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Summary: Maus A Story Of The Holocaust
Review: "Maus: My Father Bleeds History" is a very interesting book. It is written in a way not many books are. The comic book outline is very unique. It is like a comic book within itself. The thing is that this is not a comical story. The story is about the Holocaust. Another interesting aspect about this story are the main characters. They are animals. The Jews are are mice, the Poles are the pigs, and the Germans are the cats.
Art Spieglman is the son of Vladek Spieglman, a Holocaust survivor. He is also a survivor in life. Art is a comic book artist who is writing about his father's life as a Jew in World World 2 Europe. Vladek's hardships and the mistreatment of the Jews are hard at times to read and the illustrations make the story feel much more real. The struggles of trying to survive, not knowing who is your friend or enemy, and the personal relationships between the characters, make this a memorable story.
This book is good for anyone who likes history and a personal story. I recommend this to anyone who doesn't want to do a lot of reading. The things people go through in extraordinary circumstances make you think what you might go through if you were faced with those same problems. Basically this book makes you think. Which is a good thing, because for me that means it's good.
On a scale of 1-5, I give this story a 4.5.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent portrayal of the Holocaust
Review: I had to read this book for an english course in college and it was great. There are insightful details in the comics and the storyline is gripping. It is very sad but it is reality at its best-even though people are depicted as animals. Mice are Jews, Cats and the Nazis and teh Polish are pigs, Americans are dogs. it is very clever, I highly recommend for a quick read, one sitting and you can finish this.
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Summary: Outstanding graphic novel on the Holocaust
Review: Spiegelman's portrayal of the Holocaust through a postmodernist point of view is outstanding. Don't let the term graphic novel fool you or turn you off by thinking its a comic book and is for children. It's not. The retelling of one of the most horrific events in modern history by having humans replaced with animals (ie., mice are the Jews, Cats are the Nazis, etc.) allows even the most uneducated person on the Holocaust come to terms with its stark and dense reality. Both Maus I and II are a must read and leave you with a haunted feeling on why did this have to happen?
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Summary: Outstanding in Concept and Execution
Review: Maus could have garnered four stars alone for its brilliant concept: chronicling the horrors of the Holocaust via a symbolic cartoon with animals as the protagonists and antagonists. However, the story is so deftly told, and is so much more (ironically) human in the way it weaves the writer's life into his father's narrative, that it transcends works defined as merely good. The grim drawings and non-human nature of the characters in some ways muffles the barbarism of Nazi Germany, and in other ways intensifies it. Scary indeed is the fairy tale in which the subjects' carefree, halcyon lives are turned upside down in a ever-worsening parade of appalling acts. The book's pace is perfect, and gives you insight into the way small denials of the Jews' freedoms, and tiny restrictions upon their liberties, gave rise to increasingly graver orders. You witness the hearty resiliency of the Jews as they resign their Fate to each event that befalls them, only to see the picture get bleaker with each day. The author's father Vladek (and story's main character) loses his first born and an endless succession of jobs and friends, and is ultimately separated from his wife (Anja) as the Jews as herded up and marched away from their homes. He contracts disease and is subjected to abominable physical labor and deprivation of food, yet somehow presses on and refuses to be defeated. Most fascinating about this book is the way Vladek continually escapes certain doom- he instantly acquires and/or fakes job skills that are needed by the Germans; he forges the right alliances with non-Jews; he selects the right hiding spots and patiently outwits his captors. You are needless to say rooting for him the whole time. The book has a little of everything: it is funny in parts, particularly in scenes when the author suffers his Dad's eccentricities and cheapness in order to glean some narrative along the way. It is heartbreakingly tragic throughout- for instance, there is a fascinating "comic within a comic" that mysteriously alludes to the Spiegleman's descent into depression and rage; and Vladek is miraculously reunited with his wife after the Holocaust, only to lose her to suicide. It is an amazing commentary in that an animal tale perfectly illustrates what it meant to be Jewish during the 30s and 40s- and what it means to be human now.
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Summary: From a German perspective
Review: I was a little hesitant to get this book. I remember hearing it was great in middle school, but it took me about 9 years after that to remember it, and finally hunt it down on Amazon. The holocaust isn't one of my favorite topics. I come from a primarily German heritage, and even though I was born in the states, I recall many times being teased about how my people were Nazi's and things like that. So anything on this topic kind of irks me out of association. 2 pages in and I forgot all about it. Art did a great job with the story. It was really easy to relate to the emotions of the mice (Jews) in the story. I didn't even see them as mice in the illustrations. The realism conveyed was astounding. I just couldn't stop reading it. I think I finished it the second day, and the only reason it lasted that long was because I forced myself to save some for later. All I can say is buy this book, and consider the 2 book set. It's great reading for any mature child and anyone upwards in age from there. However, it's obviously not a pleasant topic, so be warned. I've reserved this one a permanent slot on my bookshelf.
