This is a novel that incorporates a painful historical event with the artistry of a graphic novel. There have been several events in our history that are difficult to read about. Art Spiegelman takes a risk and incorporates art and this painful event in our history in order to intrigue readers to look at this event through a different medium. Although this novel is in the form of a graphic novel, it by new means undermines how important and crucial this event of our past is. This is not only a story of a survivor's tale through the Holocaust; it is also the story of a son and a father, and their relationship. As you see the story unwind, you can see how the Holocaust has affected both of the main characters. The story is based around Artie and his interviews with his father regarding this event in our history. It demonstrates aspects of strength, courage and pure luck as well as including the reader in on a heroic story. This is a book that everybody should read. It demonstrates the power that a graphic novel has and how important it is to be educated about our history. In order to not spoil any crucial parts in this novel, I will only say that it is a must to read. It opens your eyes to a father and sons relationship and journey as well as a first hand experience during an event in our history that we will never forget.

MAUS

While World War II happened, one of the worst originations in the world at that time was the nazis. But in this book called Maus instead of humans they have mice ,cats ,dogs ,and pigs. One of the mouse's name is vladek and he is one of many Jewish mice that are sent to mauschwitz. In this story vladek survived the holocaust and tells his son about his story and how he survived in the holocaust. Artie, is a young mouse that's a cartoonist writing a story about his father. As he here's his fathers' story he doesn't want him to stop even at the bad parts.
Vladek and Artie are both mice and hittle and the nazis are cats and pigs are police. The mice are Jewish and are sent to mauschwitz. The cats are the nazis that kill the mice and make them starve to death
At one part it my be horror because they starve and hang the mice. It may be a love story because valdek meets a girl at mauschwits. It's a non fiction fiction because it's a true story but its with mice cats dogs and pigs

In "Maus", an extraordinary graphic novel, Art Spiegelman tells the story of his father, Vladek, and his terrifying experiences as a Jew in Poland during WWII. Vladek's harrowing struggle to evade the Nazis with his wife, Anja, is compelling and brutal. They must bear the loss of their family and friends -- even their son, Richieu, whom they had tried to send to safety -- and keep pressing on in their desperate bid for survival. Left with nowhere to turn, they must rely on strangers for help, knowing full well that the kindness of these strangers will run out the moment that Vladek and Anja are unable to pay for their hospitality. Spiegelman does an excellent job capturing the gravity of their plight, and his drawings are filled with perceptive details and creative twists. The Jews are portrayed as mice, with the Nazis as cats (faces more often than not sinisterly hidden in shadows), and the non-Jews that assist the Nazis or charge the Jews for their help take on the form of pigs.

The story of Vladek and Anja alone makes for a compelling read, but just as well rendered are the moments between father and son as Vladek tells Artie about his past. Their relationship is deeply complicated, and their journey toward understanding is fraught with misunderstandings, old resentments and bitter memories -- mostly centered around Anja, who committed suicide when Artie was twenty years old. I can't wait to read volume II to see if they can reach a common ground in the end. Spiegelman's heartfelt rendering of their complex bond is utterly realistic, and his emotional treatment of one of history's greatest tragedies is an amazingly bold achievement. Those who feel uncertain about reading it because it's a graphic novel should try to get passed the stigma, because if they don't they will truly be missing out.