Brilliant. Powerful. Poignant. Intensely personal. In graphic novel format and the winner of a Pulitzer Prize Special Award in 1992, Maus is Vladek Spiegelman’s story of his survival of Auschwitz during World War II. It is also a story of the father-son relationship between Vladek and Art. In this first book, Art interviews his father about his intense past. Each nationality is represented as a different animal. The Jews are mice, the Germans are cats, and the Poles are pigs. We not only see the absolute horrors of Auschwitz from a survivor’s viewpoint, we also see one survivor’s son deal with the guilt of just being the son of a survivor.
I first heard about this book through Dewey for the graphic novel challenge. Thanks so much, Dewey, for introducing me to this astounding work.
Highly recommended to all.
1986, 161 pp.
Rating: 
Wow, that is high praise from you, Michelle. I was just looking at this in the bookstore last week because it is one of the books for the Year of Reading Dangerously challenge…I didn’t buy it because I have to admit that graphic novels don’t really appeal to me. But, perhaps I should open my mind a bit and go for it…
Wendy, I highly recommend this book. I’m glad I bought my copy. I actually bought both books as The Complete Maus bound in one volume.
You could always get it from the library, too, though!
Ihave both of these on my TBR. I’m reading them both (but counting them as one) for the Non-Ficiton Five Challenge starting next week. I’m really excited about reading them and these reviews are making me more excited.
You have convinced me – on the list it goes for the Graphic Novel Challenge! Thank you.
I think this, along with Maus II, is one of the most powerful, influential books on the Holocaust. Period, with no “graphic narrative” qualifier. Images still haunt me, as the one of the narrator writing at his desk atop a pile of corpses.
If you appreciated Maus, I highly recommend Persepolis I and II by Marjane Satrapi, about a girlhood in Iran. The film is an excellent adaptation.
Here’s a link to my review : http://randomfieldnotes.blogspot.com/2008/04/maus-survivors-tale.html I’ll add yours!
Well, apparently you are the one that convinced me to put Maus on my challenge list.
I thought they were incredibly moving.
I loved the Maus books. Have you read anything by Imre Kertesz? He survived Auschwitz, wrote, and won the Nobel Prize in 2002. I have just read a couple of his books and found them enlightening like Maus. I reviewed a couple of them here:
http://mookse.wordpress.com.
I also just encountered your blog and really enjoy it!
Trevor, I loved Kaddish for an Unborn Child and plan on reading Fatelessness and Liquidation at some point. Thanks for commenting!
Excellent! Kaddish for an Unborn Child is my next one. And I highly recommend Fatelessness and Liquidation. Please, when you read them, let me know what you think!
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