Maus, by Art Spiegelman

I finished this extraordinary book on the train the other day. I don't recommend you do the same. Try to read the final pages somewhere private. Then you won't have to fight back the tears.

Tears over a comic book? A comic book about mice being terrorised by cats? Absolutely.

Maus is Art Spiegelman's retelling of his parents' experiences in the war, and in the camps at Birkenau and Auschwitz. And somehow the simple idea of turning the Jews into mice and the Nazis into cats makes the Holocaust more, not less, real.

The historical tale is also interwoven with the story of its own telling, as Spiegelman records his father's memories onto tape - dealing with the old man's neuroses, gripes and infuriating habits along the way. It's unflinchingly honest, and deeply moving.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's both epic and intimate. Hilarious and heartbreaking. Although the telling seems effortless, the whole thing is a masterpiece of construction. And once you've read it, you can't imagine this story being told any other way than in this inspired comic book form.

Click the image to buy Maus from Amazon.