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Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 5,475 ratings · 507 reviews

A westerner's visit into North Korea, told in the form of a graphic novel.

Famously referred to as one of the "Axis of Evil" countries, North Korea remains one of the most secretive and mysterious nations in the world today. In early 2001 cartoonist Guy Delisle became one of the few Westerners to be allowed access to the fortresslike country. While living in the nation's ca...more

Hardcover, 184 pages

Published September 1st 2005 by Drawn and Quarterly (first published November 15th 2002)

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Apr 05, 2013 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novelly-stuff

In an attempt to lower the international temperature, let us here on Goodreads try to turn those tears to smiles as we present a short musical selection

President Obama (dressed as a Mother Superior) :

Have you met my good friend North Korea,
The craziest nation on earth?
You'll know it the minute you see it,
You'll collapse into inappropriate mirth

Mrs Kim Jong-un (looking up from reading the new York Times):

The Jong-uns, darling we're the Jong-uns
And Jong-uns shouldn't be afraid
to live - love - w...more

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Feb 25, 2008 Lilburninbean rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don’t know where to begin describing this book. When I first read about it, I was so excited to get my hands on it because it sounded so intriguing. And with all the excellent write-ups people have given it, I was hopeful it would offer a)an insightful account of a travel/work experience in North Korea and b)a narrative that was somewhat self-aware and unlike so many travel logs by douche-baggy Westerners who have a superiority complex yet claim not to be racist. I’m so utterly disappointed. A...more

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May 06, 2008 Lady Jayme, rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels-comics-manga

This book is a true account of a French animator (Guy Delisle) who travels to North Korea to oversee a cartooning project. Since North Korea is one of the most closed nations on earth and is run by a totalitarian government, this insight into North Korean life is amazing and somewhat shocking. This is a graphic novel and Delisle’s drawings are simple but fun. The lack of freedom is at times heartbreaking, but there are plenty of humorous moments. Delisle also throws in some facts about the world...more

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Apr 01, 2008 Christopher Pulleyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Christopher by: Kaitlin Grott

I have a real interest in the very secretive communist country of North Korea and this illustrated book was a very original and suitably quirky way of providing the reader with an insight into the life of a foreign worker in NK's capital city Pyongyang.

The book was really easy to pick up and read, although a little hard to put down with a lack of clear chapter divides. Considering that photographs and reports of the country are so heavily censored and restricted, Delisle very creatively illustra...more

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Sep 18, 2007 Alexander rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphicnovels, myfavoritenovels

Part of what's amazing about this book is that it very much had to be a graphic novel: the story of a French animator who travels to Pyongyang, North Korea, in order to oversee an animation project, because, and this I didn't know, much of the animation that's done in the films we all watch here in the west is done there, in North Korea. The artists there fill in the movements between the major art cells, needed to do the laborious moment by moment cell replication that most artists do not want...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Our Abiko rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recently, I feel compelled to read, write and think about North Korea. I'm not quite sure why. I suspect it is something to do with it being the antithesis of everything we know of our cosy liberal world. The rule of law, the rights of man, democracy and even religion, are mocked, distorted and abused in the warped mirror of the Kim's family fiefdom. And we're practically neighbours. Anyway, after tweeting about the excellent "Sophie Smith goes to Pyongyang" article doing the rounds on Twitter,...more

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Nov 19, 2008 Clickety rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library, graphic-novel

Reading this about the same time I read Persepolis 2 got me thinking about the differences between the experiences each author had traveling/living in another country. In Persepolis 2, the characters are a hodgepodge of flavors; in Pyongyang, there are two types: foreigner and native.

Delisle seems blissfully unaware of his own prejudice and selfishness, which was what really made the book ring true. I mean, honestly - everyone thinks that his or her own belief system and way of life is "right."...more

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Jul 16, 2008 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: relatives living in China

Recommended to Katie by: David Henson

I really think that graphic novels are a new and wonderful art form that capture the fragmented nature of life and selfhood in a way that traditional narratives cannot. Like when Virginia Woolf invented stream of consciousness to describe the way people were feeling in reaction to the first world war--that's what graphic novels are attempting to do: move beyond old forms, move beyond words into the new territory where drawing provides the subtext to the words. And it's so fucking good.

