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First off, I'd like to give some trigger warnings about this book. As with most trigger warnings, this will spoil some aspects of the book. Triggers include: suicide, a child committing suicide, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and potentially marital rape. The marital rape isn't explicit, but there are some themes of unconsensual sexual acts and advances from a spouse.

This book started off pretty rough. Not just in the sense that the emotional tone of the opening act is oppressively dismal, but also in the sense that the writing in the first several sections just doesn't read well. The pacing is choppy, and the perspective shifts are so rapid that it's hard to get a grip on the personalities and ideologies of the people living through these events.

The pacing and whiplash perspective changes don't improve, but I got used to it, and eventually I got a good concept of who these people were and why I should even care about them. Once the book and I got to that point of understanding, the story was engaging, relatable, and deeply moving.

The ending left me more irritated than anything else. I felt it should have been Luther who died rather than LC, but perhaps that was the point and it's supposed to be a commentary about how children often pay for their parent's mistakes.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you want an honest - albeit very painful - story of parenting. If you're looking for something more lighthearted or something where the animal doesn't die at the end then you might want to look elsewhere.

The Good: this is one of the best representations of being a "third-culture" kid I've read yet. It really captures the feeling of not belonging to any one culture or perspective and finding a sense of unique identity in that while still feeling lost and confused. The art is well crafted and I never found myself wondering what any of the panels were supposed to be depicting. Satrapi's story is inherently fascinating and the pacing kept me engaged without feeling rushed.

The In-Between: The depictions of the regime in Iran and the ways of life Satrapi experiences give a lot of food for thought. There are some helpful descriptions of words or concepts that are not familiar to western audiences, however a certain amount of knowledge about Europe seems to be assumed of the reader.

The Bad: The ending felt very abrupt and unfulfilling to me. I often felt that the illustrations - although well made - didn't tell the reader much that the dialogue and narration didn't already say, making it feel less like a graphic novel and more like a novella with illustrations.