Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Maus, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Oct 31, 2022 Harold Ogle rated it really liked it

Shelves: santa-clara-county-library, history, memoir, comics

Recommendation: The first of a 2-volume comic about a young man trying to relate to his father and stepmother while working on a comic illustrating his father's life in 1930s-1940s Poland, Maus' character dynamics of "the present" - the funny and sad ways all the members of the family relate to each other - are at least as compelling as the father's account of the Holocaust.

Critique: This is my first re-read of this comic since the early 90s. Here's a few observations that jumped out to me on th Recommendation: The first of a 2-volume comic about a young man trying to relate to his father and stepmother while working on a comic illustrating his father's life in 1930s-1940s Poland, Maus' character dynamics of "the present" - the funny and sad ways all the members of the family relate to each other - are at least as compelling as the father's account of the Holocaust.

Critique: This is my first re-read of this comic since the early 90s. Here's a few observations that jumped out to me on this read. Maus was definitely influenced by Robert Crumb and other underground comics artists: it's very autobiographical, and in presenting actual events from the author's life, it presents a very unvarnished, often negative, view of the author. Art comes across as petulant and self-centered, but he is also endearing in his desire to chronicle his parents' lives.

It's never really explained, but in presenting the real-world characters (both in the 1970s/1980s "present" and in the 1930s oral history) as anthropomorphic animals rather than humans, Spiegelman simultaneously allows us to view the larger stories and emotions rather than the individual personal beats, and gives himself permission to not get hung up on trying to accurately depict real people in his life. It's a very clever choice, and by drawing Jews as mice, Poles as pigs, and Germans as cats (and, in the very first frame, Americans as dogs), he is able to visually establish the power and trust dynamics in any particular frame. Are they among their own people? Are they masquerading as someone they're not? Are they putting their trust in someone who is likely to betray them? It's all there in every frame, without a single word balloon needed.

What I didn't realize until this re-read was that this comic was published as separate issues that were published across a span of six years (with a reprint of a very raw comic about his mom's suicide depicting them all as humans from 1973). Because I've only ever read this as a collection, I'd thought that it had only been published that way, despite the fact that nearly all "graphic novels" are collections of individual comics that together tell one story arc. Realizing that there was a big real-world gap between each "chapter" really changes my appreciation for the narrative, inserting a beat there in my reading.

Of course, the story of the Holocaust is personal and heartbreaking. Every family's story is different, and yet they're all similar: the denial; the paranoia; the devolving conditions; the casual cruelty, frequent betrayals, and occasional grace; the series of lucky turns that led to someone surviving the calculated extermination. They're all here, and presented in such a strong voice here that it feels like one of your relatives telling the story directly to you.

Review: What follows is the plot. (view spoiler)[Art goes to his father Vladek with the idea of drawing a biographical comic. His father is a cranky old retiree who has remarried after Art's mother, Anja, committed suicide 7 years ago. Art has a hard time relating to his dad, who he deeply resents. His stepmother, Mala, often takes Art aside to complain about his father, and the two old people bicker and snipe at each other all the time. Art's father begins to tell his story, jumping around in time, stopping and restarting. But as he continues, Vladek's story gradually emerges.

In part 1, we learn that Vladek was a ladies' man in the early 30s in Poland. He fell madly in love with a beautiful woman, Lucia, but threw her over for a wealthy girl, Anja. Lucia caused some drama and so he had to besmirch Lucia's character to keep in Anja's good graces. His ambition and greed paid off, and they were married in 1937.

In part 2, we learn that Anja wasn't so great, either. She was infatuated with a young communist, for whom she translated his screeds into various languages. Somebody tipped off the police, but the communist managed to tip off Anja, so she hid the manifestos in her neighbor's house. When the police searched the place, they arrested the neighbor as a communist and not Anja. Anja's dad set Vladek up with a textiles factory and they quickly made a pile of money and had their first child, Richieu. But Anja had a nervous breakdown, and Vladek took her to a sanitarium in Czechoslovakia. On the way there, he saw his first swastika, and he and the other Jewish men on the train exchanged rumors and worries about the Nazis. Anja recoverd after 3 months and they returned to Poland to find that Nazi sympathizers were holding anti-Jewish rallies. Then in 1939, Vladek was drafted into the Polish army.

