Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

How it reads

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is memoir (graphic memoir, specifically), and its dominant mood is melancholy. It's quietly sad, wistful and reflective. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in several locations, in the historical past, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are coming of age, war and identity. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 153 pages it's a single-sitting book. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.