You have b...more

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Jul 31, 2008 angela rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: graphic-novels

I have to agree with some of the other reviews that call Delisle on his racism and misogyny. It wasn't even the kind of over-the-top, look-at-how-ridiculous-I-am-being, poking-fun-at-racism kind of racism that I've come to expect from so-called comedians and authors today. It was plain, old boring thinly veiled racism and misogyny. Objectifying women, calling them bitches, calling Korean children "monkeys", generalizing about "these" countries and all of Asia as if there is no diversity to be fo...more

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Andréeb I am very concerned about the translation of this book according to this review, because in its original french version, I can't recall anything remot...more
Aug 07, 2012 09:16pm

Nathanael I never got the impression he was being racist or thought of the people around him as lesser humans. What was loud and clear throughout the book was t...more I never got the impression he was being racist or thought of the people around him as lesser humans. What was loud and clear throughout the book was the absolute omnipresence of the system and its effect on the people. He notes his uncertainty as to wether the people around him are honest in their praises or scared or a little of both. This is a country where people get perks for informing on their neighbors, where there is no internet, not free radio or television. A country where it's inhabitants starve to death because it is run by an egomaniac who demands not just your support but your unwavering dedication. He demands your heart and soul. This is the real 1984 in full technicolor, the real deal.

I think you you need to reconsider you own personal definition of what 'racism' actually is. The key to racism is the belief that races are superior or inferior due to their racial differences. The cultural idiosyncrasies in this book are humorous and done in jest.There is a light hearted tone throughout the book and on one occasion he notes a man stuffing his jacket with fruit in a tree.

—His translator explains it away by telling him 'fruit season, haha, very good' but Guy knows there is a food shortage. He goes on to say 'Maybe he's hungry, Meanwhile I've been putting on weight eating their oil drenched meals. Shame on me.' Again, this is describing a scenario outside of his control...not eating won't help change things but he's more than aware of the problems.

When he talks about the 'little savant Monkeys' as Joe mentioned he is talking about the products of the rigid, systematic prison state. He's not talking about racial features.

He says—'As though the thin veneer of their smiles were proof that these young prodigies are flourishing here. It's all so cold and sad. I could cry."

I think he self aware, and the book is meant to be a graphical snap shot, and a darkly comical one at that. The humor is black at times but given the way Kim Jong runs the place it's hard not to be comical because it it's all so damn absurd one can't help but laugh and feel sad at the same time. It's like a sick joke.

As far as the 'I could think of a few tortures of my own' line, I think that's probably the most careless line in the book, but it's meant to be a joke. Call it bad taste or a not everyones cup of tea, but don't be self righteous and pretend humans don't live and breath for the same things. He is a man and sex enters his head...now he's a misogynist? Please.

Political correctness has its place but where do we draw the line? Are we not allowed to express honesty? Cultural differences are part of the travel experience and the book is comical in that way it deals with them. I didn't find anything racist in this book, however he illuminates some idiosyncrasies that could be stereotypical, but that's OK if it actually happened. Stereotypes are born out of truth, the fact that they exist should not surprise you.

All in all I'd give it 3.5 stars and thought it was a clever and enjoyable read. It's not meant to be the definitive guide to North Korea, nor is it a heavy sociological essay, but it doesn't have to be. That's the point. It conveys what it has to say a simple, honest and understated way—though the comic medium. It should be judged accordingly.(less)
Dec 02, 2012 08:21pm

Feb 13, 2008 Isaac rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People curious about North Korea

Recommended to Isaac by: Found it at the library

It's on a pretty rare occasion that someone from outside the country gets to live, work and travel in North Korea for a period of time, let alone writes a graphic novel about it. All he really gets to see is what he is allowed to see by the officials who show him around, and much of the time he is confined to writing about his experiences in one of the three Pyongyang hotels that cater to foreign businessmen. Even inside the country, he is limited to viewing things from a distance. Despite this,...more

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Jan 24, 2008 Rick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, comics

In the fashion of Marjane Satrapi’s superb graphic memoirs of life inside Iran, Delisle takes us inside the very closed and bizarrely Orwellian world of the two Kims. The author-illustrator is a French-Canadian cartoonist who joins the tiny contingent of foreign aid-workers, businessfolk, and diplomats who work in the North Korean capitol. Apparently animation work is farmed out to North Korea, replacing Japan and China in providing cheap production work for Western animation companies. It is a...more

