This belongs among the elite graphic novels along side MAUS & A CONTRACT WITH GOD (and possibly the LONE WOLF AND CUB series as a whole). Like MAUS the engaging art work draws you in allowing tragedy to rise around you like a tide that could easily swallow you. Like A CONTRACT WITH GOD, religion can be what holds you down by the feet as that very water rises. Like only PERSEPOLIS, a personal coming of age story amidst a chaotic social uprising—where the author doesn’t just become a static survivor adult but remains a strong willed yearning individual. That transition to adulthood is the most fascinating part of the book. The child running from the day to day threat of history is an amazing story—but the hard edged often uncomfortable adult depicted for the book’s second half is mostly what I remember. Both parts together create a compelling portrait of the author.