Book Review of "The Complete Maus"

“The Complete Maus” is by far one of the most uniquely conceptualized and brilliantly executed graphic novels. It is brutal, it is honest and it moves you in a profound way. It won the Pulitzer (very few graphic novels have achieved this).

“No, darling! To die it's easy... But you have to struggle for life!”

The author’s parents were holocaust survivors. The book chronicles the horrors, the atrocities, and the abject humiliations the author’s father endured and how a combination of hope, resourcefulness, and pure luck helped him survive. What makes this book unique though is that the author portrays this in an unusual and allegorical way - the Jews are drawn as having mice heads and the Nazis as cat heads. All panels are black and white. It is this cold, cruel and yet hauntingly cartoonish way of telling the story that leaves you speechless. 

"I know this is insane, but I somehow wish I had been in Auschwitz with my parents so I could really know what they lived through! I guess it's some kind of guilt about having had an easier life than they did.”

Reading “The Complete Maus” reminded me of a somber afternoon I spent a few years back in the Holocaust Museum of Washington DC. It had reminded me then and it reminded me again after reading this book, the countless acts of violence perpetrated not just on the Holocaust victims but of victims of so many other communities and peoples. The allegory of “The Complete Maus” underscores this point very well. A solid 5/5.

Book Review of "Tuesdays with Morrie"

Tuesdays with Morrie is one of those books that I found to be 5-star worthy in some parts and 1-star or even zero-star worthy in some. Maybe that’s because I should have read this at a time when my tolerance for preachy or pseudo-self-help books was high or maybe when the cynicism of being in the early 30s hadn’t settled in.

When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.

 

The book chronicles the story of Dr. Morrie Schwartz, a University Professor diagnosed with ALS - a lengthy, slow, and painful death sentence. But with this compelling premise, the book, IMHO, is just an overly dramatic, drawn-out discussion about life priorities. There are definitely some heartfelt moments that make you stop and reflect but those are few and their impact gets diminished by the saccharine and not-so-subtle wannabe tear-jerking prose.

Anyhoo, I wish I had enjoyed this book, but I couldn’t. Let’s say it’s just me and not the book and move on; 3/5