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Nov 04, 2007 Mateo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I was a little kid, we read comic books like Archie and Jughead or Dennis the Menace--innocent reads for innocent kids. Later, we--wait. I just have to interrupt myself to say this: Is there any way that Archie and Jughead were not totally gay? I mean, totally, completely, flamingly homo gaius maximus? Because, look, here you have two incredibly well-chested hotties in Betty and Veronica, walking around in miniskirts and hippie beads, and meanwhile A. and J. are hanging out with each other...more When I was a little kid, we read comic books like Archie and Jughead or Dennis the Menace--innocent reads for innocent kids. Later, we--wait. I just have to interrupt myself to say this: Is there any way that Archie and Jughead were not totally gay? I mean, totally, completely, flamingly homo gaius maximus? Because, look, here you have two incredibly well-chested hotties in Betty and Veronica, walking around in miniskirts and hippie beads, and meanwhile A. and J. are hanging out with each other instead of trying to get the girls high and then suggesting that they all go over to the abandoned quarry to give each other henna tattoos on their private parts. I mean, besides Archie showing up in a pair of leather chaps while Jughead sang Village People songs, I'm not sure what more obvious signs there could be.

All right, then. Back to my subject. Anyway, later on we discovered Zap Comix and R. Crumb, and sometime around the time of Maus comics became "graphic novels" and soon ponderous, self-important tubesteaks like Frank Miller started treating them like they were whipped cream on the nipples of Literature, and you couldn't really enjoy them because half the people were taking them too seriously and half the people were not taking them seriously at all, while the third half didn't even know they existed at all.

I don't read comics (or comix) anymore, haven't since college, but Guy Delisle's Pyongyang caught my eye and flung it right back at me. This is a first-rate book. It's depressing and scary as hell, because it's like reading 1984 and then finding an end-note that says, "Oh, and by the way, this is all true and happening now." It's also quite funny in parts, and more than a little touching and poignant in others. It's also a book that really works as a graphic novel. Sure, he could have written this as, say, a magazine article, but then you'd miss out on the simple but highly affecting drawings of eerily empty restaurants, or a pitch-black North Korean capital illuminated only where gigantic portraits of Kim Jong-Il are found. My only caveat with this book is that you have to be careful not to read it too fast; you can finish it in an hour or so, but skipping through the wordless panels means missing the oppressive silence that dominates a dictatorship.

Highly recommended.

(less)

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Sep 16, 2010 Alex Telander rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2006

PYONGYANG: A JOURNEY IN NORTH KOREA BY GUY DELISLE: This is another book -- recommended to me -- in a growing genre of what I guess can be called "illustrated journalism" or "illustrated memoirs": writers telling their stories of real life through the medium of graphic novels. Of course, another big author in this genre is Marjane Satrapi, with her greatest achievement being Persepolis, and her story of living in Iran when the Shah was overthrown and the country went through some devastating tim...more PYONGYANG: A JOURNEY IN NORTH KOREA BY GUY DELISLE: This is another book -- recommended to me -- in a growing genre of what I guess can be called "illustrated journalism" or "illustrated memoirs": writers telling their stories of real life through the medium of graphic novels. Of course, another big author in this genre is Marjane Satrapi, with her greatest achievement being Persepolis, and her story of living in Iran when the Shah was overthrown and the country went through some devastating times. She followed this with Persepolis 2 -- which I have yet to read -- a sequel of her going back to Iran, and most recently Embroideries, which I did read and while I found it interesting -- a group of women meet for tea to discuss their lives as Iranian women and it seems much like one of the salons on the 1920's, where they discuss in secrecy things that shouldn't be talked about -- though I felt the book too short and didn't go into enough depth.

Nevertheless, Satrapi and Delisle are two of this growing genre and with the way graphic novels and comic books are continuing to increase every year in sales and support, I'm really happy that this nonfiction style is also continuing to grow because, much as you can say a lot with words and you can say a lot with pictures, uniting the true presents a whole new insight: not only do you hear the author through his or her words, but you see the emotion in the illustration and an empathic bond inevitably develops.

The author and artist of Pyongyang, Guy Delisle, works in animation and spends some time in North Korea where a part of animation has now been outsourced and there he works with a company, but the story isn't about the animated movie he is working on, it is much more about his experience in living in this relatively unknown country. One cannot help but get the feel of entering a new and undiscovered country for the first time.

