Maus

This book tells the story of Artie Spiegelman's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish Holocaust survivor and is based on his life. Art made himself a character, who asks and interwiews his father about his adventures, pains and experiences as a polish Jew during the Second World War and tries to draw a graphik nowel about this life story.

The characters in this book are represented as animals. The Jews are mice, the Germans cats and the Polish are drawn as pigs. 
The main characters are Vladek, an old man and his son, a cartoonist, who wants to write about what his father experienced during the Second World War. They have a troubled relationship. The novel moves back and forth from the present of 1978 in New York, to Poland before and during the Second World War. Vladed starts his story as a well-doing young businessman in Poland and continues telling until his deportation to the concentration camp.

This book was not easy to read, but I liked it a lot. The author creates a realistic and convincing description of the main character's life. 
Not just the events with historical background, but also the present ones are strong and well-developed. I as a reader had the sensation of being integrated into the setting. The drawer uses a minimalist drawing style and doesn't use any colors.
The plot is gripping and in no way predictable. As the writer represents himself as one oft the main characters, he gives us a wide view of his feelings.

Ich empfehle dieses Buch, weil ...
... I would like to reccomend this book to everyone who loves reading autobiographical books. with a historical background. It is not easy to read and requests some historical backround. I would not reccomend this novel to people who like colored and funny comics, because there are hardly any moments, which can be interpreted as funny.