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Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea Paperback – May 1, 2007

by Guy Delisle (Author), Helge Dascher (Translator)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 585 ratings
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Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea
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As cameras are not allowed in North Korea, Pyongyang is a perfect example of the power of the graphic novel medium.Delisle's critically acclaimed memoir captures his two months spent in North Korea as an animator. As one of the few Westerners who is able to visit the country, without an overt political agenda, he is able to gain personal insight into one of the most secretive nations on the planet. He wants to learn about North Korean culture, but his omnipresent guides restrict him at every turn. Delisle tries to answer the neverending question: do the people support their government or are they too scared to revolt?
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Previous page
  1. Part of Series
    Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (2005)
  2. Print length
    176 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Drawn and Quarterly
  5. Publication date
    May 1, 2007
  6. Dimensions
    6.17 x 0.46 x 8.43 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    9781897299210
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1897299210
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1897299214
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Drawn and Quarterly; First Edition (May 1, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781897299210
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1897299210
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.17 x 0.46 x 8.43 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 585 ratings

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Guy Delisle

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
585 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Devil's Advocate
5.0 out of 5 stars Guy Delisle is my Dear Leader!
Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2008
Verified Purchase
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 moment. But for sheer armchair travel, and even perhaps as a spur for you to go there, read this wonderful self-deprecating shrewdly observant laugh-fest. You'll thank me for it!
4 people found this helpful
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Craig Rowland
5.0 out of 5 stars Walking home in the dark
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2011
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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 decent cup of coffee in the whole country. I know what I have in store yet I will be prepared in that at least I have the foreknowledge to bring my own, albeit inferior, instant coffee when compared to brewed, from home when I travel there.

The drawings were made with a variety of perspectives which I admired and enjoyed. In the midst of his adventures working with westerners and North Koreans at the animation studio, Delisle inserts a running joke in the form of a police line-up in which he asks the reader "Can You Spot the Traitors?". One must look at all the people and decide from almost an identical set of characteristics who is a traitor to the fatherland. A typical answer would be Figure #1 because "he let the portrait of Our Dear Leader gather dust". I do not believe that a graphic novel about North Korea would have had the same humorous touch if it had been written and drawn by someone who hadn't been there. A book like this would be a welcome addition to my collection on account of its artwork alone, and although I have already read it I would consider buying a copy.

I read the hardcover edition, which was 176 pages printed on a very thick paper. I always had to ensure I wasn't turning two pages at once since it often felt as though I had multiple pages between my fingers.
5 people found this helpful
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Nils Kelly
4.0 out of 5 stars mimimalist style effectively conveys an absence
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2006
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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 and controlled. He wonders "to what extent can a mind be manipulated? We'll probably get some idea when the country eventually opens up or collapses." Indeed, won't it be fascinating to bear witness to minds made free. I hope the regime doesn't destroy the society to save itself, for as Delisle quotes the Dear Leader, "Only 30% of the population would need to survive to reconstruct a victorious society."

Some people don't take graphic novels seriously. They should have a look at this one.
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Vagner
5.0 out of 5 stars Bom livro
Reviewed in Brazil on May 26, 2022
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É incrível e assustador mas esse relato de viagem mostra como distopias clássicas como "1984" e "Fahrenheit 541" podem se tornar realidade.
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Mr. L-francois Pilard
5.0 out of 5 stars Learning about North Korea
Reviewed in France on December 28, 2017
Verified Purchase
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.
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Marco Martinelli
5.0 out of 5 stars ok
Reviewed in Japan on November 30, 2021
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Sent an used copy.
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Wasistini Baitoningsih
5.0 out of 5 stars If you cant film it, draw it
Reviewed in Germany on April 4, 2016
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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.
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Bekxy Kuriakose
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing graphic Memoir!
Reviewed in India on July 25, 2015
Verified Purchase
Canadian animator cum cartoonist Guy Delisle's graphic memoir of his two month stay for work in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea is probably the only illustrated travelogue of its kind capturing the absurdities of a totalitarian communist regime which shouldn't be existing in today's day and age- as a foreigner who has come for work Guy can only travel accompanied by a translator and guide....entertainment, food, travel, shopping everything is so stale and restricted that its totally stifling and the near obsessive way in which the dictator and his son are eulogised and worshipped in school text books, museums, all over the city and countryside, over loudspeakers, as portraits on walls and pins on everyone's chests can make you go crazy....indeed the North Korean civilians who survive and not sent to camps have been so throughly brainwashed that they are scared to lift a finger out of turn...Guy turns the story of this depressing nation into a black grey-in-pencil comedy through his everyday experiences with North Koreans, the city, the sights he gets to see and his experience working in an animation studio in Pyongyang ...a comic novel you shouldn't miss since in all likelihood you will never visit this country! Am now thinking of buying his Burma and Jerusalem Chronicles too!!!
7 people found this helpful
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