North Korea caters, naturally, to its visitors and especially its tourists, so we see a world where there are buildings, towns and structures everywhere, and yet most are run down and have no power. Yet, when the tourists arrive, all of a sudden an entire floor of the hotel is filled with light and life, as well as two of the restaurants on another floor. While the menus aren't exactly five-star, they nevertheless have fresh goods and Delisle enjoys it, but after some weeks the quality goes down until the next group of tourists arrive, whereupon fresh melon is served once again! His most memorable description is of ordering French toast and being served with a slice of white bread on which has been sprinkled milk and warmed in the microwave.

But one really sees in this book the scary world that North Koreans are subjected to under the rule of their president Kim Jong-Il, and while this is a communist regime, one can't help but see stark similarities with just about every ruler, president, and emperor in the history of civilization. For example, the North Korean government goes to extremes to portray Kim Jong-Il and his deceased father and predecessor Kim Il-Sung as almost looking identical and perfectly alive and healthy. All supporters of the government wear pins of one or the other, or a pin of the two, as well as showing constant voluntary support of their government in building shrines to one, the other, or both, and making paintings and erecting statues, and improving their country by painting a bridge or cleaning a street -- it can be seen everyone, as Delisle travels around the country. The northeast part is off limits, government controlled and where, according to the rumors, are all the camps containing the prisoners and rebels.

Read the rest of the review here

For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.(less)

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Dec 04, 2007 Louis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphicnovels

This is Guy Delisle's story in cartoon form of his time as an animator for a French company working in North Korea. The style is sparse, almost merely sketching, which actually enhances the story. The view he gives of North Korea is a harsh one. As a westerner, he is restricted to the parts of North Korea that the government wants him to see, and there are several humorous episodes as his handlers find themselves working very hard to keep him on track. He sees many absurdities along the way. The...more

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Jul 14, 2007 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all

Shelves: sequential-art

This graphic novel gets 5 stars for unputdown-ability. Thanks to liberrian Jill for responding to my purchase request for this. The Canadian author spent some time in North Korea supervising an animation project (a lot of this work is done in Asia where there is expertise and the labor is cheap). The author's North Korean translator and guide accompany him everywhere in the world's most horrible country, such as anti-imperialist rallies, enormous garish buildings and monuments that were not ever...more

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Jun 16, 2007 Brendan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Guy Delisle, a French-Canadian animator, is expert at invoking the odd, the unexpected, even the surreal, all of which Pyongyang predictably provides in abundance. How wonderfully strange, for instance, that of the 50 floors in Delisle’s hotel, only a single floor is lit, and only part of that floor is occupied. Much of the regime’s power, it seems, is mere artifice.

To his credit, Delisle’s method is often elliptical enough that a second reading is necessary to fully appreciate the terror that l...more

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Jul 18, 2007 Pete rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: travellers, people who want to travel

Shelves: indiecomics

I don't remember much about the movie "Lost in Translation," but what I do remember is that it did do a good job of capturing that mixed sense of loneliness and exoticism found through travel and exploration. That's the same thing that I really like about "Pyongyang."

Written through from the perspective of a visiting French-Canadian animator, this book gives you a sense of his daily life there, what he's allowed to see and not to see. As an American, this account was especially interesting as it...more

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Feb 24, 2008 Michalyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary_graphic_novels, 2008

This was one of the funniest and saddest graphic novels I've read. There's something both absurd and strangely fitting about the fact that cartoon animation is one of the few "thriving" industries in North Korea. One thing that's obvious from Pyongyang is that there is a constant proliferation of images upon images upon images. It's like the harder things become for North Koreans, the more images the regime creates. I've never quite understood that quality of dictatorship and the place even the...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Chris Querrard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A different lifestyle the character Guy Delisle finds out when he visits North Korea in the book “Pyongyang” by Guy Delisle. Guy Delisle is a French cartoon artist who visits North Korea on a business trips to one of the animation studios located in North Korea. Guy is accompanied by a translator he calls Captain Sin and a tour guide as he journeys around North Korea.
Guy notices different customs that America is not used to. People praise Kim Il-sung or called “The Great Leader”. Every room ha...more

