The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication, here is the definitive edition of the book 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).

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust” (The New York Times).

Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century’s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #26: More than a million copies sold)

The Reason

It’s been on my TBR a while, I’d heard so much about it and was curious.

My Thoughts

I didn’t expect it to be so because it’s a graphic novel of mice, but I feel like this is one of the most important books about WW2 that I’ve read. One, because it’s a true story from Art’s father who actually lived through it and not the many WW2 fiction that’s available, and two, because the MC, Vladek, isn’t the most likeable person.

There’s a reminder here that it really didn’t matter if you were a good or bad person, rich or poor, strong or weak, male or female, young or old… if you were a Jew, you could die at the whims of a Nazi, or you could be one of the “lucky” ones who survived. It chills me to think about it. As I’ve said, I really don’t like Vladek very much. He’s stingy, difficult, and a racist, and yet, I respect his survival instincts and his resourcefulness. I still don’t like him, but no matter what, no one deserves what the Nazis did to the Jews. I love that Art told his father’s story while also showing the process of being told the story; I think it brought a whole new element to the story to show that someone can go through something as vile as the Holocaust and yet still hold racist beliefs, and it also helps to show that Art doesn’t agree with his father’s beliefs.

In fact, one of the things I find most interesting is the relationship dynamics between Art and his father. He shows that Vladek is a difficult person to be around, to reason with, to change, and even from the beginning we see that he doesn’t spend a lot of time with his father and doesn’t want to spend a lot of time with him. It’s so relatable to both want to honor your father’s history and tell his story but not want to subject yourself to his idiosyncrasies.

I really respect the vulnerability and authenticity that Art puts into this story, and also the comic that he wrote about his mother that he included in the book. I don’t know if I could ever do that but I’m inspired by his demonstration.

In regards to the art, I think it was amazing – so detailed and very obviously thoughtful. One of the common questions asked is why use animals instead of humans to depict the characters, and I can’t say why for sure, but the deeper I got into the book, the more I wonder if using the mice to represent Jews is because of how resourceful mice are. People see mice as pests and often want to exterminate them, but they persist and they thrive despite hardships. They are incredibly smart, solving puzzles and looking for loopholes, they are survivors. I don’t know if this was Art’s intent, but it was my takeaway. This book has been on my radar for a long time, I’m so glad I finally read it!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?