"Pyongyang" by Guy Delisle

Summary of Pyongyang by Guy Delisle
This graphic novel opens the eyes of the reader to the secretive society of North Korea.  The author was a first hand witness as he entered the country on a work visa for a French film company.  The experience allowed him to view the culture, more of it than the North Koreans had intended.  The text and illustrations cooperate together to give a good picture of the realities of living under the world's best known Communist dynasty.  The story line focuses on his personal adventures within the country in the company of his translator and guide. 

Delisle, G. (2005).  Pyongyang.  New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.

Personal Impressions of Pyongyang by Guy Delisle
This first hand account of life in North Korea is very informative and interesting. The author's sarcastic humor adds to the flavor. The impression of negative and hopeless conditions are accented, as well as the inability of the government to contain the troubles within. The graphics are complementary of the text, which is interesting and chronological of Delisle's personal journey.

Reviews of Pyongyang by Guy Delisle
"In 2001, French-Canadian cartoonist Delisle traveled to North Korea on a work visa to supervise the animation of a children's cartoon show for two months. While there, he got a rare chance to observe firsthand one of the last remaining totalitarian Communist societies. He also got crappy ice cream, a barrage of propaganda and a chance to fly paper airplanes out of his 15th-floor hotel window. Combining a gift for anecdote and an ear for absurd dialogue, Delisle's retelling of his adventures makes a gently humorous counterpoint to the daily news stories about the axis of evil, a Lost in Translation for the Communist world. Delisle shifts between accounts of his work as an animator and life as a visitor in a country where all foreigners take up only two floors of a 50-story hotel. Delisle's simple but expressive art works well with his account, humanizing the few North Koreans he gets to know (including "Comrade Guide" and "Comrade Translator"), and facilitating digressions into North Korean history and various bizarre happenings involving brandy and bear cubs. Pyongyang will appeal to multiple audiences: current events buffs, Persepolis fans and those who just love a good yarn. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information."

Review by Publishers Weekly and Retrieved from Barnes & Noble. 

"The author accepted an assignment to work with a team of North Koreans hired to draw a cartoon series. This graphic novel depicts his time there, mostly in the capital city. Delisle stays at one of the three hotels in Pyongang permitted to take foreign guests. The 50-story Yangakkdo is mostly empty; the only floor with its lights turned on is the one with foreigners on it. Accompanied everywhere by at least one or two government assigned “guides,” the animator sees pretty much only what the powers that be want him to see. Even that limited view, however, reveals a fascistic and surreal landscape: a “phantom city in a hermit nation.” Delisle is a good guide through this overly ordered world. He genuinely likes the North Koreans and has no ideological axe to grind; he brings along Orwell to read, but doesn’t let it restrict his thinking. His sharp eye captures many telling details: a monstrously luxurious subway station (marble walls, chandeliers) that seems to be only for show; the empty restaurants; the “volunteer” civilians obsessively cleaning everywhere he looks; and always the passionate reverence for Kim Jong Il, whose portrait hangs “in every room, on every floor, in every building” throughout the land. Brilliant, passionately rendered reportage."
Review from Kirkus Reviews and Retrieved from kirkusreviews.com

Suggestions for Use in a Library or School
Pair the reading of Pyongyang with the article from National Geographic titled Escape from North Korea by Tom O'Neill (Feb. 2009 issue).  Ask high school students to comment on why someone would flee from North Korea and how international countries can help bring about freedom to the people there.  Pose other questions via discussion or essay:  Why do you think the people tolerate the government's control?  OR What freedoms do you take for granted in the U.S.?