Customer Reviews

Maus: A Survivor's Tale

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Browsing through the reviews and comments about Maus, I saw that there was some question as to whether the hardcover edition comprised Parts I and II. This is understandable because the product is listed in Amazon as "The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale (No 1)," which seems contradictory.

When I was considering purchasing it, I looked at the number of pages that were listed for the edition and guessed that it included both parts of the story. So I bought it, it arrived fine, and I am now writing to confirm that yes, this edition includes I and II.

Amazon should look into this and remove the "(No 1)" from the listing's title.

The title of this review consists of words I don't use too often. But this is a masterpiece that deserved its Pulitzer Prize and then some. What makes Spiegelman's work so moving is the juxtaposition of a supposedly lighthearted form, the comic strip, with the greatest evil and suffering in human history, the Holocaust. Spiegelman's parents miraculously survived the concentration camps, being among very few survivors, getting by on luck and (in the case of Spiegelman's father) a lot of resourcefulness. This is their story, from the point of view of the father, who lost nearly all of his relatives. With the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats, this work pulls no punches in describing the true horrors of the Holocaust, and Spiegelman's minimalist artwork makes the images all the more disturbing. You don't get this kind of emotion, terror, and brutal honesty in standard written accounts of the period. But underneath the direct suffering of the Holocaust, the true theme of this book is the lasting effects on the Spiegelman family, including the father's lasting agony and the mental illness shared by both Spiegelman's mother and himself, who hadn't even been born yet. The strained relationship between father and son are the true heart of this tremendous work. I haven't been this blown away by a work of literature in a very long time, if ever.

Foremost, let's discuss your options: the hardcover "Complete Maus" is your best buy. While it may be tempting to purchase the box-set, the hardcover edition is best for longevity. The box-set is comprised of the two soft-cover volumes in a very nice sleeve . . . but it cannot endure multiple reads as gracefully as the hardcover . . . which can be passed around to your friends and family and still maintain a tight binding. The price is comparable, but even it if were not, I would still endorse the complete single volume.

Next, let's explore why this work is used in college classrooms throughout the world. While historical texts provide much needed facts and details of The Holocaust, they frequently disconnect students from the human element. The scope of The Holocaust is just too overwhelming . . . six million, where to begin? And while many films emotionally engage us, sometimes historical inaccuracies frustrate eager learners. Moreover, even the very best films (like "Schindler's List") cannot (perhaps should not) show us the truth. For instance, when reading Brecher's "Schindler's Legacy," we learn that there are many details omitted from Spielberg's work: such as infants being held by their ankles and swung against walls until dead or the vicious dogs which mauled to death those in concentration camps. How can Spielberg show this and still maintain his audience . . . the fear is that he may not. But Spiegelman can. By relating history through mice and the graphic-novel format, Spiegelman can provide just enough emotional distance to relate many of the details which cannot be successfully told otherwise (a point which needs to be clarified in light of the fairly ignorant posts I am reading here about this text). And it does so without be branded "gratuitous." In my experience, it is one of the most effective ways to educate young people (and people of every age) about The Holocaust and the its legacy. And while many works on The Holocaust are met with student-resistance (filled with fear and anger, they fight history), this one is not. It is the gift of this work . . . people listen.

If, by chance, you wish to continue exploring Spiegelman's work, there is a phenomenal critical text which provides illumination: "Considering Maus: Approaches to Art Spiegelman's 'Survivor's Tale' of the Holocaust" by Deborah R. Geis. While geared toward scholars, it can be understood by anyone with a minimum of patience. It is worth the read, but not necessary to the comprehension of this work.

It should be known that Spiegelman's work is a personal one. Much of the text is drawn from the life of his father and what his father endured. So know that Spiegelman approaches this work with the utmost reverence. And while it relates the history of his father, it provides a very accurate description of history. In fact, this piece won The Pulitzer Prize.

This work is one of the most valuable of the twentieth-century. Without hesitation, I recommend it to anyone with an interest in history, literature, philosophy, or illustration.

