Annotation: Many millions of people are victims of the Holocaust, yet some, like Art, were not even born yet. Torn between admiration and resentment of his overbearing father, a Holocaust survivor, can his father's memories help heal the breach that divides them?
Justification for Nomination: Maus was a significant and ground-breaking work that was awarded a well deserved Pulitzer Prize in 1992. However, in reviewing this book for a Mock Printz, I was careful to evaluate its merits under the criteria for the YA award.
Although Maus was not written specifically for young adults, this autobiographical account of a young man struggling to understand who he is, accept who his father is, and his effort to embrace their difficult relationship strongly resonates with YA readers. For the book, Art Spiegelman interviewed his father about his parents' lives before and after WWII. This was not an easy task, as his father was clearly not an easy man. His father's early years before the War showed him to be a man of resourcefulness, care, ambition and determination. The years of struggle to survive the Holocaust magnified these traits into an overbearing need for control.
Spiegelman realistically portrays the relationship between him and his father. Both he and his father are complex characters, having both admirable and not-so-desirable traits. Art's father was overbearing, cantankerous, stingy and egotistical. But he was also smart, hard-working, and willing to sacrifice his own comfort and safety for his wife and family. Although Art is a sympathetic character due to what clearly had not been a particularly happy childhood being raised by his emotionally battered parents, Spiegelman did not portray himself in a particularly flattering light. Rebellious, resentful, disrespectful and impatient are the emotions that Art expresses during his exchanges with his father. Yet his inner thoughts are revealed through how he retells his father's story - with deep respect for his father's tenacity, loyalty and skill. The love he feels for his father, however conflicted, is readily apparent. These love/hate feelings that Art has for his father are familiar to YA readers as they forge their independence from their own parents.
Who is the victim in this story? Art's father, who endured the Holocaust and all its horrors? Spiegelman himself, a victim of his turbulent childhood? While there is no ambiguity that the Holocaust itself was vicious and immoral, it is left to the reader to determine if the actions of each the characters were right under extreme and painful circumstances. Developmentally appropriate, teens want and need stories that help them understand human nature, their ethical identities, and the responsibilities of becoming an adult in an imperfect world. And yet importantly, despite its depressing subject, Maus is a story of survival against the odds, a story of courage and resilience. Against a backdrop of destruction and hatred, it is ultimately a story of healing and love. It is an emotionally powerful story that will appeal to many a YA reader. For these reasons, I strongly recommend this book for Mock Printz nomination.
Genre category: Graphic Novel Format; Coming of Age/Search for Identity; Biography/Autobiography/Memoir; Multicultural; Adult Market Author
No comments:
Post a Comment