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Jan 27, 2009 Michael Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, memoir, graphic-novels, humor, my-favs, politics, dystopia, travelit

This is the (cartoon) story of an animation specialist working for a few months in North Korea. Guy Delisle depiction of a modern North Korea reveals an astute observer that goes over the obstacles of a closed-off regime. A people subject to terror and mind-washing propaganda, a pyramid game benefiting only the country's potentates, a cult of personality that leads to the first communist hereditary tyranny, all lead to "from here, China looks like a heaven of liberty."
If you consider reading th...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Estibaliz79 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3 1/2.
Mi hermana, y jefa ocasional, me puso como deberes para este fin de semana leerme 'Pyongyang', la experiencia de su autor, el canadiense Guy Delisle, durante su estancia en Corea del Norte mientras trabajaba para un estudio de animación. La explicación es bien sencilla y no hay que ir a buscarla muy lejos: no hay más que ver cualquier informativo estos días para preguntarse cómo puede existir una sociedad y un país como la que en esas informaciones se esboza y cómo puede la gente ser tan r...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Jess rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: expose, graphic-novels, non-fiction

Oh the culture shocks of this book. I was really excited to see a diary-style graphic novel recounting a foreigners experience of North Korea, and a relatively recent experience at that. And yet... I don't know how else to describe it but as an amalgam of all my least favorite parts of French cinema. Artsy naval gazing with a whiff of misogyny.

That said, if you can dodge the sometimes clunky and insensitive attempts at symbolism and theme (I'm looking at you, paper airplanes and 1984), you'll ge...more Oh the culture shocks of this book. I was really excited to see a diary-style graphic novel recounting a foreigners experience of North Korea, and a relatively recent experience at that. And yet... I don't know how else to describe it but as an amalgam of all my least favorite parts of French cinema. Artsy naval gazing with a whiff of misogyny.

That said, if you can dodge the sometimes clunky and insensitive attempts at symbolism and theme (I'm looking at you, paper airplanes and 1984), you'll get a firsthand look at what it means to be a foreign capitalist in downtown Pyongyang. Guy Delisle is working for a French animation company, when he's sent to North Korea to supervise the editing process. I'm not sure how I feel about the exploitation of cheap labor (the animators work for a sack of rice a week), but I suppose anything that brings money into the country and food to the people is a step in the right direction.

What kept this from being an excellent read was Delisle himself. He showed little to no curiosity about the notoriously closed country he is visiting, and approached the entire visit with a world weary, been-there-done-that malaise. Additionally, I never felt that Delisle or the other foreigners, businessman and aide workers alike, had any sympathy for the often precarious line the guides and translators must walk. They antagonized and mocked their translators, they ditched their guides for shallow reasons, they took photos of forbidden subjects and never seemed to acknowledge that their transgressions could have painful and deadly consequences for their North Korean minders.

As you'd expect of a professional animator, the artwork is stark and distinctive capturing the tone of the journal and the country rather nicely. I love art journals, and especially when they are used as travel memoirs. If you're curious about North Korea, Delisle certainly provides a different perspective than you'll get from Western reporters and North Korean defectors - for better or worse.(less)

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Mar 20, 2013 Stephen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I guess I just don't like Guy Delisle that much. He has a certain superiority, an incredulousness that people could be taken in by the propaganda, which gets almost sneering at times.

Hey Guy, maybe the easily traceable guide didn't want to denigrate the regime because he didn't want it to be written up in a comic book? Maybe people just didn't trust you enough to say "y'know, you're right - this is horseshit." Maybe not - maybe people do believe the propaganda they are fed, but I didn't feel mu...more

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Mar 16, 2013 David Schaafsma rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gn-memoir

I am amazed at all the 4 and 5 star reviews about this book. I just generally do not like Delisle's work, maybe. He as a "character" in his own memoir I certainly do not like, or haven't yet. Second book I read, and the only reason I read it was because I had just read Our Twisted Hero, a story by a Korean author about Korea in the fifties, a political parable I really liked, and found moving and insightful, so I thought: oh, Delisle was there in recent years, he may give me some deep insights i...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Alicia Scully rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gr-10-12, graphic-novel-manga, non-fiction, young-adult-lit

This graphic novel describes Delisle's time spent in North Korea while he was working at an animation studio. He explains some of the culture, including customs, government, and living conditions. He was in North Korea for approximately two months.

