What a wonderful discussion for our September book club meeting! Thank you to Rose ‘19 for hosting and to April ‘05 for leading such a thoughtful and engaging discussion.
This month we read the graphic novel, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi ahead of Banned Books Week. There was a strong consensus that this was an important and meaningful read. Many of us were new to the graphic novel format and we loved how effectively it allowed the author to tell this memoir. The story tackles some incredibly heavy topics, but the illustrations and the author's childlike perspective helped show how she experienced and understood the world while growing up.
As a group, we also found so many universal human truths — and especially universal themes of womanhood — throughout the story. Even though the time, culture, and locations were very different from our own, we could still understand and relate to so much of what she experienced.
There were certainly moments when we didn't agree with her choices, but we appreciated her honesty and willingness to tell her story as it was. We shared some of our favorite panels and enjoyed the humor woven throughout the book.
With Banned Books Week coming up in October, we talked about how important it is to continue supporting and reading books, particularly at a time when so many are being challenged or banned for reasons we don't believe should prevent people from accessing them.
Rose treated us to a delicious Persian-inspired meal, including vegan hummus, kashk (an eggplant dip with yogurt), olives and feta with cucumber, olivieh (potato salad), mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette, shrimp grilled in lemon sauce, and chicken grilled/kabob style. It was such a wonderful complement to the book and its setting!
