Recently I read Persepolis which is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis is the story of her childhood in Iran during a time when the country was divided by conflict. My favourite part of the book were the illustrations. The drawings are done with not a lot of fine details, and are colored only with black and white but still manage to add to the story as well as carry messages not included in the writing. Though it was an interesting book, I had trouble relating to certain parts of the story because where I live I have never had to worry about many of the issues that Marji, and her family or friends had to deal with. I don’t live in a part of the world where political and religious ideologies are forced onto me, so I don’t fully understand what those people went through when a party took over their country and forced people to dress and act a certain way, or be punished. During my lifetime Canada hasn’t been in any major conflicts such as the Iran-Iraq war, so it is hard for me to really understand how terrifying it would be to live during a time when you don’t know if you are going to have a place to go home to when you finish a day of school. Though I do appreciate the hardships that people in those situations face, it would be wrong for me to say that I understand what they have gone through and that I know what it is like to live in those circumstances. I was surprised by the amount that I learned about Iran as a country and its conflicts with other countries as well as its internal issues. Though I did have trouble relating to the characters in the book, I did enjoy the story.