<p>Picked up and put down the second part of this graphic novel in two days last week. As with most sequels, I didn’t care for it as much as the first. Interestingly, I’m in the minority there (it gets better reviews from the public).</p>
<p>A solid closing to the story. In producing this painfully honest story of his father’s life, Art Spiegelman has done a heck of an honor to his father and other Holocaust victims. I most appreciated how he took a no-holds-barred approach to it. He didn’t hide his father’s faults. They made him who he was. They were the brutal truth of the effects of survival. I think we can all likely relate to him struggling to understand why his parents acted certain ways; all our parents come from drastically different times. We are better people to understand, appreciate, and respect that rather than what I do all too often by getting frustrated. Art never made that realization during his father’s life, but I’d have to think in completing this story he went back and did, and probably even has some remorse.</p>
<p>An interesting note is that this story (both parts) was slowly produced and published in segments to the author’s own magazine. From start to finish, the project spanned 19 years.</p>
<p>If you have any interest in the Holocaust or great reading material, this is a must-read.</p>