I haven't read many graphic novels, but I am decently well-read otherwise, and my knowledge of the Holocaust would be above the average person's, but not phenomenal. Given that background, and all that I had read about Maus, I was expecting a "tour de force" that would make at least a minor dent on my reading career. That, unfortunately, was not to be, and while I finished the book feeling that the time spent on it was definitely well spent, the book is already fading in my memory.

Maus tells the tale of an artist who decides to write a comic book based on his Father's recount of the Holocaust, which, in fact, is what the author is doing based on his own Father's experiences. The book spans about 4 decades from the mid-thirties to the seventies, covering the pre-WWII period to the time when the author is actually exploring the past with his Father and writing this book. There are two stories intertwined marvelously in this book: a first-hand survivor's experience of life before, during, and after the Holocaust, and that of a relationship between an ageing Father and young-to-middle aged son who have a serious disconnect.

The two stories could actually have been written independently, but it is their excellent juxtaposition which is one of the clear highlights of the book, for it has a multiplier affect on the poignancy of both the Father's and the Son's situations. Each of the stories themselves is well crafted, managing to weave together a bunch of incidents across points in time to create a very smoothly flowing narrative. I was particularly impressed by the telling of the Father-Son relationship, for it manages to pick and show very small events which we know can cumulatively build up to create tremendous long-term frustration, but are almost never able to remember, or recount effectively, or demonstrate the impact of, either to ourselves or to others. Art picks his moments beautifully, and even though the setting is completely different, I felt that I could completely empathize with him (as I am sure my Parents would be able to with his Father!)

The recount of the Holocaust had less of an impact on me, possibly because I was familiar enough with the nature of the incidents, if not a particular man's plight. The exploration of the atrocities was done in a very straight-forward, linear, and almost journalistic fashion (which is somewhat understandable given Art's leanings.) Consequently, while it was still somewhat horrific to revisit these heinous crime scenes, the impact was diminished as there was nothing different in the story. As a contrast, think of the film "Life is Beautiful", and you'll understand how a difference in the storyline or presentation style can significantly enhance the poignancy and impact even when lesser time is spent on the war crimes themselves.

The artwork in the book is average, although it does have it moments of brilliance. The most impactful choice of course is that of portraying people from different nationalities in different and appropriate animal forms e.g. Jews as mice and Germans as cats.

Overall, I would definitely recommend reading the book, but with a lowered set of expectations than one would normally develop upon reading the reams of extreme praise that have been showered upon this book. Keep that in mind, and I am quite confident you will find the book a very worthwhile reading experience.

The Complete Maus takes several themes already at work in the comic (especially Art's conflict with his father, Vladek, and Art's struggles with the completion of Maus) and pushes them even further, by offering insight into how the comic was produced. Especially haunting are the audio clips of Spiegelman's interviews with his father--as Spiegelman says in one of the interviews, this CD allows the reader to get his father's side of the story, to a larger degree than was possible in the text version of the book. This is one of the few CD-ROMs that actually lives up to the potential of multimedia--it genuinely allows you to experience the text in a way that is wholly different from reading a book. As a writing teacher, I especially appreciate Speigelman's running comments on how he chose to construct various parts of the comic; these discussions help students see that writing is a process of research, revising, and even occasional dead end, not something that "just ! happens."

Imaginative...shocking...brilliant. As the title so cleverly suggests, I could go on for days raving about this book. Having clearly thrown my objectivity out the window, let me tell you why Art Speigelman's Maus is the best thing to happen to comix since sliced bread.

Although Maus is written in comic strip format, Spiegelman does everything he can to subvert our assumptions about the medium. There are few, if any, character `thought bubbles;' there is little emphasis on humour and witty exchanges. This is a serious book about a serious subject: the holocaust. As Spiegelman himself notes in the book (I am paraphrasing here), "how can a comic strip, a medium historically dismissed as nothing more than `the funnies,' capture the horror and pathos of the attempted extermination of an entire race of people?" The great achievement of the book is that not only does it meet this lofty challenge, I honestly can't think of another medium that could have better captured the spirit of those times. Spiegelman's skilful use of illustration adds a layer of irony to the story, and demonstrates the pathos that underscored the rise of Nazi Germany. Particularly interesting is that people of differing backgrounds appear as animals. There is the obvious binary where Germans are depicted as cats and Jews as mice (the text quotes a disturbing German Nazi-era editorial equating Jews with the flea-ridden mouse). Among others, Poles appear as pigs, the French as frogs (problematic, to say the least, although Spiegelman tries to justify this by pointing out instances of French hostility towards Jews), and Americans as dogs. The reasons why certain animals symbolize certain countries or ethnicities is not explained, neither whether ethnicity and nationhood are essentially the same construct. There are some great images where Jews wear masks of other animals to disguise their true identities.

