Maus by Art Spiegelman

Maus by Art Spiegelman was an incredibly interesting read. The main thing that stuck with me the entire time was just how incredibly lucky the grandfather was during the holocaust. Right up until the end of the story there were incredible hardships that are unimaginable in today's society. The grandfather somehow by the grace of god managed not only to survive but he managed not to have a mental breakdown. I figured you had to be a very resourceful, and determined person to have survived. I think this book does an incredible job of reminding the readers of the travesties that occurred in the world's history. I think people must be reminded of how terrible things can become when someone evil has too much power. That peace is fleeting and if we don't do everything in our power to keep the peace or at least try to mitigate the hate we could very much return to such horrific events. I also really liked how Art chose to take the route of dehumanizing the people in the story so the message would be easier to digest and take in. There are some truly horrifying acts depicted. The art for me was a big overwhelming at times because the structure of the novel was so tightly compacted. There were too many words for some panels and everything practically had the same value of tone. Still I forced myself to read all of it in one day to keep everything fresh and experience the read fully. I would recommend this title to anyone. This is in my opinion a mandatory read in today's troubling times.