Maus was a very engaging book. From the beginning I was pulled into the story. Maus is written in a very unique way. Art Spiegelman drew the Jews as mice, the Nazis as cats, and the Poles as pigs. Art Spiegelman told the story from the perspective of his father telling the story through an interview format. It is written in the form of a graphic novel. It is an interesting way to learn about history during the World War II era. Overall I liked this book, except I really didn't like the end. Also, there was a little bit of language.

i was one of the few among my peers who had never read one of the Maus books. When i finally got around to it, i was blown away by its excellence. This is a masterpiece (and i do not use the term lightly). Do yourself a favor and don't miss it.

I must say that I find this work hard to properly describe in terms of how I feel about it. I think that it was a fascinating look at one man's experience in the Holocaust, but an equally important aspect is Art's interaction with his father during their conversations. This seems like an honest portrayal, especially since Art isn't afraid to include things that may make him look bad (he isn't always the most sympathetic son). I think connecting the story of what happened then, and how it's effects are apparent for the rest of a person's life (although different people reacted in different ways) is interesting. The way this is written is especially effective, because it truly feels like Vladek is telling you his story first hand.
As for the artwork, although it isn't my favorite style, it seems to fit for this story. The simple, unpolished look is compatible with this story which is honest and raw. Finally, I would like to add that the second installment of this comic is darker, and more depressing and sad at times, but once you read Maus I, you must (and will want to) read Maus II in order to feel any closure with the story.

I must say that I find this work hard to properly describe in terms of how I feel about it. I think that it was a fascinating look at one man's experience in the Holocaust, but an equally important aspect is Art's interaction with his father during their conversations. This seems like an honest portrayal, especially since Art isn't afraid to include things that may make him look bad (he isn't always the most sympathetic son). I think connecting the story of what happened then, and how it's effects are apparent for the rest of a person's life (although different people reacted in different ways) is interesting. The way this is written is especially effective, because it truly feels like Vladek is telling you his story first hand.
As for the artwork, although it isn't my favorite style, it seems to fit for this story. The simple, unpolished look is compatible with this story which is honest and raw. Finally, I would like to add that the second installment of this comic is darker, and more depressing and sad at times, but once you read Maus I, you must (and will want to) read Maus II in order to feel any closure with the story.

As a Jew Living in Israel, holocaust related books are important to read, but it's hard to do it actually. I can remember several holocaust-era semi-biographic novels which are great but those are the exceptions. Most of the books are a bit bothersome though true.
Maus just captured me.I consider it one of the best books I've ever read in my life. It was just breath-taking, adding to that the fact that this was my first graphic novel ever, not to say first comic ever.
I gave it to my wife, her parents, brother and so on. The book came back to me after 6 month. all worn out.
The book touched me in the deepest levels, and was able to do what many other holocaust books tried to do and failed. Take you inside one of the the darkest eras of human kind. You NEED to read to. You have to read it.

Maus, A Survivor's Tale is a son's pictorial version of his father's story of survival during WWII.

Both haunting and mesmerizing, sometimes funny and touching, this is a story of perseverance and about what the Jews had to suffer through at the hands of the Nazis in WWII Poland. Spiegleman never sugar-coats what his father had to endure in order to keep he and his wife alive. A true work of art.

Horribly distorts the true suffering of WWII victims. The Poles who are portrayed as pigs and the Jews who are portrayed as RATS is not a good beginning. The Poles and the Jews suffered the most. The Polish Catholics lost 3 million, in what has become known as the Forgotten Holocaust. The Poles lost another 2 Million to Stalins barbaric Gulags. When the Nazis were defeated, the Soviet Communists took over and were more barbaric to the Poles than the Nazis, although both brutally oppressive and cruel to the Polish nation. Maus/Rat, whatever you call it, uses a horrible and untrue depiction of the Poles. The Poles were the first to go to Auschwitz and die. Polish teachers, school children (giggling and playing having no idea what horror awaited them, my God), professors, nuns, priests were the first victims of Auschwits, for the wars first 2 years. Jews were not taken to auschwitz until May of 1942! The Germans had already slaughtered 1 Million Polish Catholics before the Jewish campaign even started! The Poles still defide Hitler saving more Jews than any other country. What makes this more incredible is that, Only in Poland were entire Polish-Catholic families, towns and villages executed for, as little as, handing a Jew an apple. in Denmark, Sweden, Hollannd, Norway, a slap on the hand was given - that's it! These countries, also had some of the most brutal Nazi organizations,.i.e., they collaborated eith the Nazis, as Poland DID NOT! For a true and purely objective learning, and not one man's version, bias or hate towards the tortured Poles, and other nations, read a short but to the point book with tons of info, perfect for Jr, High, High School and Adults: Andrew Hempels" Poland in WORLD WAR II; also Richard lukas' The FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST;Poles Under Nazi Occupation (talks about everyone's suffering); finally, and a great litttle book on Auschwitz with big returns is AUSCHWITZ by Sybille Steinbacher. Steinbacher's book is easy to read and very clear; gets to the point and very objective. These books are so centered and incredibly objective,i.e., no embellishments, just truth and fact. The Rat book is a despicable generalization and distortion of truth. Scholars and Educators: Please, be sensitive and 'Take the bull by the horns.' Enjoy the summer - you.ve earned it.

One (two actually since there are two volumes) of the best submissions about the Holocaust which is designed to reach a broad audience. Maus and Maus II are written in the vernacular, personalizing the experiences of a camp survivor who is interviewed by his son. Excellent supplement to any Holocaust discussion.

