A very personal autobiography of a child growing into age during an extremely disruptive and troubling time. I only know a small amount about the Cultural Revolution of Iran in 1979, read about it briefly and I've seen a couple movies that take place in Iran. I think even only one of those was actually during that time. But what a terrifying period in the country's history. 
 This follows Marji from the age of 10 to the age of 14 when she leaves Iran. She was the only child of a very well-to-do family that had empirical ties and wealth and class. They were very political, and only slightly religious, definitely progressive. From this point of view, you get a child's perspective on events both within her family, but in the country as a whole. You can see how the origins of the revolution were Marxist but it eventually fell into a theological Islamic fundamentalism. Things were bad, then they got worse, then they got really worse. Marji, while being exposed to events much more than probably the standard pre-teen of the time, was largely in the dark and confused. She dealt with it the best she could. 
 The story was at times heart breaking, at times rather humorous, and almost always quite engaging. It was generally linear, but broke into something like mini-chapters to speak on a specific subject at a time. At first I didn't care for this format, but grew to like it. It did make the story somewhat disjointed at times, but overall it was pretty good. I learned a lot about the history of the country and the turmoil of the early 1980s. 
 The artwork was okay, nothing spectacular. It was black and white (which my kids thought was boring) and very simple. It was drawn as if it was drawn by the child writing the story. I'm not sure if Satrapi always illustrates in this style, but it was fitting for the subject, I thought, like right out of her diary. The paneling was generally standard, with occasional deviations. At times there were really nice patterns with repetition, reminiscent of the bas relief sculptures of Persian history. Sometimes, especially when all the females wore veils, it was difficult to discern who was who. 
 This is a seminal work that should be on every good graphic novel shelf. I got it from the library, but I'd be happy to pick up a copy. I'll also be looking for book 2.