Maus

I was already skeptical of reading this as the cover gives off a Holocaust look. It's kind of interesting way of showing it. First of all, It's a story of a story, not a form of propaganda as the graphic novel came out in 1980. A father is telling his son about his experience during the time and how he survived it. I find the simplistic style to really help with the story. The Holocaust was a dark time and to have something more "friendly" and open is a better way for reading on the time period. It has dark themes, of course, but is well handled.

The use of mice, a typical animal used in experiments, as the Jews and other animals such as pigs and cats as Nazis was interesting. Harmless mice that go about their lives and are soon faced with the horrors of the Holocaust. A lot of things are revealed on the father son relationship, as well as, his mother's suicide.

I read up on what made Spiegelman want to illustrate the Holocaust, as he wanted to do a strip on racism. It's interesting to see how the original strip wasn't as simple as it is now. He had some information from his mother to back up some illustrations but it wasn't until he learned more from his father that he was really interested.