Burma Chronicles

Description

From the critically acclaimed author of Pyongyang and Shenzen, Burma Chronicles is a masterful graphic novel, and a timely and incisive portrait of a country on the tipping point. After developing his acclaimed style of firsthand reporting with his bestselling graphic novels Pyongyang- A Journey in North Korea and Shenzen- A Travelogue from China, Guy Delisle is back with Burma Chronicles. In this country notorious for its use of concealment and isolation as social control - where scissors-wielding censors monitor the papers, the de facto leader of the opposition has been under decade-long house arrest, insurgent-controlled regions are effectively cut off from the world, and rumour is the most reliable source of current information - he turns his gaze to the everyday for a sense of the bigger picture. Delisle's deft and recognisable renderings take note of almsgiving rituals, daylong power-cuts and rampant heroin use in outlying regions, in this place where catastrophic mismanagement and ironhanded rule come up against profound resilience of spirit, expatriate life ambles along, and non-governmental organisations struggle with the risk of co-option by the military junta. Burma Chronicles is drawn with a minimal line, and interspersed with wordless vignettes and moments of Delisle's distinctive slapstick humour.

Guy Delisle was born in Quebec City in 1966 and has spent the last decade living and working in France. He has written and drawn four graphic novels including Shenzen, an account of his travels in China, and Pyongyang, an account of his experiences in North Korea.

It's insightful and is able to carry the weight of Burma's troublesome history, enabling the reader to learn about the real lives of Burmese people, through a mix of current affairs and, surprisingly considering the subject, humour. -- Emma Henderson * Independent * Simply put, Burma Chronicles is the most enlightening and insightful book on Burma in years... If you must visit Burma while it remains under the rule of the iniquitous junta, do so with the express intention of bearing witness to the tragedy and suffering of its people. Better still, stay away, and visit it instead through the pages of this heartbreaking, educational and insightful comic masterpiece * Guardian * As a counterpoint to the often inaccessible news stories about the country, this is an excellent portrait of a little-understood land, and makes for a deeply original and fascinating piece of travel writing * Daily Telegraph * Hilarious and touching * Dazed * This book is more fun than most holidays and more enlightening than a hundred blogs by self-appointed experience censors * Time Out *