"Most people who have been exposed to traumatic stressors are somehow able to go on with their lives without becoming haunted by the memories of what has happened to them. That does not mean that the traumatic events go unnoticed." -van der Kolk and McFarlane, The Black Hole of Trauma

The Black Hole of Trauma, written by Bessel van der Kolk and Alexander McFarlane, is an interesting study of post-traumatic stress disorder and the systematic processing of information in those who have the disorder. Having recently read Persepolis, I was immediately reminded of the war atmosphere that Marjane Satrapi experienced in her society and how war literally hit close to home. Marjane experienced things that a Westerner couldn't begin to fathom--family and friends who were either going missing, becoming refugees, or killed; bombs in her city of residence in Tehran, a bomb striking her neighbor's house and killing them. All of this is enough to set anyone over the edge and into a "black hole of trauma"; however, Marjane appears to have had the mental stability to deal with these traumatic stressors and overcome the stress, without getting "stuck" on certain events and then going on to write about it. Even in her auto-biographical graphic novel, she is seen moving to a different country and experiencing relatively normal teenage rebellion and confusion, albeit with the added complication of being an Iranian in Europe and having witnessed war. Marjane is truly an unshakeable woman and her ability to overcome the terrors of war are a testament to her strength as a person.