Maus II, And Here My Troubles Began

A Survivor's Tale

by Art Spiegelman

135 pages

English language

Published Jan. 6, 1986 by Pantheon Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-394-55655-0
OCLC Number:: 24319614

(65 reviews)

A memoir of Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and about his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his story, and history. Cartoon format portrays Jews as mice, Nazis as cats. Using a unique comic-strip-as-graphic-art format, the story of Vladek Spiegelman's passage through the Nazi Holocaust is told in his own words. Acclaimed as a "quiet triumph" and a "brutally moving work of art," the first volume of Art Spiegelman's Maus introduced readers to Vladek Spiegelman. The story succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive. As the New York Times Book Review commented, "[it is] a remarkable feat of documentary detail and novelistic vividness ... an unfolding literary event." This long-awaited sequel, subtitled And Here My Troubles Began, moves us from the barracks of Auschwitz to the bungalows of the Catskills. Genuinely tragic and comic by turns, it attains a complexity of theme and a precision of thought new to comics and rare in any medium. Maus ties together two powerful stories: Vladek's harrowing tale of survival against all odds, delineating the paradox of daily life in the death camps, and the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Vladek's troubled remarriage, minor arguments between father and son, and life's everyday disappointments are all set against a backdrop of history too large to pacify. At every level this is the ultimate survivor's tale--and that too of the children who somehow survive even the survivors.

8 editions

jordanduke reviewed Maus II And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman

Review of "Maus II: A Survivor's Tale" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

4.5 stars. I “liked” this more than the first. As much as one can like a book about such horrific history.

Gabe reviewed Maus II, And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman

Review of 'Maus II, And Here My Troubles Began' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Deeply upsetting but so important.

Zéro Janvier reviewed Maus II, Et c'est là que mes ennuis ont commencé by Art Spiegelman

Review of "Maus II, Et c'est là que mes ennuis ont commencé" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Cette deuxième partie poursuit magistralement cette œuvre incroyablement riche. Je comprends désormais pourquoi les critiques sont si élogieuses sur cette bande dessinée. Le récit historique est évidemment à la fois horrible et captivant, et j’ai aussi beaucoup aimé comment l’auteur raconte dans sa bande dessinée le processus de création de l’œuvre elle-même. Une très belle réussite, mémorable.

HokieGeek reviewed Maus II And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman

Review of 'Maus II, And Here My Troubles Began' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

As other reviewers have stated, this book will break your heart. It is an example and how the Holocaust is still affecting generations of Jews. Sharing the author's journey through the process of learning about his parents and how the terrible events they suffered shaped their life and his is a humbling experience. I loved this book.