Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
18 journalers for this copy...
From the cover -
Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive. It is, as the New York Times Book Review has commented, "a remarkable feat of documentary detail and novelistic vividness... an unfolding literary event."
Moving back and forth from Poland to Rego Park, New York, Maus tells two powerful stories: The first is Spiegelman's father's account of how he and his wife survived Hitler's Europe, a harrowing tale filled with countless brushes with death, improbable escapes, and the terror of confinement and betrayal. The second is the author's tortured relationship with his aging father as they try to lead a normal life of minor arguments and passing visits against a backdrop of history too large to pacify. At all levels, this is the ultimate survivor's tale - and that, too, of the children who somehow survive even the survivors.
Part I of Maus takes Spiegelman's parents to the gates of Auschwitz and him to the edge of despair. Put aside all your preconceptions. These cats and mice are not Tom and Jerry, but something quite different. This is a new kind of literature.
I really enjoyed the interaction between older father and adult son in this. With the halting English used, it gave a very specific picture of the generation differences. What an incredible tale-within-a-tale; I can see why this book won a Pulitzer Prize!
Now I'm looking for a copy of Maus II. Someone recommended that, and when I finished this story I could understand that; I want to see what happens next.
May send this out on a bookray, esp. if I can find the 2nd book.
Tiatia - VA
NicoleSinger - NC
Pashmack - FL
SpaceyStacey - NJ
CinnyCat - NY
SqueakyChu - MD
Icekween01 - MO
CollegeLady - CA
KatintheBoots - CA
PokPok - CA
Mikopikotrain - CA
Morsecode - NY
Supertalya - Korea
Miss-Owl - Thailand
MrBaggins1 - South Africa
Lucy-Lemon - UK (asked to be skipped)
martaenmichiel - Netherlands
Hayes13 - Italy
ETMadrid - UK
Lydiasbooks - UK
DuskDreamer - UK
RockyHorror1978 - Canada
Imawinn2 - WI, USA
Kiyoteefoxx - PA, USA
Akosikulot - Phillipines (US addy)
This bookray will be traveling with this copy of Maus II.
Standard bookray rules apply. Try to send this on to the next person within a month of receiving it. If there are any problems, please contact me. It might be a good idea to contact the next person on the list as soon as you receive these, since they are such a quick read. And above all, have FUN!
The book is amazing. Breathtaking. (This book and its sequel, which is also on the bookring.) I've heard most of the substance of the book before, in stories and memoirs of others who were in Germany at this time, but the drawings and the storytelling gave what happened such an immediacy... Unbelievable.
I think the two books are best read together, and now that I'm finished, I'm not quite sure what I want to say.
Thanks, MaryZee, for letting me be part of this ring.
Mailed 3/28/28 - USPS Delivery Confirmation # 0307 3330 0001 2462 0459
DC information from the website April 3, 2008
Label/Receipt Number: #0307 3330 0001 2462 0459
This book was captivating! What a memoir and tribute this the author's father. I think this book should be mandatory reading for all children in the 6th grade.
Posting out to the next reader. 04/22/2008. Thank you for sharing this very wonderfully illustrated graphic novels.
Released 15 yrs ago (5/7/2008 UTC) at Controlled releases in Exchange/Trade, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Sent to SqueakyChu today!
This was an amazing read. I think it was positively brilliant of the author/illustrator to use the graphic novel as the genre in which to present his father's story.
Readers of comics are often those who choose to enter a world of fantasy. Bringing the story of the Holocaust to readers of comics greatly enlarges the number of those who are informed of this great tragedy of World War II.
The idea of each race or religion as a different animal was startling. I began to think of why the author may have chosen to do this. I think it was a way of showing how people tend to stereotype one another. I was mindful of the fact that the Nazis were the cats, while the Jews were the lowly mice. I'm curious as to why Spiegelman chose to depict the Poles as pigs. Disdain, perhaps?
In addition, portraying people as animals is another way of allowing those who otherwise would not read about the Holocaust to do so. Seeing people's faces and expressions makes it too painfully real. The animals allow a little distance between the reader and the reality that existed in that time and place.
I was intrigued by Artie's relationship with his father. I can see how the war years changed the father and what pain he carries in his old age. I can also see the impatience and lack of understanding of Artie. There is a world of difference between Holocaust survivors and children of Holocaust survivors. This is very well depicted in the book.
I thought it good of Artie's father to share his personal story with his son. Neither my father nor my mother ever would. What I learned of the war years, I learned from my aunt and uncle many years after both of my parents were dead.