When I included this and Perseplos & Maus 2 I was informed that they are not graphic novels and that I could not have one free. AMAZING! Of course after I asked for the distric manager's name/number there was a sudden change of heart BUT NOT a good instore experience from BORDERS at ALL. The GRAPHIC NOVEL is great. Borders are not.

This book is a survivors tale of being a Jew in Nazi Germany. The author tells his father's memories of the horrors of the holocaust. It is written in the form of a comic book. The author uses a metaphor for the people in WW2. The Jews are mice and the Germans are cats. The book talks about the author's father being a succesful person and then being captured by the Germans and finally freed from his POW camp, but forced to live in the Ghettos and hide from the Nazis who want to send them to Austwitch. The book leaves off as he is being shipped to Austwitch (a Nazi Concentation/death Camp).
This is one of the best books I've read about the Jewish experience in Nazi Germany. It's easy to read and surprisingly informative. I would most defenintely recommend this book for someone else to read.

This graphic novel in no way cheapens the magnitude of it's subject. Metaphors are rich and overall a solid read.

In Maus, Art Spiegelman illustrates his father Vladek's story -- of growing up as a Jew in Poland, persecuted and eventually captured and sent to Auschwitz during WWII. While portraying tragedy, Maus manages to have a certain amount of beauty and humor, due partly to the various types of characters being rendered as different animals (e.g. Jews are drawn as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, etc.). Whenever Vladek and his wife attempt to pass as Poles, they are charmingly drawn wearing pig masks. The scenes portraying Art's relationship with his father are touching and feel very authentic. I'm looking forward to reading Maus II.

Maus should be greatly encouraged with approbation. The book displays the crude reality of the Holocaust and World War II in a creative, artistic way that makes the book classic and unique. Having Jews displayed as mice and Nazis as cats, Spiegelman uses much acumen in how the book is laid out and the story told. Even without reading, the graphic art adumbrates the story enough to understand.
Artie is a comic book writer who decides to write meaningful stories instead of useless funny ones, and wishes to interview his father about his experiences during the Holocaust. Vladek willingly tells his story to Artie, who seems unchanged by the troubling information his father is offering him. Throughout the story, Vladek becomes almost an anathema to Artie, and Artie finally finds the hate for his father that was always brewing. Although Artie dislikes his father, his father dislikes himself as well. After the war, life was never the same for Vladek. Having never gotten over his wife's death, and feeling antipathy for his new wife, he seemed to abjure all opportunities to enhance his life and adopted a new, somewhat acerbic personality.
Overall, the story told in Maus is an unforgettable one. It brings about several ineffable issues such as the harshness of World War II and how the Nazis arrogated lives with no right to do so. In addition, how these times were difficult even for the high class. The graphic art in the book ties all of the information together and allows a visual interpretation what the book is saying. Although the story is based on World War II and the Holocaust, it is as much about family issues and hidden hate as it is about history. Throughout the whole experience, Artie and Vladek discover where they truly stand with each other and decide that this deleterious relationship is not worth the trouble any longer.

When hearing the words "Graphic Novel" most people do not think of a moving and inspirational story, yet Maus by Art Spiegelman is just that. Firstly I would recommend this novel for its crafty and meaningful graphics. Various groups, such as the Jewish and German, are depicted as numerous animals. In doing so, the author expresses underlying themes, as one judges another's character by how they look, or their origin. Each picture also conveys the deep feeling in each moment. Frighten and sometimes acerbic faces, give the reader acumen on how the characters feel and are reacting. Also, several depictions of maps and drawings, heightening one's understanding of each setting. The second reason I would recommend the novel is because of the compelling story lines it contains. The first is Vladek's poignant account on how he and his wife survived as the Nazis abrogated their rights. From witnessing friends being hanged, to hiding in attics, the reader gains and insight on personal experiences of the Holocaust. The second is of a strained father and son relationship. As the father ages, the interest and reminiscence of a troubled past becomes their last connection. These assiduous characters are connectable for the reader, and acquire my last approbation. Anyone with a stained relationship or even an experience with isolation, can relate to the feelings and manners of the characters. With evocative graphics, gripping story lines, and relatable characters, Maus is a compelling novel which I highly propose.

The book is adumbrated in the form of a graphic novel, giving a seemingly new perspective on the holocaust. The issue itself is nothing spectactularly new, although it approaches the holocaust in such a way that the most acerbic of events are bearable.
Most simply stated, the visual aid that accompanies the text allows for the reader to fully understand the author's stance, or viewpoint on the touchy issues of the holocaust. One does not need to have any sort of historical acumen, to grasp the concepts and ideas of the story.
The facade, of animals, instead of humans, used by the author also makes the events seem a little less human. However, throughout the novel, the thought doesn't escape your mind, that this was actually happening, to real people.
The reader is also easily captivated by the father-son presentation of the story, as Art (the author), interviews his father. With nothing but acrimony polluting the stories told by his father, a bond is formed between the reader, Art, and his father, as you must approbate anyone who braves these hardships, more specifically, the characters.
Overall, this story makes something new, that has been done so many times. It entertains, as well as informs. However, it isn't something I'd recommend for casual reading, as time must be set aside to truly appreciate the events in this book.

Good seller! Highly recommended for all buyers. My item was timely sent and the condition of the item was as described.

