Book Review: Maus II has moments that separate it from the first book (e.g., the effect on the author's life of that volume's success), but generally the two are so intertwined that it's good they're now available as a single bind-up. As in the previous book, there are two timelines, the first describing the relationship of a son (after the death of his mother) and his Holocaust survivor father in the United States. The second revealing the father's life from his time as a young man in Poland through the years of World War II. The first volume concluded with the young parents being captured by the Nazis. The second volume picks up there, with the couple entering Auschwitz and extending the tale until the chaos after Liberation. The other story line consists of the son experiencing writer's block after publication of the first book and continuing to learn more about the War years and trying to ascertain his relationship with his father. Maus II focuses a little more on the father-son relationship, which is less necessary, for me at least, than discovering the time in the concentration camp. But all in all the books are really of one piece and there's no point in looking for distinctions between the two. In both installments there's a balance, there are no angels, moral and ethical decisions are made, sometimes wrongly, everyone is questionable in their human fallibility. Both volumes are valuable in presenting history accessibly and immediately, in a way that can't be done by history books, even oral histories. Perhaps some readers will go on to explore the histories and learn about times that cannot be repeated. Some readers may find parallels between moments of today and be warned of the dangers if we continue the way we are. And for anyone, for all the talk today of identity and difference, Maus II should show us that we all share a common humanity: we're all simply a body with a mind, trying to survive. [5★]
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