In part 3, he went to war. At first he didn't fire his gun, but his Polish commanders berated him, so he fired his rifle. But then he was captured by the Germans and taken to a prisoner of war camp. There the Jews were seprated from the other Poles and given worse living conditions. Vladek and many others volunteered for a work program, where they did excavations and had better living conditions (tools, beds, walls, decent food). Vladek had a dream that he would be free on Parshas Truma and the Germans released them all on that day...which is the same day that he married Anja and the day that Art was born. But the released Jewish prisoners were transported through Germany back through the part where he lived (which had been officially annexed into the German Empire) and into the region of Poland that was now a "German Protectorate." There they were placed in another prison. But some wealthy Jews bribed the German officials to discharge any prisoners to relatives, if those relatives were locals. So one of Vladek's friends who lived nearby came and claimed him. AFter a few days of living with them, Vladek executed a plan to get back to the Reich and his family: he wore his Polish army uniform and asked a Polish train conductor for help, neglecting to mention he was Jewish. The conductor hid him from the German authorities and he was able to return home. After this account, Art goes to leave only to find that Vladek has thrown away his jacket and given him a new one, a gaudy ski jacket.

In part 4, Vladek tries to talk Art into helping repair the roof gutter. Back in 1939, he was reunited with his wife's extended family. Vladek becomes a black marketeer. He escaped a roundup of Jews where the Germans were beating them to death by joining another man, Ilzecki, who was valued by the Germans for his ability to bribe them with money and goods. Ilzecki invited Vladek to send his son Richieu away to be raised and sheltered by some Poles, but Anja refused. The Germans started hanging Jewish black marketeers and shipping the elderly away to camps, so Vladek and Anja's family made a secret room to hide her grandparents. But the Germans issued an ultimatum: deliver the grandparents or they would take her parents away instead. With his wealth and position, Anja's dad still had some influence, so he managed to convince them to only take him away. But this only satisfied the Nazis for so long; they came back for Anja's mother and the rest of the family, so they decided to give up the grandparents after all, adn they were gassed at Auschwitz. Months later, all the Jews had to register for a census, which the Nazis used to sort them into two categories: useful ones, and ones that would be sent immediately to the death camps, including Art's grandfather. Back in the present, Art becomes fixated on finding Anja's journals, in which she documented her life and her experiences through the same period. But he's unable to find them and his dad in vague about where they are.

In part 5, Vladek climbs onto the roof to fix the drainpipe, and tries to get Art's help. But Art is unwilling, because he feels like he never measures up to his father's expectations. A week later, Art is trying to do the next interview, but his dad is distant and irritable. Mala reveals that the son of her friend reads Art's comics, and she gave Mala a copy of "Prisoner on the Hell Planet," a comic Art drew in 1973 in which he's angry and resentful of his mom and so ignores her cries for help, and gets even angrier and more resentful after she kills herself. Vladek read it and was upset. After explaining that he still hadn't found Anja's diariers, the father told more of his story as they walked to the bank. It was 1943, and a Jewish leader from a ghetto in another town convinced them to send their boy Richieu and some of the women off to live with him, because he had some pull with the Germans, having bribed them to spare his 90-year-old grandfather. So they sent Richieu and some others away. But then the Nazis decided to exterminate that ghetto, and that family decided to kill themselves and the children rather than go to the camps. Back home, Vladek and Anja's remaining family made a secret room below their coal scuttle. There they managed to evade most German searches to round up survivors to send to the camps. But they found a Jewish scavenger and gave him shelter. He later turned them in to the Nazis. The Nazis took them to a holding camp; Vladek and Anja's father pooled their remaining jewels and bribed a Jewish collaborator, Haskel, who played cards with the Nazi officers, to smuggle them out...but in the end he took only Vladek and Anja. Haskel took the money but didn't help her parents, and the next day they were loaded into trucks and taken away to Auschwitz. Vladek was given a job repairing Nazi boots in a factory with Haskel's brother. But inevitably, the Nazis decided to clear out this ghetto, too. They made a secret tunnel through the mountain of boots into two adjacent buildings' cellars, and several families fled there and waited for the Nazis to finish sending everyone else off to the camps. Haskel's brother bribed a Nazi officer to let them escape, but Vladek was too suspicious and didn't go. He shadowed the group when they went with the officer, and heard as they were all shot. Vladek, Anja, and the few remaining in the other cellar waited several days longer, until they saw that there had been no lights in the Nazi guard station for two nights straight. They emerged into an abandoned city and wandered off into the countryside. Back in the present, Vladek and Art arrive at the bank, where Vladek gets Art a key to his safe deposit box. They open the box to reveal some jewelry that Vladek stashed in a chimney during the war and went back and recovered later, after the war. He complains that Mala is eager for him to die so that she can get his money.

