheim og tenkt "fy faen, har vi råd til alt det her??". Vanlegvis har eg tenkt det stikk motsette.

Men går ein rundt i byen og ser på kor mykje kompetanse og arbeidskraft som sløsast bort i marknadsføring, reklame og venleiksalongar, er det tydeleg at spørsmålet passar betre andre stadar enn i velferden.

I read this about twenty years ago, when it was new and I was more interested in comics. I probably read it around the same time as I read Art Spiegelman's Maus (which I should also reread, and which I know was an inspiration for Persepolis). I bought it in a second hand shop a couple of years ago meaning to reread it, but did never get to it. When it was reported that Marjane Satrapi had died a couple of weeks ago I felt that now it is time. With the current protests and war, getting a better grasp of Iranian history and society also felt more urgent.

The book tells the tale of the author from childhood until she leaves permanently for art studies in France in her mid-twenties. A large part of the book plays out in Austria where Satrapi was sent during the Iran-Iraq war at the age of fourteen.

I mostly remembered the book's first part which is centered around the Iranian revolution and how it impacted Satrapi's family. Satrapi's parents was leftists, and the other relatives was active in the struggle against the Shah in different capacities, but was largely powerless when the islamists captured the revolution. A relative who was very dear to Satrapi was executed by the islamic republic in the aftermath of the revolution.

What I had largely forgotten was the other themes of the book. Satrapi's exile in Austria as a very young teenager and her return to an Iran that had changed a lot while she was away with the Islamic republic getting a firmer grasp of Iranian society during the Iran-Iraq war. These two parts is each about a third of the full book (I think the original french was released in three parts). How Persepolis largely is a story of never really fitting in, about growing up and about the difficulty of becoming who you are when society tries to constrain you.

The strength of the book to me as a westerner, as someone who doesn't know much about Iran is that it makes the characters relatable. Not only the main character, but most of the people around her. Even under a dramatic situation (revolution, war, exile) they have many of the same problems that we do, or at least problems that we can understand. During my reading I felt that I got to know the characters. I really like the drawing style and think it contributes to this. The drawings are exactly as detailed as they need to be, but not more.

I haven't seen the animated movie, but should see if it can be viewed somewhere.

Ei science fiction novellesamling skriven av ein 19 år gammal Åsmund Forfang, men alderen kjem ikkje tydeleg fram. Eg vil tru boka er inspirert av Bradbury si samling "The illustrated man", med ei interessant rammeforteljing som eigentleg ikkje er så vesentelg for for dei ulike novellene.

Når eg les norsk science fiction, er eg eigentleg ute etter noko som forankrar dei som norske, sjølv om det ikkje er heilt rettferdig. I denne samlinga er det ikkje mykje av det, men ein kan kjenne att naturen i fleire av dei (og nokre referanser til folketru). I "Tømmerhuggere" ser ein også den samtidige miljøkampen spele ei rolle, og i likskap med "En godværsdag i juli" så er barne/ungdomsperspektivet eit poeng i seg sjølv. Dette likte eg godt. Elles er novellene stort sett interessante, sjølv om eg ikkje veit kor lenge eg kjem til å hugse noko frå dei.

@httpster@indieweb.social Jo, jag läste den för några år sedan och minns den som väldigt bra. Jag har helt missat Daidalos-ljudboken. Det låter som en utmärkt idé, sånn generellt, men särskilt för denna.

Jag läste just "Things become other things" av Craig Mod, som jag råkade på, där han utgår från en vandring på Kii-halvön i Japan, men där boken egentligen handlar om hans uppväxt och vem han blivit. Tänkte denna var en bra fortsättning. Funderar på om detta skall vara ett av sommarens teman, inte bara bokmässigt, men också genom att hitta tillbaka till den faktiska rörelsen.