I first received a copy of MAUS in high school back in the 90s. My mom knew I liked comics and I guess she heard this was good or something. She doesn't even remember giving me it, but it legitimately changed my view of what could be done with comics as a medium.

That said, it's an incredibly personal look into one man grappling with his father's history with the Holocaust, his relationship with both that and his own father, and the imperfections found everywhere in those wrought relationships. Smarter folks than I have commented on how it doesn't take a nationalistic/Zionistic approach to the Holocaust that most stories on the subject matter. I consider it a required reading.