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Summary: Suprising
Review: When I was assigned this book to read for one of my classes I wasn't very excited about it. I really don't get into comic books, I never have. After reading the first chapter I was very suprised at how well written and interesting the story was. I found myself not wanting to put the book down. I haven't read very many books about the Holocaust so I found this very interesting. Although it didn't give a lot of information about the events of this time period, the book helped me to better understand what the people where going through and how they continued to suffer from it years later. I think that this was an excellent book and I would definetly recommend it to young adults. I think they would enjoy it because of its easy reading. They would also get a sense of what it was like for people back then.
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Summary: Surprising & Interesting...
Review: I did not choose to read "Maus: A Survivor's Tale." In fact, I was required to read it for a college course on Young Adult Literature. Having to read a book selected by SOMEONE ELSE is usually NOT as exciting as choosing your OWN book, but with "Maus," things actually worked out well. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed reading it. "Maus" was not the greatest book ever written, but it had its' merits. If I were a Young Adult reader, I think I'd enjoy its' unique, "comic-book" style. It's very visual, which I believe many students would find fascinating and attention-keeping, not to mention just plain helpful (in following the storyline and bridging the words written to what they see in pictures). For these reasons, I think "reluctant readers" would enjoy this, as well as other similarily styled, books. Another great quality of "Maus" was that it told a somewhat FAMILAR story (accounts of the Holocaust) in a NEW format. Spiegelman uses mice, cats and pigs in place of people. The symbolism of this intent is fairly effective. Also, again, hearing about such a important part of history in a UNIQUE, interest-grabbing format is likely to cause students to retain its' invaluable concepts (oppression, need for tolerance, evil of hate, etc). If I were to criticize "Maus," I'd have to say the flashing back and forth was at times, distracting and difficult to follow. Usually it worked well, but sometimes I found that it took away from the flow of the storyline. In conclusion, I found "Maus" to be a surprisingly interesting book; and one I would recommend to students for the above mentioned reasons.
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Summary: Entertaining and Informative
Review: I read this as part of a WWII class. I was attracted to this novel from the get go because of it's comic book style and ease of reading. That is not to say that it is a typical comic book. While Speigelman does indeed use the comic book format to tell his story, the story itself is very realistic and easy to relate to even though it's told using animals. Regardless, it is an enjoyable experience and does a good job of conveying the experience that Speigelman's father went through in Nazi Germany. I look forward to getting Maus II.
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Summary: Comic Book History with appeal from age 12 to adult
Review: Art is struggling to come to terms with his mother's suicide, and so he sets out to extract from his father (Vladek), the account of his life with his first wife Anja (Arts mother). Vladek and Anja were survivors of the Holocaust, and through the oral retelling of their story, Art is able to piece together the facts that led to this tragic event in his life. The comic book form offers a unique literary approach and appeals to a large age group from middle school to adults. The author is the narrator as he interviews his father, Vladek, day after day, and uses juxtapose as he tells the story of past events alongside current events, involving relationships with Vladek and his second wife, Mala. Art and Mala are disturbed by Vladeks behavior, which epitomizes the racist caricature of the "miserly old Jew." Maus: A Survivor's Tale, My Father Bleeds History is a fascinating account of historical events that happened in the lives of one family and the people they came in contact with, before, during, and after the Holocaust, and culminates with a sequel, Maus II: A Survivor's Tale, And Here My Troubles Began. The book has won several literary awards including the 1986 National Book Critics Circle prize in biography, and a Pulitzer Prize for Special Awards and Citations. Although Maus has been classified as fiction because of the lack of footnotes and bibliographic references, there is no doubt that Art Speigelman has an ingenius approach to the recording of historical, and factual events of the past.
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Summary: quite simply, the greatest comic ever
Review: When a comic book wins the Pulitzer Prize, you know something's up. Not to mention my first reading of this book was in my comparative literature class in college. Maus is not just another comic book. Maus is the true story of the author's family's struggle with the holocaust. His father directly surviving it, and the author struggling with what it has done to his family after the fact. The story is brilliantly told through the eyes of Art (the author) interviewing his father, Vladek. At once intimate and personal, Art also pulls you away from the terror by depicting everyone as animals. The Jews are mice, Germans are cats, Americans dogs and the Poles are pigs. This contrast of a direct account told through the veil of puppetry creates some interesting situations and allows Art to tell the story in a way no other format could allow. This ploy was genius in its own way. You can't help but become emotional with the characters. You'll feel pity for Vladek and frustration for/against Art. Never before have I grown so attached to comic characters. Anyway, the bottom line is just read this book. Even if comics aren't your thing. The fact that this book is illustrated and uses speech bubbles is it's only tie to the world of cheesy super heroes and monsters.
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