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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life inside the worlds only Communist dynasty, January 27, 2006
This review is from: Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (Hardcover)
Since the end of the Korean War, North Korea has become the most isolated, mysterious and fortified country on Earth. Unlike many other remote locations around the world North Korea is not a place many people would want to spend any time. However, thanks to globalization, North Korea's vast supply of super cheap labor and a real need for foreign investment the country has opened its doors just a crack and in peeked cartoonist Guy Delisle for a view at probably the most tightly regulated society on the planet. Mr. Delisle documents his experience in North Korea accompanied by his ever present "guide" and his translator. Pyongyang isn't really a story per se as much as a slice of life glimpse at the daily goings on in North Korea or at least as much of a glimpse as foreigners are allowed to see.
The drawing style in Pyongyang is a minimalist black and white that captures nicely the mirthless life in North Korea. You get a sense that the leadership is desperately trying to maintain a good face for the rest of the world but like the bridge in the book that only gets half painted the rust is bleeding through and the cracks are growing. There could hardly be a better advertisement for Capitalism and Democracy than the sterile, dystopia that is North Korea where airports and restaurants operate without lights and massive construction projects sit unfinished and crumbling. Freeways are built without exits and all the people listen to the same state run radio broadcast featuring music that sounds like "a cross between a national anthem and the theme song of a children's show".
North Korea has the same kind of creepiness as a cult except on a massive scale where Kim Jung Il acts as patron deity and his smiling visage is ever present in society. Each room has his portrait and his face appears on a pin that all Korean's are required to wear. This is a land where worker can advance by ratting on their fellow citizens and slight infractions can cause people to suddenly vanish.
Guy Delisle does a superb job of capturing the bleakness and bizarreness of North Korea contrasting it with his own light hearted rebellious attitude. In the end he tries to retain a shred of normalcy throwing paper airplanes from his apartment window while the people below try and hold it together in a society permeated by fear and mistrust. One of the items that the author brings with him is a copy of George Orwell's `1984' but what he found was the physical manifestations of Orwell's deepest fears brought to life.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Interesting Outsider's Look at North Korea, October 14, 2005
This review is from: Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (Hardcover)
This short graphic novel by French Canadian Guy Delisle managed to be humorous and frightening at once. It's a story of his two-month stay in Pyongyang while overseeing the production of a popular French children's cartoon. Delisle is not lost on the sad irony of his position, and tells his story simply and without pretense.
The book deals mainly with how frustrating life is in the capital, even for a privileged foreigner like him: bad food, constant surveillance, blaring propanda songs, etc.
It's probably most affecting when you get a real sense of the inner lives of his guide and translator. Both are very buttoned-up, proper and repressed. At one point Delisle lends one of them his copy of "1984"; when the guy returns it a week later he seems very nervous and mutters something about how he "doesn't like science fiction." On the other hand, he rejoices when he gets a bottle of Hennessy as a going-away present.
In the most terrifying episode Delisle asks his guide where all the handicapped people are in Pyongyang, and the guide responds that there aren't any handicapped people in North Korea. Yikes!
Highly recommended to any fan of first-person graphic journalism.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Sad, Empathetic Take on North Korea, February 10, 2010
In recent years, North Korea has held a prominent place in our collective imaginations as a tiny, isolated Asian country that shares membership in the "axis of evil" and yet is a country of which little is known. French Canadian cartoonist Guy Delisle travels to this enigmatic country for a two month business trip and attempts to unravel some of the mystery and inconsistencies of life in Communist Korea. His experiences are depicted with simplicity and grace in the graphic novel memoir/travelogue, Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea.
Delisle is sent to North Korea as an animator whose expertise as an animator is valued by the North Koreans. In the process, he learns how things work or don't work in this stark country. He sees and subtly critiques a country where massive buildings go unfinished, highways are without exit ramps, and airports and restaurants are without lights. Delisle's wry humor emerges throughout the story, including telling jokes that are above the heads of his humorless "Comrade Guide" and "Comrade Translator" and his habit of throwing paper airplanes out of his 15th floor hotel window. He shows the grim reality of decades of extreme Communism by depicting the monotony of having only one radio station to listen to, being surrounded by ubiquitous statues and images of dictators Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, and choosing from a rather bland selection of restaurants and food.
In an ironic motif throughout the story, he carries around a copy of Orwell's 1984 that he brought with him and eventually gives to his unsuspecting guide. The reader is constantly reminded of connections between the society Orwell describes in his dystopian classic and the realities of life in present day North Korea. It makes the reader wonder if Delisle's reflections are a foreshadowing of the future (as predicted in 1984) or a window into a dying outpost of Communist totalitarian rule.
Even when Delisle questions the inconsistencies of his host country, he maintains not only a sense of humor but he also shows compassion to the local citizens with whom he comes in contact: his guides, the other animators, the restaurant workers, his translator. One gets the feeling that his purpose in telling this story about such a misunderstood country is to expand our understanding of it. He does this with quirky details that give it credibility and he does it by placing himself in the center of the narrative so that he can capture the range of emotions of a confused Westerner living in Pyongyang.
Delisle's balance of critique and empathy make Pyonyang a compelling and memorable read. It complements nicely his other two graphic novels: Burma Chronicles and Shenzen: A Travelogue from China.
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