I found a couple of great reviews on JSTOR.

Review One:

The first is a cartoon review of Persepolis 1 & 2, by Jennifer Camper.  It’s not only interesting, but it’s also quite funny and insightful.  For instance, in the first frame, two Iranian women are in a bookstore and one says to the other, “I see we’re still the flavor of the month” (8).  Later one of the women laments the fact that it took “an attack on America to get people interested in our stories” (8).  The book review itself touches not only on the politics and culture of this memoir, but also the artistic process behind it all.  I’ll bring in a copy for class.

Source: The Women’s Review of Books, Vol. 21, No. 12 (Sep., 2004), pp. 8-9

Published by: Old City Publishing, Inc.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4024475

Review two:

For those interested in additional reading from the Iranian woman’s perspective, I recommend reading this review by Nahid Mozaffari, who writes that “memoirs are to the publishing industry what reality shows are to television” (516). We’ve touched briefly on these books during class:

• Journey from the Land of No:  A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran, by Roya Hakakian
• Lipstick Jihad:  A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran, by Azadeh Moaveni
• Embroideries, by Marjane Satrapi

In addition to reviewing each book, Ms. Mozaffari offers some interesting details about the cultural and political reasons why Iranian memoirs are so popular right now.  For instance, she believes that for Americans confused by the history and politics of the area, it is “easier to look at the different cultures and difficult problems through the lens of one person at a time” (517).

It’s a long-ish review, but well-worth your time.

Source: Women’s Studies Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 1/2, The Global & the Intimate (Spring – Summer, 2006), pp. 516-527

Published by: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004783