This is as bad, as the 1st Maus: Horribly GRAPHIC, EXREMELY CRUDE and INSENSITIVE to the "OTHER" victims of the holocaust. Spiegleman shows absolutely "no" sympathy or sensitivity to the 3 million Polish-Catholics that were killed by the Germans. Adding insult to injury, he portrays the Poles in a very negative and hurtful manner, when in fact the Poles themselves lost everything. Poles, as well as Jews, lost their homes. Poles, as well as Jews, came home to homes that were piles of rubble. There are so many better vechicles out there to teach about this. This is the last one to use, as it seriously offends many innocent students whose parents and grandparents also suffered, died and lost everything in the Forgotten Holocaust. Better books are: Sybille Steinbacher's "Auschwitz. Steinbachers book gets the job done without all the grusome graphics and vulgar demeaning that is in Maus. Richard Lukas' "The Forgoten Holocaust; Poles Under Nazi-Occupation," and "Did The Children Cry: The suffering of Polish & Jewish children in the holocaust." After reading the latter one by Lukas, you'll never go anywhere near a Maus book again! "Did The Children Cry," will be a wake-up call - unless you are inhumane. Lukas, in both book, talks, OBJECTIVLY about "all" who suffered, without the sick graphics and personal attacks that maus has. Michael Marrus' "The Holocaust in History." Marrus, like Steinbacher and Lukas is controlled, scholarly and informative - Spiegleman is not. These 3 books will explain and teach you something, unlike Maus, that only teaches hateful generalizations through stereotyping and is grusomly graphic. Don't be fooled by the hype. Maus gets an F- for humanity. TEACHERS, PLEASE, BE TEACHERS!

Art Spiegelman's biographical type account of conversations with his father. A Jewish family he talks about the war, nazis, the Holocaust, the events surrounding all of that.

The effects on them later in their lives, and how they feel about it are also elements of this work.

*Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History* is at once the autobiographical tale of an American baby boomer trying to get to know his Holocaust-survivor father and of that father's experiences in and survival of the Holocaust. Spiegelman's audacity in attempting to use a "child's art form" to discuss one of history's greatest atrocities is matched only by the skill, both as a writer and a graphic artist, with which he accomplishes this goal. This groundbreaking graphic novel is definitely deserving of the accolades it has received.

In *Maus,* Spiegelman has demonstrated that comics and cartoons cannot be automatically relegated to the literary ghetto of the Sunday papers. This novel also proves true the old adage that pictures are worth thousands of words. Consider, for example, the cut-away view of the hidden bunker (p. 86) which graphically (in every sense of the term) shows the lengths to which Jews and other untermenschen had to go to hide from the Third Reich. *Maus* is successful not only in terms of its artwork, but also in terms of the stories that it tells. Spiegelman manages to show not only how the evils of the Holocaust unfolded and shaped his father, his late mother, and his new step-mother, but also how those same events shaped the relationship between Vladek Spiegelman and his son Art thirty years later.

At the risk of admitting my aesthetic thick-headedness, I still don't understand why Spiegelman chose to use animals instead of people in this work. Perhaps it is because, as some have suggested, seeing Nazis and Jews as animals allows the reader to drop the mind-stopping question of how humans could treat one another in such inconceivably barbarous ways. Perhaps the use of mice for Jews and cats for Nazis is an allusion to the old phrase about playing cat and mouse, or maybe it is a symbol of the Nazi perception of Jews as vermin. I tend to think Spiegelman's use of mice refers to his father's comment that maybe Artie will grow up to be like that famous cartoonist, "what's his name." After all, "what's his name" became famous through his cartoon mouse character, so why shouldn't Art Spiegelman? Whatever his reasons for the interesting choice to use animals as people, it works.

The power went out and I read almost the entire comic book by candlelight, and then read the remainder in a few days. Never have I read a comic book quite like this, and it was movingly visual and accoustically satisfying.

The power went out and I read almost the entire comic book by candlelight, and then read the remainder in a few days. Never have I read a comic book quite like this, and it was movingly visual and accoustically satisfying.

It's sad but true--in more ways than one. Yes it's won awards and rightfully so, but if you only ever read one comic book in your entire life, Maus dosn't have to be it. The story is intense and important--and it's nothing you can't read in Night and the art leaves a lot to be desired. I think people who say they like comics and have only ever read Maus are not unlike people who say they are really in to philosphy and they've only read the Tao of Pooh.

It's sad but true--in more ways than one. Yes it's won awards and rightfully so, but if you only ever read one comic book in your entire life, Maus dosn't have to be it. The story is intense and important--and it's nothing you can't read in Night and the art leaves a lot to be desired. I think people who say they like comics and have only ever read Maus are not unlike people who say they are really in to philosphy and they've only read the Tao of Pooh.

I love history. However, I think German did an unholy wrong against Israel for the genocide against the Jewish people.

So, I saw this book in a book store. My 13 to 15 year old sons love comic books. I purchased this book, read it, and gave it to my sons and told them to read it. Since it's a graphic novel it's easy to read. However, the writing is to the point and powerful. After I had my sons read this book I asked them questions. I'm convinced that my 15 year old son will never join the Army because of the impressions he took from the pages of this book.

Art does a great job of showing the creeping Nazi take over of Germany. Also, unknown to the Author, Poland did a fantastic job of fighting against Germany in 1939. Indeed, Poland took over a month to beat in fighting while France lost the war against Germany in hardly a week. Those Polish people were hard fighters.

I really loved this book because it can true horror to young people. Religious wars are the most deadly. I really hope that Mr. Spiegelman's excellent books can show the world the horrors of the early 1940s. Perhaps our young people can take those lessons and apply them to today.

Personally, I wish this graphic novel was in every 7th and 8th grade school in this nation. We can learn a lot from this book.

I love history. However, I think German did an unholy wrong against Israel for the genocide against the Jewish people.

So, I saw this book in a book store. My 13 to 15 year old sons love comic books. I purchased this book, read it, and gave it to my sons and told them to read it. Since it's a graphic novel it's easy to read. However, the writing is to the point and powerful. After I had my sons read this book I asked them questions. I'm convinced that my 15 year old son will never join the Army because of the impressions he took from the pages of this book.

