Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

The perennial graphic novel about a "hermit country," with a new cover and an introduction by Gore Verbinski

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.

Author: Guy Delisle
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Published: 10/02/2018
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.66lbs
Size: 8.40h x 6.10w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9781770463370
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.4
Point Value: 2
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 114195 / Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

About the Author
Born in Québec City, Canada, in 1966, Guy Delisle now lives in the south of France with his wife and two children. Delisle spent ten years working in animation, which allowed him to learn about movement and drawing. He is best known for his travelogues about life in faraway countries: Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City, Pyongyang, and Shenzhen. He has since expanded his oeuvre by telling a Doctors Without Borders acquaintance's story as a nail-biting thriller (Hostage) and revisiting his teen years and first summer job (Factory Summers).