Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

 

I had Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle on my reading wishlist for quite a while. I don't recall how I discovered this graphic memoir, but it must have really stood out for me to have added it to my reading wishlist.

I recently purchased a used paperback copy of Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle. Guy Delisle is a Canadian cartoonist and animator, who spent time working in North Korea as an animator.

I loved the artwork for Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea!! The artwork is the best part of this book. It was an intriguing to read Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea as it gives us perspective on what it's like to visit North Korea as a foreigner and to also work in North Korea short term. For instance, the author had to be essentially escorted everywhere by a translator/escort. Propaganda is a big problem in North Korea. The sad state of affairs for the North Koreans is touched upon in this book, which gives us some insight as to how the country is in real life.

Below is the publisher's summary for Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle I discovered on Amazon's website:

Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea is the graphic novel that made his career, an international bestseller for more than ten years. Delisle became one of the few Westerners to be allowed access to the fortress-like country when he was working in animation for a French company.

While living in the nation’s capital for two months on a work visa, Delisle observed everything he was allowed to see of the culture and lives of the few North Koreans he encountered, bringing a sardonic and skeptical perspective on a place rife with propaganda. As a guide to the country, Delisle is a non-believer with a keen eye for the humor and tragedy of dictatorial whims, expressed in looming architecture and tiny, omnipresent photos of the president. The absurd vagaries of everyday life become fodder for a frustrated animator’s musings as boredom and censorship sink in. Delisle himself is the ideal foil for North Korean spin, the grumpy outsider who brought a copy of George Orwell’s 1984 with him into the totalitarian nation.

Pyongyang is an informative, personal, and accessible look at a dangerous and enigmatic country.

I am giving Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!