The Complete Persepolis is a comic-strip memoir written by Marjane Satrapi about her life growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. A coming-of-age story, the memoir begins from Satrapi’s experiences growing up as a young girl in war torn Iran, to her high school days studying abroad in Vienna without her parents, leading finally to “her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland”, as the book synopsis states.

I bought the complete version of the memoir, but you can also buy it in two parts. However, if you do buy it in two parts, I highly recommend buying them both at the same time because the memoir was an addicting read. Overall, it only took me three days to finish, and had me go through a gamut of emotions. Not only was I nervous and excited for Satrapi at times, I also laughed out loud at her jokes with her mother, was sad with her during struggles in young adulthood, and angry about the unfairness of some of the laws imposed on women and couples in Iran.

The only aspect that I did not like about The Complete Persepolis was that I was left wanting more–which really isn’t a bad thing. I appreciate that Satrapi wrote this memoir so that others can know her and others’ experiences and to remind us that you cannot place a whole group of people in the same bubble (something that I feel many have recently forgotten). This memoir showed me that while there are terrible situations in life, it is important to always find a way to have fun and appreciate what you have.