I’ve been meaning to read this graphic novel as I’ve heard many great things about it so when our book-club announced it for this month’s read, I was pretty excited. This book afterall, was a graphic novel and it pertained to WWII, so what could go wrong?

This graphic novel is presented in black-n-white and written by the son of a Jewish Holocaust survivor. The son, an illustrator, visits his father and inquiries about his life in Poland around the time of WWII. His father’s memory is quite good as he recalls this tragic event in history.

I was amazed at how well Vladek recalls the names of places and individuals as he reaches back in time to relive his life. As the story unfolds, his journey was quite extensive. I have a hard-enough time remembering what I did yesterday and Vladek memories include quite a bit of detail.

This novel provides more than just his father’s flashbacks during this father and son interview, we learn about other individuals who play a role in their lives. We learn about other relationships, past and current, including the relationship between the father and his son. I thought the some of these relationships were quite interesting and I was amazed at the connections that Vladek had.

I do feel that there were times that the language in the book felt stiff and off for me. I think it was how the book was translated that threw it off for me. As I read, during Vladek days of trying to survive, I went through many emotions. A good read will provoke that in a reader.

I appreciate Vladek for sharing his story and for his service. I also appreciate that Art wrote this graphic novel about his father. It’s a momentous piece of history told from one who survived.

So, I started reading this book in June, ended up getting caught up in other things, including other readings, and I finally just finished it. I actually had to start again from the beginning, but it was worth it.

This graphic novel is written by Art Spiegelman and based on his father's experiences before and during World War II. The book skips back and forth in time between the adult author speaking to his father and the years around World War II. In the illustrations, the Jewish people are represented by mice, the Germans cats, and the Polish people by pigs. This graphic novel is at times touching, at times horrifying, and at times just sad. A definite must-read for anyone interested in this time period.

Because of the disturbing subject matter I may not have read Maus if it wasn’t for my RL book club. I’d never read a graphic novel before but loved how artwork and narrative were teamed together.

The book followed Artie, a man who decided to write and draw a graphic novel based on his father’ experiences in the second world war. 

During the book Artie’s interviewing his father who recounts his time before the war. I liked how Artie talking with his dad in the present was interspersed with the past. The subject was heavy and this helped to make it a little easier to bear.

I really liked how people were depicted by different animals, for example Jewish people were mice, Germans were cats and Poles were pigs. This helped make the reality a little easier to bear. Some of my friends at the book club found this made it harder to identify with the characters, but it didn’t affect me because I have such an affinity with animals.

The character’s weren’t explored in huge depth except for Artie’s father which was the right choice as it was his story. I loved how each of his infuriating idiosyncrasies could be related to the past.

As with most graphic novels it was short, but I think the gravity of the issue meant this was a wise choice. It still took me a few days to read anyway due to the subject matter, regardless of how fantastic I thought it was.

I just finished my first book of 2017! Maus was picked by my book club otherwise I probably wouldn't have read this graphic novel. The art worked well with such a weighty topic.