Art does a great job of showing the creeping Nazi take over of Germany. Also, unknown to the Author, Poland did a fantastic job of fighting against Germany in 1939. Indeed, Poland took over a month to beat in fighting while France lost the war against Germany in hardly a week. Those Polish people were hard fighters.

I really loved this book because it can true horror to young people. Religious wars are the most deadly. I really hope that Mr. Spiegelman's excellent books can show the world the horrors of the early 1940s. Perhaps our young people can take those lessons and apply them to today.

Personally, I wish this graphic novel was in every 7th and 8th grade school in this nation. We can learn a lot from this book.

habia leido muchos comentarios acerca de esta obra y si bien era exceptico, cuando la tuve en mis manos me atrapó desde las primeras páginas si bien pensaba que la historia comenzaba en los campos de concentracion me parecio genial que se describan los antecedentesinmediatos del holocausto, el proceso de creacion de la obra misma, su desarrollo si bien no es del todo original el conjunto si lo es y no solo eso cumple con el objetivo de todo buena obra de arte: involucrar al lector/espectador.
El trazo del dibujo me parecio en un principio rudo y agreste pero en la medida que uno va leyendo este aspecto cobra sentido completamente y le da mucha fuerza y atmosfera a la historia.
Algo que me parecio muy interesante es el trabajo de Spiegelman como una especie de confesion autobiografica acerca de su relacion con su padre, su trabajo como artista y su posicion con respecto a la Historia.

This is a novel that incorporates a painful historical event with the artistry of a graphic novel. There have been several events in our history that are difficult to read about. Art Spiegelman takes a risk and incorporates art and this painful event in our history in order to intrigue readers to look at this event through a different medium. Although this novel is in the form of a graphic novel, it by new means undermines how important and crucial this event of our past is. This is not only a story of a survivor's tale through the Holocaust; it is also the story of a son and a father, and their relationship. As you see the story unwind, you can see how the Holocaust has affected both of the main characters. The story is based around Artie and his interviews with his father regarding this event in our history. It demonstrates aspects of strength, courage and pure luck as well as including the reader in on a heroic story. This is a book that everybody should read. It demonstrates the power that a graphic novel has and how important it is to be educated about our history. In order to not spoil any crucial parts in this novel, I will only say that it is a must to read. It opens your eyes to a father and sons relationship and journey as well as a first hand experience during an event in our history that we will never forget.

MAUS

While World War II happened, one of the worst originations in the world at that time was the nazis. But in this book called Maus instead of humans they have mice ,cats ,dogs ,and pigs. One of the mouse's name is vladek and he is one of many Jewish mice that are sent to mauschwitz. In this story vladek survived the holocaust and tells his son about his story and how he survived in the holocaust. Artie, is a young mouse that's a cartoonist writing a story about his father. As he here's his fathers' story he doesn't want him to stop even at the bad parts.
Vladek and Artie are both mice and hittle and the nazis are cats and pigs are police. The mice are Jewish and are sent to mauschwitz. The cats are the nazis that kill the mice and make them starve to death
At one part it my be horror because they starve and hang the mice. It may be a love story because valdek meets a girl at mauschwits. It's a non fiction fiction because it's a true story but its with mice cats dogs and pigs

In "Maus", an extraordinary graphic novel, Art Spiegelman tells the story of his father, Vladek, and his terrifying experiences as a Jew in Poland during WWII. Vladek's harrowing struggle to evade the Nazis with his wife, Anja, is compelling and brutal. They must bear the loss of their family and friends -- even their son, Richieu, whom they had tried to send to safety -- and keep pressing on in their desperate bid for survival. Left with nowhere to turn, they must rely on strangers for help, knowing full well that the kindness of these strangers will run out the moment that Vladek and Anja are unable to pay for their hospitality. Spiegelman does an excellent job capturing the gravity of their plight, and his drawings are filled with perceptive details and creative twists. The Jews are portrayed as mice, with the Nazis as cats (faces more often than not sinisterly hidden in shadows), and the non-Jews that assist the Nazis or charge the Jews for their help take on the form of pigs.

The story of Vladek and Anja alone makes for a compelling read, but just as well rendered are the moments between father and son as Vladek tells Artie about his past. Their relationship is deeply complicated, and their journey toward understanding is fraught with misunderstandings, old resentments and bitter memories -- mostly centered around Anja, who committed suicide when Artie was twenty years old. I can't wait to read volume II to see if they can reach a common ground in the end. Spiegelman's heartfelt rendering of their complex bond is utterly realistic, and his emotional treatment of one of history's greatest tragedies is an amazingly bold achievement. Those who feel uncertain about reading it because it's a graphic novel should try to get passed the stigma, because if they don't they will truly be missing out.

...I loved this graphic novel, and so many accolades have been heaped upon this book that I need'nt say more. However, in reviewing some of the readers responses, and colligiate papers regarding the works of Maus, many seemed surprised or shocked that such amazing storytelling could be attributed to the comic book form. Why? I have been a lover and reader of comics for many years and this so - called "low" art form has produced some of the most memorable, touching, exciting, and thought-provoking material I have ever read. Granted, a large percentage of "comic" books cater to the stylized "men-in-tights" brigade, however even this attitude has changed much within the industry and modern comics. Even the long-running "hero" titles touch upon modern issues with a compexity that some people might find surprising. It should also be noted however that largely indie, underground, and other "non-mainstream" works really drive the graphic novel and comic industry in terms of content. If you thought comics simply "silly childrens stories" or "lame escapism" you should read some of the highly recommended titles of the genre and see why "comics" are being used as source material for a lot of current and upcoming films.

