Maus by Art Spiegelman

I thought we'd tackle something totally different this month. This is a book I read for a class last semester, but the professor never gave us a chance to discuss it and it's been eating me ever since. So, thank you in advance for indulging me. :)

A brief description, courtesy of Amazon.com:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust” (The New York Times).

Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century’s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us.

So, yeah, it's not exactly light and fluffy. It's also a graphic novel, but don't let that deter you. I don't even really know what to say other than it affected me in a way few books ever have.

There are several copies available through the library, and one set that Wendy took home with her and can float around the group. It was initially published in two parts, so you'll need to get Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began. There is also a single-volume version called The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale.

As a side note, the second Thursday in May falls during finals week, so we'll likely postpone our meeting until the next week. I'll keep you posted.