Ever since hosting the World War II reading challenge at War Through the Generations in 2009, I’ve been wanting to read Art Spiegelman’s graphic non-fiction tales of his parents’ Holocaust experiences. I can’t believe it took me so long to pick them up, but this is another case of better late than never.
In Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History, Spiegelman, a comic book artist/writer, wants to tell his father’s survival story. He doesn’t have the best relationship with his father, Vladek, but he begins making frequent visits to listen as his father recounts his time in Poland just before and during World War II.
Vladek tells his son how he met his wife, Anja, who committed suicide in 1968 when Art was 20 but whose mental anguish was apparent before the Holocaust. Anja’s parents were wealthy, and the pair lived comfortably while Vladek worked hard running a textile factory. They had a son, Richieu, who sadly did not survive the war.
Maus I follows Vladek’s story as conditions for the Jews degrade in Poland and elsewhere in Europe as war is waged. Vladek talks about how he and Anja survived living in a ghetto, how creative and daring he was in finding work and trading items for food, and how they managed to live for some time in hiding. An ominous cloud hung above the story as I read, and I always had this feeling that something would go wrong, someone would betray them, and eventually their luck would run out. Alas, that feeling proved correct, as this first installment in Vladek’s story ends with his and Anja’s arrival at Auschwitz.
Vladek’s story, even before he sets foot in Auschwitz, is painful, but as the story is told in his words, there is also hope, for readers know that he survived. Still, the effects of living close to starvation in the ghetto and the concentration camp took its toll. From Vladek’s interactions with his son and his second wife, Mala, readers see how he carries the Holocaust with him every day as he hoards things, refuses to spend money when he could reuse something or fix something himself, and constantly worries that Mala is trying to steal all the money that he has saved over the years.
Art’s struggles as the child of Holocaust survivors are apparent, as is his grief over his mother’s suicide. He channels all of these hurts into his work, and even as he constantly expresses his annoyance with his father, his fascination with his father’s Holocaust story and his respect for all that his parents endured shines through.
In Maus, Spiegelman uses animals to portray his family and the other people who play a role in the story. The symbolism of the Jews as mice, the Nazis and other Germans as cats, and the Poles as pigs seems obvious. However, I honestly didn’t pay much attention to the use of animals in the illustrations, and even though I paid close attention to the drawings as I read, I was so wrapped up in the the story that I didn’t take much notice of the animal symbolism after awhile. The story would have affected me just as strongly had the illustrations featured humans, and I didn’t find it difficult to remember that despite the animal imagery, the book is non-fiction.
Maus I is a quick read at about 160 pages, but that doesn’t mean readers should speed through it. The use of graphic non-fiction is an interesting way to depict one family’s Holocaust story, and it is just as gripping and heart-breaking as it would have been in straight prose. Spiegelman does a wonderful job making it feel as though the reader is sitting across from his father and listening intently as he recounts his tale of survival, and I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I felt extremely sad and weighed down when I finished this book, but I immediately started the next book because I just had to find out what happened to Vladek and Anja in Auschwitz. This is one of those books whose images will haunt me for some time, but I highly recommend it for readers interested in the Holocaust who want something more than the typical memoir.
(My thoughts on Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began will post tomorrow.)
Disclosure: I borrowed Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History from my local library. I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.
© 2012 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
I still want to read these…but have yet to get to it.
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They don’t take long to read so hopefully you’ll have time for them soon.
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I’ve heard a lot about Maus I and II and really do want to read them. This sounds like a very moving book.
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They are very moving. I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t expect that they would shock me, horrify me, and make me cry.
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Oh, I’ve never heard about this one and it sounds like a great read! I love reading about the Holocaust and Wars. I’m also looking to try more graphic novels. Great review!
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I’ve read 3 graphic non-fiction books this year, and it’s been a great experience so far. I can definitely see myself reading more of them.
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I’ve read this one, a long while ago, and found it to be intense — awesome — but intense. You’re right — I too forgot about the animals as I read on because the story is gripping.
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I can see what he was trying to accomplish with the animals, but they weren’t necessary. But it does add another layer to the story for discussion purposes.
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I do not know if I could handle the graphic novel art
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There were only a few scenes that were really graphic and difficult to see, but those were in Maus II.
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These were my first experiences with graphic novels and I thought they were excellent.
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I’m glad they were among my first in the genre. I wasn’t disappointed.
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I really must read this. Wonderful review.
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Thanks, Jenners. They are very intense but so worth reading.
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[…] Comments « Review: Maus I by Art Spiegelman […]
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This author must be talented to be able to so well depict the story as you say through graphic art and the symbolism of animals.
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I’d have to agree with you on that point!
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It’s been recommended to me so many times, but I still have to read it!
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I’ve had my eye on these books since the WWII reading challenge in 2009. I can’t believe I waited so long to read them!
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I would agree that it’s a haunting story. It will always stick with me too because it was the first graphic novel I read. My husband had to read it for a lit class in college and I read it along with him because it looked so unusual.
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They’re definitely unusual books, but I’m always looking for unique and gripping Holocaust stories. They certainly fit the bill.
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This sounds really interesting. Graphic non-fiction seems like a different way to tell this type of story. Great review.
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And it’s one that will stick with me forever.
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I’m so glad that you read both of these…..powerful! I read them about 3 years ago and the images still haunt me!
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I still think about them more than a month after reading them!
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I haven’t read the MAUS books yet — they’re on my list!
Your point that the graphic memoir format is “just as gripping and heart-breaking as it would have been in straight prose” is well-taken; thanks for sharing your review, Anna!
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I guess I mistakenly thought that a graphic memoir would be more lighthearted, but I was so wrong.
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I don’t know how or why I’ve avoided this one for so long! Next library trip for sure.
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I can’t wait to see what you think of them!
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[…] Maus I: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman — A graphic non-fiction tale of the Holocaust with interesting symbolism and a powerful story about the long-lasting impact on survivors and how their children were affected. […]
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