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 To call Maus an ambitious piece of work is an understatement January 9, 2009
During my research last semester on graphic novels three pieces of information kept recurring: (1) Maus by Art Spiegelman is an amazing graphic novel that everyone--even the ones who don't like graphic novels at all--love. (2) Maus is amazing and, having won a Pulitzer Prize special award in 1992, is one of the main reasons graphic novels have gained so much more mainstream appreciation as a legitimate format for literature. (3) If you read, write, or otherwise enjoy graphic novels you should be profusely thanking Spiegelman and Maus. (In all honesty I did make up that last part, but I think it was really implied in the subtext of all of my sources.)
Hearing all of that, of course, I felt like I had to read it. Technically speaking, Maus: A Survivor's Tale can be seen as two separate books. The first book (Maus I) is titled My Father Bleeds History (1986). The second, Maus II, is called And Here My Troubles Began (1991). Eventually, the two volumes were published together as one book. I had initially planned to review the two books separately however after reading both I decided that, really, the stories are so intertwined it really makes more sense to review the titles together.
The entire Maus saga is very meta (dictionary definition: "referring to itself or to the conventions of its genre")--very aware that it is a book and willing to make readers aware of that fact. The story begins with Art asking his father to tell him about his youth, specifically his experiences during the Holocaust. The structure here is smart and possibly too complex to have been pulled off with traditional prose. Spiegelman shifts between past and present with ease, deals with time lapses, and tells a compelling story all while illustrating (literally) the process of researching and creating that story.
He also does it all with allegorical animals standing in for people.
In this book the Jews are represented by mice while the Germans are cats (get it?). There are other animals represented in the story as people from different countries. While they are trying to pass as Poles, the Jewish mice are often shown wearing pig masks (Polish citizens are drawn as pigs) in order to blend in. Later in the story, once again creating ameta moment, Spiegelman shows himself wearing a mouse mask while promoting the book in "real life" (as a man). It sounds crazy when you try to explain it, but it also makes a crazy kind of sense.
Illustrated in black and white, the panels are on the small side and jump around the page. In other words, Spiegelman plays around with the sequencing to keep things interesting and fill the page in the best possible combination of panels.
Of course, this isn't always a happy book. Much of the story deals with Vladek and Anja Spiegelman's time in the Auschwitz concentration camp and what they had to endure there. And it's depressing. At the same time, watching Vladek keep his head on his shoulders and survive disaster after disaster, the story has uplifting moments. At the risk of sounding trite, it shows that people really can triumph in the face of adversity. Not to say their experiences in Auschwitz had no effect on Vladek's later life. It does. By extension it also greatly impacts Spiegelman's life and how he and his father relate to each other.
Maus isn't the type of book I usually read, largely because its necessarily depressing. I noticed my mood dipping as I worked through the book as I became invested with the characters. I also found myself feeling guilty while reading it. Here I am, half-Jewish (in so far as anyone can be half of a religion), and I know so little about that part of myself or that side of my family. My own ambivalence might explain why I cannot love this book as much as all its praise and supporters suggest I should.
To call Maus an ambitious piece of work is an understatement. Spiegelman takes on a lot in this relatively slim volume and , for the most part, delivers.
 MAUS is no mouse October 24, 2008
There aren't enough superlatives to describe this graphic novel. It's beautifully and cleverly written and illustrated. Characterization and history blend easily and realistically. MAUS really is a novel - to be read thoughtfully/carefully/even slowly. In several readings I've found new details and concepts and I'm sure this will continue to happen. Allegorical? Of course; yet I've never read a better narrative/description of the holocaust.
 READ NEW GRAPIC, BUT TRUE/PRESENT HISTORY: "PALESTINE," BY JOE SACCO. A CURRENT EVENT October 9, 2008
0 out of 34 found this review helpful
Current and true atrocities going on right now A deafening silence: in Israel, is it now okay to kill Americans? (Peacemaking).(implications of recent death and injuries of peace activists in Israel): An article from: Sojourners
maus is an old anti-Gentile and anti-everybody distortion of truth during WWII. maus mocks others' suffering in a cold and insensitive way.
maus is dated and still very upsetting, to people who really understand it bigoted and hurtful intent.
