Maus

Maus

A verbatim conversation I had about this book. Co-Worker, "Whatcha reading now?"

Me, "A comic book about the Holocaust. See, the Jews are drawn as mice, and the Germans as cats and....."

Co-worker's exact expression:         

I had no idea how concerning those words could be. To an extent Maus is a comic book about the Holocaust, but it belongs on the same literary shelf as The Diary of Anne Frank and Elie Wiesel's Night. It transcends it's genera. art spiegelman's work is so bold and innovative when it was awarded it's Pulitzer Prize the board found it intensely difficult to classify. 

As much as this comic is about the Holocaust it's far more than that. It's also a story of a son coming to terms with the fact that his father is dying, and that the difficult relationship that the two of them have had is going to end. It's part love letter and part exorcism. The demons of a difficult childhood being constantly compared to a dead brother runs though the entire work.  As tragic as this may sound it's also just as uplifting. Hope and resourcefulness, the love of spiegleman's mother and father, and their will to survive are difficult to put into words.  Words fall short in this area. I can't describe this book beyond the words I typed. The only thing I can do is beg and plead for my dear readers to buy it and experience it on their own. It's a work that creeps into the subconscious so much so, that every time I read it I find myself dreaming of mice. 

I'm going to move onto my Required Reading Revisited selection for July, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Don't worry, I'll be back to graphic novel month once I'm done. I'm going to need a light read once this is all done. Perhaps I'll read some Astro Boy. 

(Image brought to you by: T.N.H.)