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Summary:
Some historical events simply beggar any attempt at description--the Holocaust is one of these. Therefore, as it recedes and the people able to bear witness die, it becomes more and more essential that novel, vigorous methods are used to describe the indescribable. Examined in these terms, Art Spiegelman's Maus is a tremendous achievement, from a historical perspective as well as an artistic one.
Spiegelman, a stalwart of the underground comics scene of the 1960s and '70s, interviewed his father, Vladek, a Holocaust survivor living outside New York City, about his experiences. The artist then deftly translated that story into a graphic novel. By portraying a true story of the Holocaust in comic form--the Jews are mice, the Germans cats, the Poles pigs, the French frogs, and the Americans dogs--Spiegelman compels the reader to imagine the action, to fill in the blanks that are so often shied away from. Reading Maus, you are forced to examine the Holocaust anew.
This is neither easy nor pleasant. However, Vladek Spiegelman and his wife Anna are resourceful heroes, and enough acts of kindness and decency appear in the tale to spur the reader onward (we also know that the protagonists survive, else reading would be too painful). This first volume introduces Vladek as a happy young man on the make in pre-war Poland. With outside events growing ever more ominous, we watch his marriage to Anna, his enlistment in the Polish army after the outbreak of hostilities, his and Anna's life in the ghetto, and then their flight into hiding as the Final Solution is put into effect. The ending is stark and terrible, but the worst is yet to come--in the second volume of this Pulitzer Prize-winning set. --Michael Gerber
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Calling it a "Survivor's Tale" is an understatement!
Customer Rating:
When I was growing up in the 1980's, I found that Holocaust survivors were either glad to be alive and well, or full of bitterness. Some were eager to tell their stories to the young; others carried the scars deep inside. For many years (perhaps until the 1970's) it was almost taboo for the survivors to talk about what happened. The children of Holocaust survivors have a lot of emotional baggage. Vadek Spiegelman is one such survivor. He kept himself alive using his great business sense and his "street smarts." He knew when to speak up and when to remain invisible, and used these abilities to help anyone who needed him. In fact he risked his life to save people when even his own relatives turned their backs on him. But Vladek's survival skills couldn't save everyone. His father, his son, his sister, and countless other relatives didn't survive. You wonder if Vladek feels guilty for not dying. Does he feel ashamed that he kept himself alive while his friends and family were killed? MAUS is a great book. Writing it as a graphic novel, with illustrations and speech bubbles works wonders for the story. It never matters what the person looks like in a story like this. What matters is how the characters interact. One thing is for sure; Vladek and his wife Anja went to bed every night with the worst memories, and their son Art is carrying them everywhere he goes.
A unique look at a horrible time...
Customer Rating:
Maus: A Survivor's Tale is author/illustrator Art Spiegelman's attempt to tell the story of his family as influenced by the Holocaust. This is part 1; part 2 is titled Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began. There is also a book that I assume combines both (The Complete Maus).
This is a graphic novel, and a graphic story. In Maus, Spiegelman slowly extracts the story of his father and his mother: how they met, how their lives changed as the Germans and the SS moved into Poland, their methods of survival, and eventually their capture and deportation to Auschwitz. Spiegelman intermixes this tale with his father's behaviors in the present, as a survivor.
The story depicts Jews as rat-like, Poles as pig-like, and Germans as cat-like. Seeing rats hang is not as "graphic" as seeing humans hang; there is a sobering and horrific quotation attributed to Adolf Hitler at the beginning of this book: "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human." The audacity of this statement is both amazing and incomprehensible. It also resulted in the deaths of so many innocents. Spiegelman uses the animal caricatures as representations of these Hitlerian distinctions.
This is an incomplete story. It doesn't end on page 159, and I assume the story line is picked up again in Maus II.
Spiegelman's story is haunting. You will finish Maus I in a little over an hour, and you will feel the tingling of horror in how humans actually have treated other humans.
Never again.
Maus
Customer Rating:
Maus was a very engaging book. From the beginning I was pulled into the story. Maus is written in a very unique way. Art Spiegelman drew the Jews as mice, the Nazis as cats, and the Poles as pigs. Art Spiegelman told the story from the perspective of his father telling the story through an interview format. It is written in the form of a graphic novel. It is an interesting way to learn about history during the World War II era. Overall I liked this book, except I really didn't like the end. Also, there was a little bit of language.
Masterpiece
Customer Rating:
i was one of the few among my peers who had never read one of the Maus books. When i finally got around to it, i was blown away by its excellence. This is a masterpiece (and i do not use the term lightly). Do yourself a favor and don't miss it.
Interesting
Customer Rating:
I must say that I find this work hard to properly describe in terms of how I feel about it. I think that it was a fascinating look at one man's experience in the Holocaust, but an equally important aspect is Art's interaction with his father during their conversations. This seems like an honest portrayal, especially since Art isn't afraid to include things that may make him look bad (he isn't always the most sympathetic son). I think connecting the story of what happened then, and how it's effects are apparent for the rest of a person's life (although different people reacted in different ways) is interesting. The way this is written is especially effective, because it truly feels like Vladek is telling you his story first hand. As for the artwork, although it isn't my favorite style, it seems to fit for this story. The simple, unpolished look is compatible with this story which is honest and raw. Finally, I would like to add that the second installment of this comic is darker, and more depressing and sad at times, but once you read Maus I, you must (and will want to) read Maus II in order to feel any closure with the story.
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