Making one man's story about his life during the Holocaust into a comic book isn't contrite or demeaning. It's brilliant.

Spiegelman finds a way to illustrate as well as narrate the condition of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. As the child of a survivor he shows both the events and the life-long effect they had on the generation that lived threw it and the generation that came next, still trying to survive a history full of pain, loss and deprivation.

Vladek's (the father) story of survival is a tale of strength, smarts and luck. His realistic account gives us insight into the complexity of the pressures they dealt with and the choices they were forced to make as the Nazi's squeezed the Jews out of the occupied territories, and later (covered more in Maus 2) into the camps.

Artie's complex relationship with his father and dead mother is something almost all of us can relate to - this sub-plot gives us a little breathing room in the desperation that is the father's story of WW2.

Ultimatley the fact that history is subjective and can be distorted or erased or revised emmerges as a powerful part of this work. Spiegelman's illustration are expressive and provide an incredible additional dimension to what your reading. Don't dismiss this as a comic book. This is a work of art.

Despite all the press and hype regarding it, I had never heard of Maus until mid-last year when browsing through a book store. The image of Hitler as a cat with two mice seemingly losing all hope on the cover really struck me, and I then made a blind purchase. I didn't even flip through the pages to see the art style, or read the back of the book or inside flaps to get an idea of what it was about. All I knew was that Nazis = cats, and Jews = mice. Having loved my experience in various history classes, I figured I'd get something out of this comic. Then I read it, and didn't. It all seemed bland, some parts rushed, and I didn't like the art style too much. Then, almost a year later, I reread it, and I don't know what it is, but my view changed. I actually got the characters, loved the story of survival, and understood just how bad the times were from the narrator's point of view. I still hated the art style, but everything else was meaningful. While most stories of the Holocaust rub in your face how bad things were, giving you every tiny detail about the pain and suffering, Maus takes things in a different direction. Art Spiegelman, the semi-author and artist, interviews his own father, a Holocaust survivor, and tells his story in comic form. It's not "normal" though- his father, Vladek, is a cranky old man now, and Art even makes a comment that he's now the stereotypical Jew. Maus takes both the real story of the Holocaust as Vladek experienced it, as well as the in-between portions of getting together with his father and the difficulties the two experience together in trying to make things work out. It's these little things that make the story so much more real than just simply a survivor telling their story straight forward.

Art Spiegelman is an aspiring cartoonist, trying to come up with an idea that will work and get published. So, he choses to interview his father, Vladek, about his World War II experience, the Holocaust in particular. Vladek is a Jew, and well...we all know how things were for them back then. Vladek tells marvelous tales of how he met his then-wife Anja, how he got along with her family as well as getting on their good side; netting him a lot of money, his draft into the war, reuniting with Anja, then the big drop down into the Nazi takeover. Each portion he tells is interesting- Anja was a nice woman, as well as rich, and Vladek knew she was a keeper from the start, breaking off his other relationship with another woman just to be with her. Break ups aren't always easy though, and some nasty rumors were spread regarding his reputation with women to Anja's family. With things like this, we know that the outcome will resolve, otherwise Art wouldn't have been born, but you still begin to wonder how everything's going to go in the end. Vladek talking about how terrified he was when drafted, and how he didn't want to kill anyone, questioning why he should attack someone just because they have a weapon as well. This man actually thought about things many people think about today, seeing it as all pointless. Most comics, based on true events or not, would have the character building up the question of why they're doing something like that, but Vladek asks right away. Vladek also mentions worse stories than those I'd heard before about people who didn't want to go to war, so they'd do things to themselves to prevent it from happening. I remember hearing about a man who shot a gun off right next to his ear so he'd be deaf in one ear, and couldn't enlist. Vladek mentions a man who pulled out over 10+ teeth from his own mouth so he wouldn't have to go. Think about that for a second- pulling out TEN TEETH WITHOUT DRUGS. Harsh, ain't it? Things take a turn for the worse when the Holocaust comes around (duh), and reading about how he'd have to hide all his valuables like watches, rings, necklaces and other goods in collapsed buildings for safe keeping really gives you an idea of how bad things were. Hearing that he was double crossed several times by his own fellow Jews, revealing where he and Anja's family were hiding, is also just plain disturbing to learn of at a time like that.

On top of an already nice story though, it's the conversations between Art and Vladek that sparked my interest the most. While being father and son, and talking about such a touchy subject, they still argue every now and then. Be it over Art not coming over early in the morning to help fix Vladek's roof, Vladek discovering a rather personal comic about his wife's suicide drawn by Art, or something very terrible that Art learns about in the last few pages of this volume. The two play off of each other perfectly, and at times, I forget that these are real people having such conversations. Had Maus only relied on the WWII story and not featured any of these "skits", I don't think I'd have liked it anywhere near as much. Even simple things like Vladek picking up "hard to find" telephone wire while telling his story during a walk to the bank had me smiling over the real interactions. And it's hard to think of a story where people are mice, and take it seriously. Especially when Anja complains of rats and mice in one of their hiding spots later in the story. There's not much more I can say really, as Maus is something that shouldn't be ruined for people who are about to dig into it for the first time. In fact, I feel that I've already revealed too much in this review, and will stop before I go further.

