Now in a paperback boxed set, the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker).

A brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats.

Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history’s most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

Since my holiday to Poland last year that included a visit to Auschwitz, my drive to read and learn more about this time has grown. So it might seem strange to opt for a graphic novel to tell the story of one of the worst events in human history.

But this isn’t an ordinary graphic novel, and neither is it an ordinary reference on the Holocaust. After all, there are plenty of reference books on this subject. This is one of the most human stories I’ve ever read. In fact, it’s two emotional, human stories in one. At its core, Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife Anja, and their life in Nazi occupied Poland and their fight to survive. But it’s told as retellings within a wider story showing the strained relationship between a Holocaust survivor father and his son.

It’s an interesting medium for the story, a graphic novel. Characters are anthropomorphised animals – mice for Jewish characters, cats for the Germans, pigs for the Poles, dogs for the American soldiers and even a frog for a French character. But it added to the depth of the story using the divisions of nature to illustrate the divisions of men. Consider the tales of Tom and Jerry, cat vs dog. Then you’ve got the dog recuing the mice from the cat.

What might appear to be a strange medium for such a story, the final product is a beautifully human approach to two stories both containing their own struggles. Maus is an incredible depiction of the Holocaust and of the struggles and regrets of a strained relationship.

My rating: