Book Review: Maus

Art Spiegelman, the creator of Maus, uses comics to create a world that captures the true brutality and horrors of the holocaust, the time period from which the story stems. In this graphic novel, every different race is easily told apart as they are represented by different animals. For example, Jews are represented as mice, Poles are represented as pigs, Germans by cats, and Americans as dogs (among other's, however these are the most prominent). If one word could be used to describe Spieglman's book it would undoubtedly be honest. It is biographical in nature, but to the extent that it describes even the author's struggle of writing (or drawing rather) the book.
The Story alternates between the author's contemporary life (mainly consisting of interviewing his father Vladek and breaking up fights between Vladek and his new wife Mala), and the biographical story recreated through the interviews with his father.
The story begins before the war, when there was relative peace and security. The first several chapters are spent describing how he came to meet his wife, Anja. After they get married, Vladek begins working for Anja's father, a wealthy business man. Soon however, things plummet out of control, and he, and everyone close to him lose everything, and are put to work in labor camps. This goes on for some time, but before long, he and his wife are split up and taken to Auschwitz, where they manage to avoid the gas chambers and daily executions by one way or another. After years of torturous survival during the war, it finally draws to a close, and they are found by Americans while hiding in a barn. The reader is informed that Anja, several years later, committed suicide, influenced by the experiences she went through during the war. Vladek remarried (Mala), and, while he wouldn't function well without her (as is evidenced at the end when she leaves him for several weeks), they don't get along well.
All in all, this is an outstanding graphic novel, whose message could only be achieved through the medium of comics. It does not down play the brutality of the Holocaust, and accurately portrays the aftermath and effects of it played out later in life.