Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History | 
 enlarge | Author: Art Spiegelman
Publisher: Pantheon
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  150 reviews
Sales Rank: 379
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 0394747232
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9780394747231
ASIN: 0394747232
Publication Date: August 12, 1986
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Some historical events simply beggar any attempt at description--the Holocaust is one of these. Therefore, as it recedes and the people able to bear witness die, it becomes more and more essential that novel, vigorous methods are used to describe the indescribable. Examined in these terms, Art Spiegelman's Maus is a tremendous achievement, from a historical perspective as well as an artistic one. Spiegelman, a stalwart of the underground comics scene of the 1960s and '70s, interviewed his father, Vladek, a Holocaust survivor living outside New York City, about his experiences. The artist then deftly translated that story into a graphic novel. By portraying a true story of the Holocaust in comic form--the Jews are mice, the Germans cats, the Poles pigs, the French frogs, and the Americans dogs--Spiegelman compels the reader to imagine the action, to fill in the blanks that are so often shied away from. Reading Maus, you are forced to examine the Holocaust anew. This is neither easy nor pleasant. However, Vladek Spiegelman and his wife Anna are resourceful heroes, and enough acts of kindness and decency appear in the tale to spur the reader onward (we also know that the protagonists survive, else reading would be too painful). This first volume introduces Vladek as a happy young man on the make in pre-war Poland. With outside events growing ever more ominous, we watch his marriage to Anna, his enlistment in the Polish army after the outbreak of hostilities, his and Anna's life in the ghetto, and then their flight into hiding as the Final Solution is put into effect. The ending is stark and terrible, but the worst is yet to come--in the second volume of this Pulitzer Prize-winning set. --Michael Gerber
Product Description
A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's story and history itself.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 145 more reviews...
 A unique look at a horrible time... December 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Maus: A Survivor's Tale is author/illustrator Art Spiegelman's attempt to tell the story of his family as influenced by the Holocaust. This is part 1; part 2 is titled Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began. There is also a book that I assume combines both (The Complete Maus).
This is a graphic novel, and a graphic story. In Maus, Spiegelman slowly extracts the story of his father and his mother: how they met, how their lives changed as the Germans and the SS moved into Poland, their methods of survival, and eventually their capture and deportation to Auschwitz. Spiegelman intermixes this tale with his father's behaviors in the present, as a survivor.
The story depicts Jews as rat-like, Poles as pig-like, and Germans as cat-like. Seeing rats hang is not as "graphic" as seeing humans hang; there is a sobering and horrific quotation attributed to Adolf Hitler at the beginning of this book: "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human." The audacity of this statement is both amazing and incomprehensible. It also resulted in the deaths of so many innocents. Spiegelman uses the animal caricatures as representations of these Hitlerian distinctions.
This is an incomplete story. It doesn't end on page 159, and I assume the story line is picked up again in Maus II.
Spiegelman's story is haunting. You will finish Maus I in a little over an hour, and you will feel the tingling of horror in how humans actually have treated other humans.
Never again.
 Maus September 26, 2008
Maus was a very engaging book. From the beginning I was pulled into the story. Maus is written in a very unique way. Art Spiegelman drew the Jews as mice, the Nazis as cats, and the Poles as pigs. Art Spiegelman told the story from the perspective of his father telling the story through an interview format. It is written in the form of a graphic novel. It is an interesting way to learn about history during the World War II era. Overall I liked this book, except I really didn't like the end. Also, there was a little bit of language.
Masterpiece August 27, 2008
i was one of the few among my peers who had never read one of the Maus books. When i finally got around to it, i was blown away by its excellence. This is a masterpiece (and i do not use the term lightly). Do yourself a favor and don't miss it.
 Interesting July 29, 2008
I must say that I find this work hard to properly describe in terms of how I feel about it. I think that it was a fascinating look at one man's experience in the Holocaust, but an equally important aspect is Art's interaction with his father during their conversations. This seems like an honest portrayal, especially since Art isn't afraid to include things that may make him look bad (he isn't always the most sympathetic son). I think connecting the story of what happened then, and how it's effects are apparent for the rest of a person's life (although different people reacted in different ways) is interesting. The way this is written is especially effective, because it truly feels like Vladek is telling you his story first hand.
As for the artwork, although it isn't my favorite style, it seems to fit for this story. The simple, unpolished look is compatible with this story which is honest and raw. Finally, I would like to add that the second installment of this comic is darker, and more depressing and sad at times, but once you read Maus I, you must (and will want to) read Maus II in order to feel any closure with the story.
Masterpiece! July 17, 2008
As a Jew Living in Israel, holocaust related books are important to read, but it's hard to do it actually. I can remember several holocaust-era semi-biographic novels which are great but those are the exceptions. Most of the books are a bit bothersome though true.
Maus just captured me.I consider it one of the best books I've ever read in my life. It was just breath-taking, adding to that the fact that this was my first graphic novel ever, not to say first comic ever.
I gave it to my wife, her parents, brother and so on. The book came back to me after 6 month. all worn out.
The book touched me in the deepest levels, and was able to do what many other holocaust books tried to do and failed. Take you inside one of the the darkest eras of human kind. You NEED to read to. You have to read it.
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