Guy Delisle's Pyongyang: A Graphic Novel Journey Through North Korea

Vagner: É incrível e assustador mas esse relato de viagem mostra como distopias clássicas como "1984" e "Fahrenheit 541" podem se tornar realidade.

Brazil on May 26, 2022

Marco Martinelli: Sent an used copy.

Japan on Nov 30, 2021

Nat: I really enjoyed reading this book and I learnt a lot of things about North Korea that I did not know before. His stories, written almost like they are diary entries, are very interesting and its fascinating to see how he changes from the start to the end of the book, progressively becoming bolder. The art work is very simple so don't expect anything amazing in that department but it doesn't need to be because the narration and text drive the story.The only negative thing I can say about this is that a lot of chapters just fizzle out, meaning there is no amazing conclusion to what happened at the end of each tale that he is telling from his trip. But still I very much enjoyed the journey he took me on and I will be reading the rest of the books in this series.

United Kingdom on Jan 21, 2018

Mr. L-francois Pilard: It’s interesting to learn that the subway is buried 90 meters underground and can be used as an atomic shelter among other things. I’d recommend this comic book to anyone desirous to get more familiar with North Korea, here portrayed from inside with some distant criticism.

France on Dec 28, 2017

Wasistini Baitoningsih: This book has gotten gazilion positive reviews, so it doesnt matter what am saying here. In a overtly protected North Korea, outsiders are limited to take pictures. So the best way to describe the situation there is through drawings.

Germany on Apr 04, 2016

Craig Rowland: For the past two nights I have had dreams about North Korea. I don't recall ever having had a recurring dream. I never dreamt about the North during the early part of this year when I read one book after another about the DPRK. I wonder what tonight's dream will be about, considering I have just finished Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, a graphic novel by Guy Delisle (translated by Helge Dascher). Pyongyang is the first work of graphic fiction I have read. It is classed as a novel but it reflects Delisle's own two-month stay in the North Korean capital where he worked for a French animation company.

Delisle's observations and frustrations in having to deal with North Korean bureaucracy made for a hilarious read. Although Delisle is in the country on a two-month work contract, he is still led by guides everywhere. Guest workers, like tourists, must pay their reverential respect at all North Korean monuments and propaganda museums in addition to working at their job six days a week. Delisle is given the propaganda tour and he depicts himself in some drawings as barely able to contain his laughter. He expresses his frustration at not being able to find a...

United States on Apr 14, 2011

Devil's Advocate: Having recently visited North Korea for 4 of the wackiest, most surreal and intensely thought-provoking days of my life, I can recommend this book as the next best thing to visiting that crazy country.
The country is such a closed clam that the visual memories are those that sustain you as you ask yourself, "Did I really go there? Was it some insane episode from 'The Prisoner'? (sorry Guy, borrowed that one from you!)
The book captures in the most perceptive manner the horrendous mind-control that lies at the centre of this society. However, it also manages to make it laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
I literally laughed till tears came at some of the moments illustrated in Guy's deceptively simple drawings. I even sought out and found the turtle in the lobby of the hotel he stayed in!
The book made me rush out and buy his (very disappointing) Shenzhen follow up and I'm currently reading his 'Burma Chronicles'. Sadly neither seems to come close to the 'Pyongyang' masterpiece.
By all means read Bradley Martin's ''Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader' for a comprehensive understanding of how the DPRK got into the mess it's in at the...

United States on Oct 28, 2008

Nils Kelly: I gave this to a teen-aged daughter for Christmas--an odd gift I suppose, and ended up reading it myself straight through, in front of the tree. Perhaps it's not a kid thing. In North Korea's social model we see the ultimate manifestation of the human urge to power and total control. It's dreadfully fascinating.

Another reviewer mentioned Delisle's "spare style and gentle humor". It's interesting to note the difference in approach between Orwell's works, 1984 which Delisle brings into the country, and Animal Farm. Both of which compared to Pyongyang are as subtle as a brick. Pyongyang being a different form of course, a kind of documentary rather than novel or allegory, Delisle lets the relentless and omnipresent mechanisms of thought and behavior control he encounters mostly speak for themselves.

Passing through this empty, lonely, oppressive environment for a couple of months, he captures the mood effectively through the use of minimalist grey style and mild observations. He conveys not only the presence of the totalitarian state, but also the absence, or at least the inaccessibility, of the human spirit, that has been so systematically isolated...

United States on Dec 27, 2006