Persepolis

Persepolis was powerful and entertaining to read. It's about a young girl's life in Iran, she tells her own story of her family members to historical figures. There's a lot of Iran's history in this veritable book.
Cyrus the great had reigned over Persia for 30 years before he died. In 1921 Rezah Pahvali, overthrew the Qajar Dynasty and became the new Shah of Iran. Reza Shah was influenced by the the British. The original Reza Shah became leader of Iran in 1925, but his son succeeded in 1944. In 1951 Mohammed Mossadegh became the prime minister and nationalized oil in Iran. He had fought against a British oil company before this so the British joined with the C.I.A. and put an embargo on Iran. Mossadegh was later overthrown, and Reza Shah became stronger. The more Rezah Shah tried to make a democracy of Iran the more the people of Iran disliked him. Until the end when he was exiled in 1979 to Egypt. Even when Reza Shah left many people were still sent to jail and executed. On November 4th 1979, Fundamentalists held the U.S. Embassy of Iran hostage, the plan was clandestine. The fundamentalists were just a few Iranian Students that wanted to send a message, they had no idea they would hold the Embassy for 444 days. The book starts with Marjane Satrapi going to school, she explains in 1980 bilingual schools were closed down because the Iranian Government said they were symbols of capitalism and decadence. They started to wear the veil in 1980 it was a dogmatic law. People demonstrated against Iran's government and Reza Shah. People were killed fighting for their rights and were considered them martyrs if they died, even if it was not for Iran's people.In 1980 the Iranian revolution began and so did the Iran/Iraq war. Iraq had bombed Iran near where Marjane Satrapi lived.
Marjane Satrapi endures many hardships in this book, she explains all of them as her story unfolds, from family members being executed to friends flying away to a new world. Her book makes Iran's issues secular, so that more people will know of the troubles of Iran. Her book perceives Iran as a dangerous place to live, people dying everyday, protesting for their rights. Her family is supportive of her and her future, they try to do what is best. They protect Marji from the dangers of the world but also let her know what is out there and warns her of it. Marji seems like a curious girl that knows a lot about her country, that a normal girl at her age wouldn't have known. Her personality changes as she grows up and she becomes more mature. The proletariat's dream of a new democracy is one they hope to reach soon.
In Persepolis 2 Marji travels to Vienna, Austria. I think in the next book she will land in Austria and see Zozo and Sherine. They will go home and talk about Iran. I believe that while Marji lives in Austria many things will happen in Iran. At her French school many people will insult her ethnicity or will ask her questions about Iran. The war will continue and many people will die, I think perhaps her dad dies one day while he was driving his car to work, a Iraq Fighter will kill him. Her grandma dies of old age and her reservoir of money was sent to Marji. The Iran/Iraq war will end and Marji's mom will call her to come back to Iran. They live together and cry about what happened to her father. One day her mom tries to get a visa to the United States after succeeding, they move to the United states where Marji starts writing this book.