Embroideries

Marjane Satrapi is a fantastic artist with incredibly nice stories to tell and I’ll urge everyone reading this post to please pick any of her work and you will like it. I first read Persepolis years ago and recently read Chicken with Plums and Embroideries by her.

Embroideries is a story of a group of ladies gathered together having a conversation over the traditional Samovar. I am not going to tell you why the book is called “Embroideries” because I sincerely hope you have a good laugh after you read it yourself.

What I find ever so often when I pick a book that has more of a “conversation between the people”, as the central theme is that conversations around the world between a group of people is always the same. We think we are the only ones plagued by a certain problem – W.R.O.N.G. We think Arab countries don’t have feminists – W.R.O.N.G. We think only “some” women are opinionated. Maybe we never did a good job of listening?

“Embroideries” is a series of stories exchanged while a bunch of women are enjoying post lunch tea. At times it is hilarious and at times it’s dark and on occasion very relatable.

But most importantly it is written for everybody. Read it for the stories and read it to enjoy the art work.

On another note – Marjane Satrapi doesn’t like that her books are called “graphic novels” she has vehemently stood ground on the fact that she writes “comics”.

So for anybody who might make a jab about this being a review of a Graphic novel and NOT a comic.  Please know I stand by the authors I like. If she says it’s a comic, it IS A COMIC.

My rating of the book: 5/5

Would I recommend it?  Yes! Buy a copy for your collection and have everyone you know read it. J