Book Review - "Embroideries" by Marjane Satrapi

I was disappointed by Marjane Satrapi's follow up to the two volume Persepolis. In Embroideries, the setting is an after-dinner tea party between several women of different ages telling their stories abut love and sex. The potential is fantastic to really delve into the beliefs and traditions surrounding these topics. Bit rather than tell the complete stories with depth, she merely flits over them, so that you get a taste but little substance. She tells the stories of about 7 women in 144 pages, but not narrative pages, comic-book style pages - this, like "Persepolis", is a graphic novel as well.

While the story left a lot to be desired, the drawings are wonderful. In this book, Satrapi didn't use the panel frames she uses in Persepolis, and that are common in graphic novels, the drawings are all over the page, less constrained.

I'll still read her other book about Iran, Chicken with Plums and hope that she's returned to her evocative story-telling.

I would recommend the book only to Satrapi fans.