'26 March - theme: Get Graphic - read a graphic novel
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
“I dunno…maybe everyone has to feel guilty. Everyone! Forever!”
Oh, a graphic novel sounds fun, thought I at the beginning of the month as I headed to my local bookstore to purchase one. I'll ask the staff which the best ever graphic novel is and read that. I should have had misgivings when I saw the swastika.
This was a hard read, and it's mostly pictures. Although the bookshop woman was right when she said it was fantastic.
The fourth wall break is utterly broken as the author/illustrator chronicles himself asking his own father about his experience as a holocaust survivor. The story then switches between present day and the past, creating both more immediacy and more contrast. It's not only one man's holocaust story but also illuminated how it continues to affect him and those around him to this day. Although he survives you can't help but mourn for what could have been .