Sadly, though it shouldn't be a key deciding factor in a comic, the art work just isn't that good. I don't know if it's Spiegelman's style, or the fact that Jews are mice, but I had a hard time feeling sorry for characters based off their facial reactions, and especially telling them apart. One character would leave for a few chapters, then show up again suddenly, and I'd forget who they were, or that they even left at all. The facial reactions only range from neutral to angry and sad. It was what the characters were saying that affected me more than any sparse emotions they'd show. If Spiegelman had put more effort into things like that, I'd give the book 5 stars. It's a great story and all, and sometimes, the character designs can be downright charming, but even for when it was drawn (the late 80s), I can't give it any mercy points of any kind.

However, the art aside, Maus is an excellent tale, and I absolutely can't wait to see how it concludes in the second volume. Isn't that funny to say about characters that you already know will survive in the end? Somehow, Vladek makes it happen, and perhaps it's the truth that proves to be more captivating than any made up story could be. Give this one a read when you have the chance- I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Maus portrays a very realistic account of an individual's experience before and during World War II in Poland as well as in modern day New York. The survivor questions his son's intention to include pre-war material in the book at one point, but the son responds that this information makes the character more real, thus giving the reader more of a sense of connection. The son's observation seems to be correct. The accurate portrayal of his father makes the son a bit uneasy at one point because his father fits the stereotype of the miserly old Jew, but that content is obviously left in the book, which lends credibility to the story. The father uses very broken English. The book reads almost as if it had merely been run through an online Polish to English translator. However, the language used in the book must have been intentional in order to make the father believable as a non-native English speaker.
The representation of the races as different kinds of animals was an interesting choice. The Jewish people are portrayed as mice, the Germans as cats, the Americans as dogs, and the Polish people as pigs. The technique emphasizes people's differences rather than their similarities. It also applies the hierarchy of the animal kingdom to people. Dogs chase cats. Cats eat mice. Pigs are just dirty, and in German, calling someone a pig is even more insulting. Is portraying Americans at the top of the hierarchy of the animal kingdom much different than the Nazis claim that the Aryans are the master race? While it is highly unlikely that the author meant to convey an underlying message of racial superiority, this analysis shows that the usage of animals being equivalent to certain races is certainly questionable.

i think the book was alright i had me thinkin what was goin down back then. i think that i would tell other ppl to read it. it shows how the jews where treated. and it show the meaning of how u had to get though with all of the times that had happend. im DeLonzo and i would recamend this book to other kids and adults.

The book Maus tells the story of a common jewish man who got sucked into WWII and the prison camps (as a result of the war) just like millions of other jews of that time peirod. This book was a long heavy read despite the fact that it is a graphic novel. In fact if it were not for my previous background on this subject the book would have been even harder to read than it already is. I would not suggest this book to young aduiences because of the heavy content. However, I would reccomend this book to older people, especialy the ones who were alive during this time peirod because they would find this book more enjoyable.

Maus is an excellent example of creativity and literary achievement combined into one. It serves as both a comic book, novella and memoir all at once. Art Spiegelman takes on the daunting task of telling the story of his father's life as well as recounting the horrors of the Holocaust through illustration and prose. I believe that Spiegelman went about writing this semi-biographical novella through the means of a comic book because it let off some of the personal pressures for him and the reader. By representing the Jews as Mice and the Nazis as cats we get a PG image to go along with the mature text. There are parts within the book that contain tension between Art and his father, for example on pg. 104 there is a section where Art's father finds an old comic that Art wrote about his mothers suicide and his father finds it to be offensive. I believe Art wrote this story as a comic because it helped him to get through the emotionally charged parts of the story such as his mothers suicide, but let him do it as some what of a outsider. It must have been hard to write and illustrate the things that his father went through and to have to draw an exact caricature of him and other people involved would have been very difficult. This book is more than just a biography of Art and his fathers life though. It is also a very accurate recounting of the Holocaust and what so many Jewish families had to go through. It starts out with the story of how Art's mother and father met and how the war tore their family apart. The book covers much of the Nazi invasion across Europe and goes into detail about life on the run and within the confines of Nazi concentration camps. Spiegelman succeeds in both telling the story of his life as far as his relationship with his father goes and gives an accurate portrayal of what it was like to live in Europe during the Holocaust. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a short engaging read and has a interest in illustration.

Like everyone else, I found this book to be riviting, very personal, the pictures and the speech patterns suck you right into the story. I would recommend this to everyone.

Among other things already mentioned by everyone, I found it interesting that the father was upset that he was treated with prejudice becuase he was Jewish, but he could not see his own prejudices, and so, his own hypocracy. But the author saw it. People who are discriminated against are sometimes blind to their own racism. Just an interesting couple of panels in the book.

One reviewer claimed that the books were racist becuase they depicted the Poles as pigs. I did not read prejudice into that. The mice can't win in a world ruled by cats, but I saw the pigs as just a different domesticated animal that were not affected by cats or mice. I saw them as neutral. Some Poles were nice, and some were not, but I suppose that it how it was in Poland, as it is everywhere in the world. But I did notice that the allies were dogs, and I think that is becuase everyone knows: cats chase mice, and dogs chase cats. The author even said that he did not know which random animal to make his French wife, but since she had converted to Judiasm, that put her in the mouse category.

Through Maus, Art Spiegelman, whose life has been shaped by the memory of the Holocaust, forces us to see the Holocaust through a human lens by bringing to life people who lived through it through their memory of life under the Nazis and how they continue to live its memory.

In a graphic novel format, each page is divided into frames with a drawing and narration from Spiegelman or dialogue. The use of dialogue between Spiegelman and his father allow us to see their individual characters and the nature of their relationship. We read exactly what Spiegelman hears in his interactions with his father through his father's quotations. "...I can tell you other stories, but such private things, I don't want you should mention" (23). The broken English allows us to hear his Eastern European accent as we read. Through bolding words his father says to him, we see his father's intonation, illustrating his complaining personality. "And now I have a cataract inside my one good eye. You see how I have to suffer?" (40). The intonation we hear brings forth the Yiddish quality of his speech.

