Julia and Victoria return once again to the story of Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis 2 as young Marji navigates the perils of living on her own in a foreign country, particularly one where her race and heritage are viewed as a political statement, and the difficulty of deciding the direction of her future adult life. Satrapi’s story blows open our culture’s generalizations about “The Middle East” with nuance and humor and heartbreak. This book also makes it abundantly clear that no one will ever be as cool as Satrapi - absolutely no competition.

Stuff we talked about:

Persepolis 1 and Book Club Episode 32

ALA Most Challenged Books of 2014

What to read next:

Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi

March by John Lewis

Life Recs:

Palm Springs 2020 film

Unorthodox miniseries on Netflix

Glass Animals new album Dreamland

Amine new album Limbo

Max Richter new album Voices

Hunter x Hunter anime on Netflix