Thought Train to Pusan

I hear the voices of my friends ringing in my ears: - “Another holocaust story? Don’t we have enough of those?” - “Making it about cats and mice? That seems trivializing…” - “Why are so many literary graphic novels somewhat autobiographical? It’s self-indulgent.” But what hasty assumptions to make without reading something first! I needed to see what this proclaimed “masterpiece” from the early 1990s was myself. Maus itself is not without some flaws and uncomfortable feelings, but it really exceeded my expectations, given the doubts seeded into my mind by some of the people around me. And yes, I’ll concede that maybe there are many tales of the holocaust out there, but aren’t there just as many (if not more) in every other genre? This graphic novel is clearly made for people who are interested in the subject. Without that interest, however, I could see why someone might just brush it aside, or read it at the most superficial and hasty levels (which I’m sur...