The use of drawings bring us inside Spiegelman's head, seeing the story his father describes as he imagines it, and seeing their interactions as he sees them. In one frame Spiegelman draws his father's body language with shrugged shoulders and raised hands, which reveal the way he sees his father as a complainer. In another seen we see a group of Jewish men hanging with nooses around their necks, wearing jackets with Jewish Stars on the lapels. The imagery evokes emotion through their vivid depiction of memory.

I think Schindler's List marked the doctoral dissertation on the subject of the Holocaust. What more can be said through film, right? The human brain can only hear so many hundreds of times the horrors the Nazis visited upon the Jews of Poland and the Pale, before the brain shrugs and goes, "Heard it all before, sorry for your sufferings, move along." And that's not how it should be. Of COURSE the attempted extermination of the Ashkenazi Jews is an atrocity that should fill us all with revulsion and make us one and all affirm that we shall do all we can to prevent anything like that from happening again.

Maus, Art Spiegelman's very personal and completely true tale of his late father's life in Poland, where he initially fights the German invasion as a soldier, kills a German attempting to infiltrate his nation, and later goes from a POW to a concentration camp inmate, is shocking simply because it presents this too-often-told story from a perspective new to the reader: the cartoon strip.

In this unique work, the Jews are drawn as mice, the Nazis as vicious felines and other anthropomorphic roles are assigned to those among divergent populations relevant to the history of the time. Maus is a story so terrifying it makes your skin crawl, and so tragic it might well induce tears. It reaches into the psyche in ways the multitude of well-intended but flatlining documentaries on the Holocaust simply cannot in this day and age.

Maus has always received critical praise but it should have gotten a Nobel Prize in literature or art. Yes, I really believe that.

I remember my granpa told me how he was captured in Bosnia by nazis and deported to a prison camp. What happened to Jewish people in Europe was usually worse than that and this book is about them. It is about common people suffering because of powers that they couldn't influent, punishment they did not deserve and their attempt to survive , not knowing whether they'll see tommorow.

Bewarned , this is NOT light reading.

It's amazing that the Pulitzer committee could ignore the racist depiction of Poles in this book. Despite all the attempts at rationalization among the reviewers here, or their complicit concordance, or simple lack of concern, it is blatant and appallingly clear that Spiegelman propagates the anti-Polish prejudice shared by those Jews who discount the overwhelming contributions of the Poles throughout history toward the welfare of the Jews, which only collapsed in proportion to their loss of national power and subsequent invasions by Swedish and German armies raised on Lutheran anti-Semitism. Forget the Charters of Safety issued by Polish kings, the fact that Poland was considered the Promised Land for many centuries. Were the Jews stupid enough as a group to inhabit a land which persecuted them? How many centuries did they "endure" such "piggish" Polish hospitality? In fact, the Polish "pigs" in this book are more admirable in their actions than any other group. At least the artist stuck to his father's truth, while wallowing in his own racist interpretation.

Had a non-Jewish cartoonist published a book depicting Jews as pigs, there is no doubt he or she would not have won any awards, much less a Pulitzer.

I would however recommend reading this book, but only if read with an alert and open mind. The real lesson to be learned is how easy it is to promote evil, inadvertently or not, if the artist is not held responsible. Indeed, is lauded.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. It's a very hard book to define, as due to it being a graphic novel. The story is a very realistic and sad one, despite the story in comic book form. It tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, and his wife Anja, and their struggles to stay alive in Poland during the times of World War II. Vladek tells his son, Art about the difficult times the Jews had at this time. It also takes place in modern times, Anja is dead, and Vladek has a second wife, with whom he has a difficult time getting along with. In the present, Vladek has a distant and troubled relationship with his son, Art.

I recently picked up a copy of Maus from my local book store and when I started to read it I could not put it down. If finished it in less than a day. Maus is easily the best book I have ever read, and I have read many books. Everybody should read a copy of Maus. Maus is touching, exciting, and captivating all in one. There is no reason why I would not recommend Maus to anybody. I give it five stars and if I could I would give it ten. I recommend Maus to anyone who enjoys reading about history and even to those who do not.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. It's a very hard book to define, as due to it being a graphic novel. The story is a very realistic and sad one, despite the story in comic book form. It tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, and his wife Anja, and their struggles to stay alive. It also tells about Vladek's troubles with his second wife and how he tries to patch things up with his own father. Very good story, it's one of my favorites, and I along with everyone else that has read it finds it good.

Maus by Art Spiegelman is one of the best books I've ever read. The book is about Art Spiegelman's father's experience during the Holocaust. Vladek Spiegelman, Art's father, starts out as a well off Jew in Poland. Then he loses his rights and goes into hiding. The story tells you how he gets through Gestapo searches and evades the Nazis.
Maus was one of the best attention keeping stories I've ever read. The comic book style seemed to make the book go by fast and always made me to keep reading. The story shifted from present time to the Holocaust very effectively. I'm not a very big Non-Fiction reader but if Non-Fiction books were wrote like this I'd have no problem reading them. One thing I found very interesting is that the Nazis are cats, the Jews are mice, and the Poles are pigs. Art Spiegelman seems to develop the characters effortlessly. There is an effective two-plot story between the son and father and the father in the Holocaust. I enjoyed Maus, it was a great read.

