[Week 7] Maus

For this week I read the graphic novel called Maus.

Where to even start with this one! I love any sort of anecdotal-esque comics that show the more personal sides of huge tragedies that have happened in history. This one was especially good to read, what with the recent climate lately in America, and being able to draw similarities to the attitudes and the sorts of clashes that are happening now.

The fact that all of the people are drawn as animals really lends itself to the story being "easy" to process and also pick out the different types of people that are in the story. The relationship between Artie and his father is both really funny and also one of the saddest things I've ever spent the time to read. The part at the end where his father was clearly showing signs of dementia was especially heart-breaking, and yet, relate-able.

The art style of the graphic novel really helps lend the grittiness and real-ness of the story as well, despite animals being used to represent people. The chunky lines with the expressive gestures, as well as the solid blocks of black to help with gaunt or distressed situations made it really interesting to read through. Sometimes the print for the text was a little hard to read, but otherwise I didn't have much trouble reading it. It would have been cool to see maybe some pages in color, but otherwise I really enjoyed how well the black and white line work looked.

As for the subject matter, this is one of the few Holocaust related pieces of media that I've seen, and I feel like it's going to stick with me for a while. I'm definitely going to recommend it to my friends, again if only for the relevance that it has today, but just for knowing the story of just this one artist and his father. I found that the way Artie presented his dad was incredibly real, and it was funny reading his own words in the comic that he thought his dad acted like the stereotype of the 'miserly old jew'. It's something that I always think about when I act certain ways with things in my own life! It's strange, feeling like you might be a stereotype of yourself.

Overall, a very chilling but enjoyable read for this week, and again something that I'll recommend for my friends to read.