In part 6, Mala reveals that Vladek is a hoarder, always looking to reuse something cheap instead of paying money for it. Vladek comes in and Art shows him the previous comics he's made from Vladek's accounts (particularly issue 5, with the black marketeers being hung). Vladek lauds him and says he could become a success like the other cartoonist, "What's-his-name" (Walt Disney). Vladek then complains how Mala's always going to the hairdresser. Back in 1943, Vladek and Anja wandered from town to town. Eventually they found a Pole who knew her from before, and he suggested they check out the black market in town. Vladek was able to barter jewelry for food, and met some other people who suggested a sympathetic Polish woman who could shelter them. Her husband was away on a business for weeks at a time, so they were able to live in relative comfort in her cellar then. When it became clear that it wasn't safe, their host arranged to smuggle them to another house with a sympathetic Polish goyim family, with her friend escorted by Vladek (pretending to be her husband) and Anja pretending to be the friend's son nanny. They lived in this new place in comfort for a while, but the constant paranoia weighed on them. So they jumped at the rumor that some Polish guys were taking money to smuggle Jews to Hungary. The host urged Vladek to not trust the smugglers, but he said he'd wait until they got a letter from their friends who had paid to be smuggled. But in the meantime, Vladek pooled all their money and paid the smugglers to take them. Anja freaked out, convinced the smugglers were no good, but then they got a letter weeks later that claimed that all was well. With the letter, Vladek was able to convince Anja to go along with the smugglers, who took them to the train station and then turned them in to the Nazis. The Nazis put them in a holding jail, where Vladek met a Pole who needed help writing letters (as he knew no German). Vladek wrote the letters for the Pole, and then the Pole split the care package with him just before he and Anja were shipped off to Auschwitz. (hide spoiler)] ...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Slayermel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels, history, 20th-century, religion, non-fiction, young-adult, series, true-crime, biography, animals

I always wanted to read “Maus” but was not sure exactly what to expect in the writing style of it. Having lived in Germany for eight and a half years growing up I’m quite familiar with the history, but was not sure how such a sad and horrible past could be done justice in a graphic novel. I have to say that Art Spiegelman accomplished what I thought was not possible.

I love how he used animal characters as a visual to differentiate between the Nazis, Poles and Jewish citizens. He managed to get t ...more

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Jan 26, 2015 Cora rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: holocaust, world-war-ii, war, animals, europe, graphic-novels, memoir, biography, family, allegory

Maus I is a graphic novel that tells the true story of the author's (Art Spiegleman) father's experiences as a Jewish man in Poland during WWII. The symbolism in the novel is great. Different types of people are represented by different animals; Jews are mice, Nazi's are cats, Non-Jewish Polish are pigs, Americans are dogs, etc. When the characters try to blend in with the non-Jewish population, they wear pig masks. The first book (Maus I...the story is continued in Maus II) covers the onset of ...more

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Dec 26, 2009 Tara rated it really liked it

This was my second graphic novel and although different than the first, just as powerful. It was truly a different experience to read about the holocaust in this format. The horrors were more vivid when drawn in black ink. A truly personal story about a father and son, on top of his father's story of the war. I can see why this book was so highly recommended. ...more

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May 09, 2009 Luann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: war, 2009, nonfiction, biography, holocaust, graphic-novel, adult

This is so different and interesting that I'm not quite sure what to say about it. I'll probably have more to say once I get my hands on a copy of the second part.

One quick comment: I feel like he does an awesome job of portraying his personality and his father's personality - which isn't an easy thing in the graphic novel format. ...more

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Jul 20, 2014 Lynlee4 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2014

Since I'm not a fan of graphic novels, I was pretty sure this would be a tedious read. I was wrong. It was honest, emotional and well written. ...more

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May 15, 2011 Bea rated it liked it

Shelves: graphic-novels-manga-read

I am not likely to read graphic novels, but I thought I would give this one a try since I found it on my own shelves. Very interesting memoir-type story, but this volume ended without any resolution to the story. This book ended with the author's mother and father arriving at Auschwitz and with the author's own emotions running to anger. I guess I will need to read the next volume to reach a conclusion. ...more

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Sep 11, 2007 Joanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, graphic-novel

I never thought that a comic book (or graphic novel-I think that's the correct term) could be so powerful and so sad. The author tells the story of his father's experience during the Holocaust and his relationship with his father. In the book the Jews are mice and the Nazis are cats. I'm not into comics AT ALL (or I wasn't before this and Persepolis) but I LOVED this. ...more

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Jan 15, 2016 Jenn rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-cover-to-cover

I'm not much of a reader of anime/comics but always wanted to read this series. It's a rather sad tale that tells of the Jewish (the mice in the story), the Germans (cats) and the Polish (pigs). It's very well done and is the story of the papa mouse and his trip through the Second World War. Not for the feint of heart, I'm looking forward to the second novel. ...more

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Mar 16, 2009 Lauren rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, 2009, wwii, comic

This book is much different from the sort of thing I usually read. I don't usually read comic books or graphic novels. This is a graphic novel.

It was better than I expected but it left me feeling unsatisfied at the end. I guess if I was motivated to finish the series then maybe I would feel better about it. ...more

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Jul 12, 2009 Kathy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: holocaust-literature, graphic-novels, rereads

Graphic novel writing and reading at its best! Spiegelman has created an amazingly innovative presentation for material that you would think had been covered from all angles. An important addition to any reader's Holocaust collection. ...more

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