Alex Geddes from Madison, OH

Alex McFerrin
November 24, 2004
Non-Fiction


Maus I
By Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman is a comic writer who wishes to write about Hitler's Europe from the point of view of his very own father. Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman and is wife Anja two Jews trying to survive Hitler's Europe. Vladek goes through many things in his fight for freedom. In his struggle he loses loved ones and goes through very hard times. In reading this story you will learn about the difficulty of being Jewish in this time. This story does not only about Vladek it is also about many of his friends and family and how they did through Hitler's Europe. In between Vladek's story we also see how the characters live now after Hitler's Europe.
I really enjoyed this book. I am a person who usually does not prefer to read Non-Fiction books although this book was very interesting to me. It was a fun and quick read because of all the comics. What made it even more interesting was that the Jews are mice and the Nazis are cats. I could not put the book down because I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. The reason I chose to read this book was because a lot of my friends had read it and they said it was good. I plan to read Maus II very soon.

In the two volumes of "Maus," Art Spiegelman has captured the essence of the Holocaust. He focuses his tale on his own family's tragic history, using the strangely-appropriate medium of comic book drawing. Maus I tells the Spiegelman family story from prewar prosperity through the ghetto experience and an attempt to escape the Nazis.

Art is a tortured son of a tortured family. Mother and father lived through the Holocaust on their wits and good luck. Now that the war is over, they continue to live haunted lives, never free of the fear and mass murder that enveloped their youth. Art, their American artist child, just barely tolerates his father's obsessiveness and extreme miserliness. The father, while starving in Auschwitz, saved half of his morning rations for trading for shoes or clothes. Now that he is old, he continues to play every nook and cranny of the system in order to save a wooden match or to cadge a free bingo game. The sense of the man's weirdness (and his son's resulting lack of patience) is palpably sad and funny at the same time.

Spiegelman's art is deceptively innocuous, using a black and white comic book style. His tale alternates between the present story of his elderly, pill-counting father in the present and the past story of ghettos, cruelty and death camps. Spiegelman draws his humans with animals heads -- an ingenious way to portray ethnic and cultural differences that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. Jews are rendered as mouse-headed humans, Poles with pig heads and Nazis topped with heads of predacious cats.

Spiegelman's tale is part history, part expiation of guilt for resenting a brother killed during the war and part rage at a family member's suicide. The war never ended for those who endured it, and ripples through time to damage the next generations. That's pretty heavy for a comic book, but Art Spiegelman pulls it off brilliantly.

I feel I nearly missed something important, only recently learning (on NPR) about Art Spiegelman and his graphic novels. I heard of his newest work, In the Shadow of No Towers, but it was the story of his parents, the Holocaust survivors, that attracted me. The words in the title, My Father Bleeds History, provide insight into the depth of the artist and the effect his father's experience had on his own life. The magic of this book is in the details of history told through one family's personal experience. It is the most powerful book I have ever read. It is also a work of art, cover to cover. Thank you, Mr. Spiegelman. I look forward to reading your other works.

I am combining volumes one and two. Volume one is great and it is no wonder it won a Pulitzer Prize. Even if you are not fond of comics or graphic novels, if you are at all interested in history (or WW2 specifically), you should try this. I enjoyed it enough that I bought both for my mother-in-law, who likes reading non-fiction historical accounts.

If one can truly see past all the cultural signifiers and content obeisance attached to Maus and simply judge the work on craft alone, one will find a fairly pedestrian work, well told, yet instantly forgettable.

Spiegelman has crafted a shrewd piece of media here, he has mined the true-life experiences of his grandfather to fashion a non-fiction biographic tale of internment in a concentration camp, replacing the Germans with cats and the Jews with mice. Such a choice is guaranteed critic-proof simply because of the subject matter. Publicly, one is not allowed to dislike Maus or find it flawed in any fundamental way; it fosters a mild form of cultural fascism against the dissenter. Recently discussing Maus with someone who thought it profound, I found myself dodging bullets of anti-Semitism and callousness towards the human spirit. But we must understand that Maus the graphic novel has virtually disappeared, its place taken by Maus the "Holocaust for a new Generation" and Maus the "culturally significant signpost of human dignity."

Granted the story is compelling. If Maus had been told as a straight prose work of non-fiction it would have most certainly been published and given average to good marks, quickly joining the legion of Holocaust literature. But should we elevate Maus to the ranks of the graphic novel pantheon just because Spiegelman is Jewish and he used his authentic Jewish roots to tell a story of the Holocaust in pictures? I counter arguments that posit Spiegelman's work as introducing the Holocaust to a new generation (sort of like re-inventing Shakespeare for the geek set?) with the idea that the generation itself should begin to question its own intellectual vigor when we must teach our children about the holocaust using a comic strip. In that case, forget the Bible, why not teach it through a graphic `Chronicles of Jesus' format, allowing our children to get the story while abandoning the thorny arguments and contradictions that make reading any work of art a challenge to the mind?

I repeat, do we give Maus credibility for simply choosing subject matter? If we do, then we must re-think the way we judge literary works. We must then judge every piece of holocaust literature to be superlative, and regardless of its actual merit, place it on a hallowed shelf above all other literature. We must then judge every piece of art or media the same. In this new critical paradigm, if a graffiti artist painted a series of stick figures across a barren factory wall but above them sprayed the name "Auschwitz," we should take care not remove them. However, if that same artist simply painted a wall full of stick figures, they should be removed post-haste and a steep fine levied against the artist.

I am tired of works being given credibility for subject matter and not for craft. Maus is not a bad book, and may well foster early discussions with children or adolescents about the holocaust. But judged by artistic merit and craft alone it hardly belongs on the same shelf as Watchmen, From Hell, or Miller's Batman writings. In those works, the writers crafted dense literary works that truly transcended the genre and used the form in novel and interesting ways. They did not rely on content alone to sell mediocre work.