Don't waste time anymore, and read about what is going on right now - today! If you like the comic book form, then read and order PALESTINE, by JOE SACCO. Palestine or Palestine: The Special Editionand The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine These books are about the present and ongoing -today, right now as you read this review - killing and murders of helpless and homeless Palestinian families at the hands of the Jews. Although in graphic/comic form, there is 'nothing' funny about it. But if that genre motivates you to read, then you will learn a ton in an interesting way, especially the way Sacco has brilliantly drawn and presented this present day Palestinian holocaust. Read also, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid - no pictures, but superbly documented facts, objectively written.
Unlike maus, PALESTINE tells a true and objective story about something horrible happening right NOW, not a horribly bigoted and confused version of what, might of happened 80 years ago!?
PALESTINE by JOE SACCO, is done with superior artistry and writing. It
makes maus look like, well a maus.
Many a student comes away reading maus and say: "Why would anyone depict the Jews as RATS, as Goebbels did. Spiegelman's bigotry is clear,i.e., he catagorizes people as certain animals, as Goebbels made jews the rats. A RACIST concept in and of itself.
What does maus achieve? The answer is easy: compounded ANTI-SEMITISM. These kinds of hate writings against Poles and Germans always backfire in the face of Jews like spiegleman - ALWAYS! Was Spiegelman expecting 200 million Poles and germans to rave about being mocked - NO. Will maus help healing between future generations - ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Poles deserved none of Spiegelmans mockery and got the most. Polish students today go home sick to their stomachs while being subjected to this torture by cruel and insensitive teachers: WHO-DON'T-GET-IT!. EVERY POLE ON THIS EARTH IS RELATED TO SOMEONE WHO WAS BRUTALIZED AND KILLED BY THE GERMANS - EVERY POLISH CATHOLIC. Five, 5 million Polish Catholics were slaughtered by thr Germans. Auschwitz' first 2 year only murdered Polish Catholic school children, teachers, professors, nuns and priests - NO JEWS. THE POLISH CHILDREN WERE TAKEN FROM SCHOOL, AND THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING ON AN OUTING - SKIPPING ALONG - NOT KNOWING THE GERMAN DEATH AND TORTURE THAT AWAITED THEM.
Fortunately, maus is being banned more than ever and most credible bookstores refuse to sell this hurtful bigotry. I thank them for getting it.
PALESTINE BY JOE SACCO, you'll read it in one sitting. PALESTINE is about TODAY. It is a general overview of truth, about an event that is effecting our image and safety in America. Perhaps spigelman should tell his Jewish spere of influence to stop murdering helpless Palestinians today. READ PALESTINE!
Graphic literature at its best October 8, 2008
The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale collects both volumes of Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel. The complete collection is how the book called the "first masterpiece in comic book history" is meant to be appreciated. A haunting piece of work, this story is part autobiography, part family history, and part personal and historical reflection on the Holocaust. This tale relates the effect the Holocaust had on the persons who survived it as well as their descendants.
Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, the author's father, who survived the Holocaust in Poland and how his son, the cartoonist, comes to terms with his father and his tale. This is a paramount example of how the graphic form can be used more effectively to accessibly capture a horrific story. In Maus, the various persons and groups are drawn as anthropomorphic animals (the Jews are mice, the Nazi's cats, etc.) which gives the story an almost fairy tale quality, but by no means detracts from the story's haunting poignance. In some ways, the fairy tale is more painful in the fact that it all really did happen. Vladek's tale of survival, told slowly over the course of the almost 300 page novel, is layered with the author's own story of father as he knew him and his own personal feelings of guilt. Despite the use of animals as characters, the human qualities of these characters shines through and creates a tale that will linger with you long after you've finished the last page.
If you have never read a graphic novel, dismissing them as "comic book stories for kids," you owe it to yourself to read this book and to see the scope of what graphic fiction is able to accomplish. Likewise, if you are a fan of graphic novels, you owe it to yourself to read this book as it remains one of the greatest graphic novels of all time.
Yes. September 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I went to a exhibition on the history of comics a couple of years ago. They had all kinds, from Little Nemo to Jack Kirby, and many things in between. One of the things featured was several pages from Art Speigelman's Maus. I was so intrigued by what I saw that I had to buy it off Amazon, and I have not regretted it. Don't be fooled by Speigelman's seemingly simplistic black and white work. His storytelling is powerful stuff, I tell you.
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