I can't recommend this enough. I have had friends and family uninterested with the graphic novel genre read Maus, and they have universally loved it. The book treats the Holocaust in a novel and startlingly original way. The narrative is quite a coup for the comix genre, as Maus powerfully demonstrates that graphic novels need not have Captain American or Charlie Brown to be read and enjoyed.

After everything you've ever read or seen about the Holocaust, you still need to read this book. It's an experience unlike any other, because it's the only comic book (as a lifelong fan, I can't call them graphic novels, which I feel is only a term used to generate mainstream acceptance) ever created to specifically focus in on this issue and tell the story of a Holocaust survivor. And being a comic, Maus has advantages over just about every other medium of communication. The text allows Spiegelman to go into greater depth with his subject than film or television could. The pictures, and especially the sequential panel structure, allow Spiegelman to provide quick and dirty narratives at particular junctures, and allow the reader's imagination take care of the rest.

And make no mistake, Spiegelman doesn't shy away from details of suffering in the book. Many such details are conveyed in matter-of-fact form, and somehow, that doesn't diminish their impact or the monstrous conditions the Jews lived in during the Holocaust. I'll never forget the one panel showing Spiegelman's young parents, hiding from the Nazis and starving, chewing on a piece of wood because "it feels like real food." Incredible.

As an added treasure, Spiegelman often appears as a character in his own book and provides commentary on the book creation process and his relationship with his father. Incredibly honest and poignant, Spiegelman has created an unforgettable treasure.

And if you're not going to read it for Vladek Spiegelman's moving story of survival and love for his wife, read it to find out that comics aren't just for kids anymore.

My grandmother Esther use to call my comic collection "MICKEY MOUSE" She died in 1988 and I think never understood the power of a graphic novel

The power of a graphic novel is not just collection of stories in a cartoon way. Some have impact beyond the level of simple storytelling. There are newish biographical graphic tales like Maus, the illustrated 9/11 report, King and Barefoot Gen which related history not Superheroes adventures. Howewwver there is also a new crop of adult Graphic novel also which is stronger than superheroes which current filmmakers are making into movies like Sin City, From Hell, and the History of Violence

Lets talk about Maus. Art Spiegelman related his father's real life story of being Jewish in Europe in World War two and the holocaust. Orginally a two volume set, it is complete here. It is better in one complete volume.

This graphic novel is related in Animal farm-que style (Poles are Pigs, Cats are Germans, etc), not this isnt funny animal comics like Looney Tunes. With Spiegelman's symbolism, you can understand the story quickly and it the points.

The holocaust is hard to take in most normal novels, audio books and biographies-in a graphic novel format, it is not easier to take-it become more emotional on a deeper level. Since the emotions give away to the images on the page to the further animated images in your mind of the action. It is a testimate of this book's power that It can make you weep.

This is a powerful work that every High School student NEEDS to read! In the graphic novel format, it is a book that is not a comic book. It is a strong illustrated story, It is something that needs to be read often and by many.

For those naysays who think a comic is still a comic not matter what...well I can't win you over. Buy this book and see if you can prove me wrong. I bet once you read this, you will be a beleiver.