Another aspect of this book that made it especially readable was the interjection of Artie's conversations with his father. It left a little breathing space - time for some relief from the oppressive tension of the story itself. That painful story is often too depressing for people to read in large amounts.
The drawing of the Auschwitz concentration camp gateway near the end of the book left me with a very heavy heart. :(
Thank you, MaryZee, for insisting that I join your bookray.
Icekween01 sent me her mailing address. I'm holding on to this copy of Maus until I finish Maus II so I can mail them on together. Icekween01 is now starting a 500-page book so I'll take my time to finish Maus II, perhaps slipping another book or two in between the Mauses. It is the kind of book that one needs to dwell on a bit, not simply rush through.
Released 15 yrs ago (10/8/2008 UTC) at -- BOOKRAY, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
sent to CollegeLady
In the meantime, I'll PM PokPok for an address so that I can send this on when I'm done reading Maus II.
PokPok
PokPok
This is one of those journal entries I hate making...
I just didn't love this book. I expected to, but I didn't. And without trying to be overly critical, I didn't find the drawings/cartoons to be either very well done, or very poignant. Without that, it becomes another Holocaust story. I've read many of them, and while I certainly feel we need to read them and remember, it just didn't do that much for me. Don't get me wrong...I didn't dislike this, but I certainly didn't love it, either. I found the most interesting parts to actually be those set in the present day, with Art, Vladek, and Mala. The survivor's guilt, the miserliness, the lack of understanding. Perhaps because I could relate to those? My grandmother was in an orphanage during the depression, and certainly was very scarred from that. But I've read other holocaust accounts, and found them more interesting and moving than this. In particular, I've always been fond (is that the right word?) of the accounts of the rescuers; those who endanger themselves to rescue and hide others. Irene Gut Opdyke wrote a very good book of her time as a rescuer; I've seen her speak, and her story is very compelling.
I will say that it is good for giving an introduction to what occurred, to those who may not know or not read a book such as Night or Diary of Anne Frank. I found the cartoon within a cartoon, where he tells us of his mother's story and suicide, to be the most compelling--the art was better, and somehow that made the story more tragic to me.
Released 15 yrs ago (1/10/2009 UTC) at Controlled Release, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
My apologies for not getting these out sooner; the holidays had me wiped out! They will be sent in tomorrow's (Saturday's) mail.
I'll be getting this in the mail soon to send it along tot he next reader!
Together Maus I and Maus II are both the story of a Holocaust survivor and the story of a writer/artist trying to tell that story.
I'd read the books years ago as a young adult (probably 2 or 3 years after they were first published) and I remembered them, but only vaguely. One of the things I did not remember was the dynamic between Artie and his father. I think in some ways it must have been just as hard for Spiegelman to be honest about his relationship with his father as it was to tell his father's story.
Another thing I didn't remember was how Spiegelman portrayed the other nationalities in the book. I remembered the cats and mice, but not the Poles as pigs, Americans as dogs, etc.
The books are poignant and what strikes me the most about them is how honest they are. Honest about the Holocaust and all its atrocities, honest about the father and son relationship, and honest about the author and his own failings.
Released 14 yrs ago (8/23/2009 UTC) at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
It is on its way to Thailand with Maus II
Edited to add: sorry, this book is actually in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I forgot to change my geographical location.
Ready for posting on when I receive the address.
Edited 1st Dec to add:
My apologies, this book is still with me... normally the school I work at will help me send things, but to South Africa I need to get to the post office, and I live rather in the sticks...
I hope to get this moving within the next week.
Released 14 yrs ago (12/12/2009 UTC) at Chiang Mai, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Thailand
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Finally! Apologies for the delay. Got myself out of the sticks & down to the post office today.
I am not Jewish - but heartgirl and love of my life for the last ten years is - and I cannot understand how simply being Jewish can set you so apart that you, as a race, have been subjected persecution since time immemorial.
Thanks for sharing. Contacting the next in line
Posted by surface mail today to martaandmichiel in the Netherlands (Together with Maus II)
Enjoy and thanks for sharing
Still, I could not resist the temptation to "have a look" at the books as soon as they arrived and… I could not put them down anymore. The kind of book(s) that you’re sorry to finish, because you are going to miss the characters. I found it fascinating to see once more how history , its traumas and consequences are passed down from generation to generation – and how trying to understand what our parents and grandparents went through is the only way to free ourselves from it, really.
2 great books, I hope they'll still travel long and safely.
Thank you MaryZee for starting this ray!
Will PM Hayes13v for their address and send it as soon as I receive it.
Happy reading everyone!