Maus by Art Spiegelman

I remember first stumbling upon Maus sometime back in middle school, puzzled by this unknown title and its strange cover. I never opened it up and simply put it back on its shelf in the library where I had found it. Periodically, I would somehow manage to stumble back upon the graphic novel here and there, but still never quite picking it up to read. From the cover, I had different ideas of what the story was. I though maybe it was a piece of fiction judging by the mice. Perhaps more historical fiction featuring cat Hitler. Maybe an action piece? A tale of drama, politics and spies? Maus gradually became like that cousin that you vaguely recognize at dinner parties but don't really interact with, minding your own business in your own corner. So finally, after all this time getting the chance to pick it up and read it has been quite the surprise for my expectations.

Maus is a biographical tale of Vladek Spiegelman and his experiences as a Holocaust survivor, which is all told by his son, Art. It's a tale told bluntly, which is probably because it's based off of Vladek's retelling of his story. And he is a helluva blunt man. There's no sugarcoating to the events, because it's the truth of the matter, that's what actually happened. The things that happen can get hard to read, but yet I wanted to keep reading, to understand that these aren't fictional events. 

The most notable aspect of Maus is how Art depicts different races and nationalities as different animals. Art plays off of the use of stereotypes by using one animal type for an entire group of people. The Jewish were mice, Germans the cats, Polish the pigs, Americans the dogs, etc. By doing so, it makes you think maybe all the mice are the same since you can hardly tell who's who when they all look the same, and that's the point. Art is playing into the stereotype mentality. You think everyone is the same since they look the same. But he flips it on its head when the story reveals that despite looking the same, each character has a distinct personality to them and act much differently from each other. There are pigs that are kind, pigs that are vicious. Mice that are friendly, mice that are selfish. The animals don't act as a universal indicator, much like how stereotypes don't.

I think it's interesting that I am reading this novel now rather than earlier. I feel like if I read it when I was younger, I wouldn't get the whole animal allegory or would miss the subtlety in the narrative that flips between present day and flashback. It's a powerful work and I'm glad I finally took the time to read through it all.