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

One can't really say anything much about the book that has been thoroughly analyzed over and over again. Maus" was one of the books that changed the rules of comics (along with Miller's Dark knight returns" and Moore's Watchmen"), changed the way they were looked upon by general public and introduced a vast new array of themes, ideas and methods of representation in the medium. Maus" destroyed a notion of comic-book being a children's fantasy play, introducing the most well-known trauma of 20th century inside of something that used to have laser-eyed heroes and evil aliens from outer space. It was a biography, it was a memento, it was a fiction and a representation, it was a comic and it was a book, it was a testimony and at the same time modern and post-modern. It wasn't like anything else present back then. And people tend to notice this kind of stuff. Even the people that used to roll their eyes on mere notion of reading a comic-book. There wasn't anything `comic' about it. Sure, there was comedy, there was a bit of playfulness included, but between them, in black and white panels on numerous pages, bricks were hidden. Bricks which hit hard and left their mark upon you. You couldn't have been a fan of the `Maus' in a way you could've been a fan of `X-men' or `Krazy'. `Maus' didn't play by the rules and that was what made him extraordinary. And still makes it like that today.

I could talk for ages about historical value of this narrative, about structural and representational innovations in the medium, about the novelty of themes and many of other things like these. But, that is a historical approach to this book which doesn't need to concern you a bit. After all, if you're really interested there is abundance of papers readily available for you to read. What I want from this short entry is that you get the feeling what `Maus' is today, and why you really should read it. Now, I'm not much of a best-book-ever, you-must-read-this type of the person - if you have read my reviews here on Amazon you should know that by now. But somehow, if I try to beat around the bush avoiding these words that looks like a blatant lie. You really should read `Maus', and it really is a `best-book-ever' (reasonable doubt allowed). Even if you're sick and tired of all the media about WWII and Holocaust, even if you can't handle any more drama or horror tales of human behavior. Before anything else `Maus' is an eulogy, ode to one's father and exploration of father-son relationship and generational gap surrounding it all. It is not a critique of Holocaust, it is not an exploration of ideology that led to WWII nor is it a moral tale from which you should learn something of importance, least of all it is an attack on Polish people and various collaborators. There are no judgments inside `Maus' - Spiegelman is aware that every judgment is partial in itself and that in real life there are no heroes. Sure, there are horrors of Auschwitz in it, there are Germans and there are Jews, there is a struggle and inhuman conditions but all of these make rather gruesome stage upon which Spiegelman parades his characters. Vladek (protagonist of this biography) is not a nice person, or better - he's not a hero or someone whose mere presence will challenge the madness of WWII. He is an ordinary individual forced to survive, like everybody else inside this book. On one level it's a story about mass behavior, about cattle-like mentality of slavers and slaves alike. On the other it's a story about unfathomable experience - touching, intimate, real, difficult, hard-hitting and (sort of) universal. And you can't really begin to understand its magnitude before you put few years on your back. What's more important than experience of Auschwitz is what comes after and the way that experience reflects itself in the different circumstances.

From the day it was published this book received lot of hate, almost as much as it was praised. It is too easy a target. But, if you insist on clinging on political or ideological readings of `Maus' you'll be missing the large, and most important part of the book. `Maus' doesn't want to be definite portrayal of anything. If anything it wants to be a love-letter, one of those letters that we write when it's already too late, when persons we love the most (and usually the ones that get on our nerves the most) are long gone and cannot reply to us anymore. `Maus' is the story about family, about happiness and about small and constant tragedies of everyday life told inside a world gone mad. If there was no Holocaust included here, book would have made lesser impact in the world. But don't let that misguide you. Holocaust is just a small part of this book, part that requires advanced reading skills to be read properly.

If you ever wondered about the comics and what's the fuss all about, this is the place you should visit first. `Maus' will open many doors for you. Which one will you take is entirely up to you.

I am pushing these books on everyone I know. Spiegelman deserved his Pulitzer for Maus - it's a tour de force.

Those reviewers who quibble with his interpretation seem to be missing the point over and over again: Spiegelman is not telling an all-encompassing history of the Holocaust. He's simply setting down his father's story, warts and all, and he tells the story perfectly. The swing back and forth between the portrayals of the older and younger dad provides some needed relief from the unending horror his father experienced during the Nazi era. It also helps show in what ways his father remained the same or changed as he grew older.

At base, Maus is a character study of Spiegelman's father as much as it is an account of his dad's experiences during the Holocaust.