Comic Book Recommendation of the Week

SHENZHEN: A TRAVELOGUE FROM CHINA
by Guy Delisle


I was a big fan of Guy Delisle's previous book, PYONGYANG: A JOURNEY IN NORTH KOREA, and I was delighted to see this new one at Borders today.

PYONGYANG was an autobiographical comic about Delisle's stay in North Korea while working as the director of a Korean animation studio. Delisle, who is French-Canadian, writes the book in a diary-like way, going over his daily life while working in a country that intentionally isolates itself from the rest of the world. Delisle stays in a hotel with so few guests that they all stay on one or two floors, and those are the only ones with the electricity turned on. He orders french toast in the hotel restaurant and gets soggy bread warmed in the microwave. Radios are illegal and he can't even take a walk without having a Korean "guide" come with him. Everyone in Korea must wear a pin with a picture of Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, and their portraits must be hung in every room in every building in the country. Even the bathrooms. He brings a copy of Orwell's 1984 with to read and can't help but notice the similarities.

The new book, SHENZHEN, takes place in a less totalitarian country and Delisle seems to enjoy his stay in China a little bit more than he did North Korea. The differences between Western and Eastern cultures are still there, though, and he is staying in a city with very few non-Chinese people and almost no one that speaks English.

Both books are really great for anyone who likes diary-style comics like AMERICAN SPLENDOR or BLANKETS. I've read PYONGYANG three times now and I cannot recommend it enough.