I have really mixed feelings about this book. Firstly, I liked the art style and the short stories that Delisle discusses throughout the book. It's kind of written almost like a comic strip because there are sometimes several stories all on the same pa...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: korea, graphic-novels

Try to keep expectations on level for this one: it's a graphic novel chronicling a two month animation project. The gratuitous mountain of critical praise piled on the first few pages and back cover are really unneeded. There's no great revelation, no expounding truths to be found at the end and certainly no scholarly work was done. It was a job and he did it complaining most of the time. The rest of the time was spent criticizing transparent inefficiencies and consequently drowning sorrows away...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Govango rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I like to think that I have a morbid curiosity towards North Korea. Everything about it seems to be shrouded in mystery and to a certain extent, extreme irony. This book was an impulse buy for me the moment I saw what it was about. I think the good points to take away from this read was that it gave you a small glimpse into the culture. Its bizarre to say the least. I understand all cultures are different, but when every big monument, museum, and even radio station in town is about the Great Lea...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Thomas Andrikus rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have always loved Guy Delisle's works.

This Quebecois artist always manages to introduce cities and countries around the world which most people consider "rogue", such as the Palestine or Burma, in a medium that most people find fresh: through graphic novels. That way, not only adult audiences can enjoy his stories and recollections...even kids can enjoy the stories as if they are leafing through the pages of Naruto

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, which is considered among his finest works,...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Part of my large graphic novel haul at Comic Con, where I bought this at the publisher's table and they tried to talk me into buy the author's latest and and much bigger book about Israel as well. But having never read any of his work, I wanted to start with the one he is probably best known for and (I think) his first.
French Canadian animator/cartoonist Guy Delisle was living in France and working for an animation studio that was contracting out work to a North Korean studio, where he went to...more Part of my large graphic novel haul at Comic Con, where I bought this at the publisher's table and they tried to talk me into buy the author's latest and and much bigger book about Israel as well. But having never read any of his work, I wanted to start with the one he is probably best known for and (I think) his first.
French Canadian animator/cartoonist Guy Delisle was living in France and working for an animation studio that was contracting out work to a North Korean studio, where he went to help oversee one of the productions around ten years ago. PYONGYANG is his memoir/travelogue in comic form.

While I enjoyed it well enough, I have to say it was fairly predictable and by the end felt a bit monotonous. Delisle confirms what you probably already believe, that North Korea is dreary, depressing and oppressively controlled down to every detail totalitarian state. That there is nothing that doesn't have the stamp of the beloved leader upon it, that his image is pretty much everywhere, and that whatever perception they have of the outside world is entirely distorted through state run propaganda. It's kind of amusing to see how Delisle coped with this all on a day to day basis. I personally think I would have gone out of my mind. By the end of it, you're just ready to say, "Leave. Just get out. Go home." You do gain a few bits of detail about daily life in what must be one of the world's most depressing countries, and how foreigners are treated with a completely different (but still very restrictive) set of rules, but that's not a huge surprise. I guess I was hoping not for a lecture, but at least a little more insight into the North Korean psyche. Mostly though, it's more played for laughs at the expense of his hosts and his very sincere tour guides and translators. Mocking the regime is a form of rebellion, I suppose, and one which I'm sure Delisle needed for a kind of mental cleansing after his stay. I enjoyed the book well enough, but wanted to like it even more. (less)

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May 30, 2012 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Travelers, observers

Recommended to Heather by: Dana Bertermann

Canadians get to go everywhere we Americans don't. My friend Jessie recently traveled to Cuba, and Guy Delisle, the author of Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea traveled to North Korea on a business trip for two months. Then he wrote a graphic novel about it, published by Drawn and Quarterly.

What's it like on the inside of an vehemently insular country—a place where all outsiders must be accompanied by official guides nearly all the time? The book follows Delisle's time in North Korea, on a bus...more

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About Guy Delisle

Born in Quebec, Canada, Guy Delisle studied animation at Sheridan College. Delisle has worked for numerous animation studios around the world, including CinéGroupe in Montreal.

Drawing from his experience at animation studios in China and North Korea, Delisle's graphic novels Shenzen and Pyongyang depict these two countries from a Westerner's perspective. A third graphic novel, Chroniques Birmanes,...more

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Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

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