The Complete Maus

Given what a popular book Maus has been, and how many book banning controversies it's been at the center of, I'm surprised I hadn't read it sooner, but when I saw this edition at my local library, I decided it was time to finally pick it up for myself. I have to state the obvious: the fact that this book has been challenged and banned so many times is ridiculous and downright disgusting. I'm fully aware of the “reasons” that have typically been given, such as the nudity and depiction of suicide, but there are endless books that are far more graphic and haven't received the same treatment, so why are we even pretending it's anything other than outright erasure and bigotry? Anyways, The Complete Maus is a tough read at times, but one that I feel like I'm going to be thinking about for a long time to come. I've read a lot of books inspired by actual people's experiences during the Holocaust, but never one that was quite this brutal or hit this hard.✨ Representation: most individuals in the book are Jewish✨ Content warnings for: antisemitism, Holocaust, war, starvation, beatings, torture, murder, hanging, death by exposure, illness, shootings, slur usage, violence, nudity, suicide, ableism, anti-Blackness in one scene (including slur usage), loss of child, loss of family, grief, trauma, dementia ———twitter booktok bookstagram blog