MAUS by Art Spiegelman

“When did you first hear about Auschwitz?” “Right AWAY we heard … even from there – from that other world – people came back and told us. But we didn’t believe.” (conversation between Art and Vladek Spiegelman). Maus is one of those books that will leave you speechless. It follows the life of Vladek Spiegelman, the father of the author, through his horrific survival story of Nazi occupied Poland during WWII. The graphic novel is beautifully written and drawn by using cats to represent the Nazis and mice as the Jews. Although there are comical moments, the story never loses its grittiness even as it switches back and forth between Vladek’s story and Art’s. Spiegelman writes the story showing the reader how he created it, giving the reader a behind the scenes feel to the complexity of his relationship with his father and the challenges he faced as he listened to Vladek’s survival story. Whether you liked graphic novels or not, this one is a work of art that deserves to be read.--Claudio Leon