- Orlando Sentinel, January 28, 2022
When David and I first met he was living in Edina, Minnesota and I was living here in Altamonte Springs, Florida. As time passed our visits back and forth became longer and longer.
There was a large bookcase in David's bedroom. I had previously read about half of the books but, over time I read almost all of the rest of them. They were right up my alley.
This bookcase was where I first found the remarkable graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman. At the time, I wasn't a fan of graphic novels but this was different. Very different. Art Spiegelman has a tortured relationship with his father and wants to understand why his father is so miserable to be around so, over an extended period of time he drags out the story of what his father and mother endured in Poland during the war. It is horrible, as you can imagine.
But this is a graphic novel. The word graphic takes on a much deeper meaning here. I read it all in one sitting. Then I read it again. The book flap said a sequel was coming soon. I began a long computer search but managed to to find the sequel. Maus - And Here My Troubles Began.The first is titled Maus - A Survivor's Tale. The Jews are depicted as mice, the Nazis as cats.
I couldn't find the nude woman/mouse today but, in the second novel I did see silhouettes of naked men/mice being forced to run in the snow by fully dressed Nazi/cats.
Coincidentally, another article in today's paper tells us that Polk County has "quarantined" 16 books from school libraries. Among them are The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseine and two books by Toni Morrison, Beloved and The Bluest Eye.
