Maus

Yesterday and today I read Maus, an excellent and compelling account of the Holocaust. I started it in the early evening, then stayed up late reading, and finally finished reading it over breakfast. I've read a lot of good graphic novels, but it's been a long time since I've read something which has hit me as hard as Maus.

It's quite famous, and I should have read it years ago. A young cartoonist recounts his father's story, the story of a man who survived the Holocaust, who lived through terrible times... The story is told with very simple artwork (the Jews are mice, the Nazis are cats) but doesn't leave out the details of the suffering that people faced at that time. I think if the artwork showed humans it would be almost too much to take.

All I can really say about it is that it is amazing; there were times when I couldn't quite believe the cruelty of the Nazis, or the selfishness of some of the non-Jews that the author's father met as he tried to survive, and to try and say more about it now would diminish the story somehow I think. I can just recommend it to you without reservation, and tell you that you will not regret reading it.

EDIT: As Matt pointed out, there are two volumes to Maus, and these are collected in The Complete Maus; I read both volumes, but didn't count them as separate books.