You may recall my effusive post about The Initiates and how much I loved it, and now it has led me to this book and I love it even more as a result. The Photographer follows Didier Lefevre on a mission with MSF/DWB in Afghanistan in 1986. How much did I know about Afghanistan in 1986 before reading this book? NOTHING. And now I know a little and really, that's a step forward in my life.
SO: Didier Lefevre was given an assignment by Medicins Sans Frontieres to photograph the work of some of their doctors, and very few of the photos were ever published. This book has reams of the photos accompanied by comics to carry the narrative. The combination is visceral and the story is by turns harsh and uplifting. I cried a bit. It took me quite awhile to read, just because there's so much going on and so much to look at and the subject matter is heavy. A large portion of the book deals with just getting to and from Afghanistan, and the amount of time and work it took to arrive at the assignment location. It's astounding. I'm at a bit of a loss to properly review this book. Just read it.
I'm not sure how it happened, but the majority of my reading about the Middle East in the last couple of years has been in comic book form. This one is one of the better ones, and has made me move Joe Sacco's Palestine closer to the top of my to-be-read list. Also: I'm becoming more and more convinced that I need to pay more attention to French comics-writers/artists. Dem francophones, am I right.
I need more nonfiction comics in my life! Tell me what to read!
Oh! Have you read Guy Delisle yet? He is a Canadian cartoonist I quite like, and he has written a book about China and one about Jerusalem and one about North Korea, and I liked them all. They're not incredibly deep and are fairly quick reads, but he has a good eye for the odd detail. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI love Guy Delisle! Jerusalem and The Burma Chronicles are my favorites. I like the day-in-the-life feel of his books.
Deleteyes, I completely second Jenny's recommendation. I love Guy Delisle! The first book I read was about Pyongyang (North Korea). He is good at balancing quirky observations with chilling implications regarding the relationship between a government/dictatorship and its people. I recommend both Pyongyang and the Burma Chronicles.
ReplyDeleteGuy Delisle forever! Have you read Jerusalem? It is super interesting reading about Israel from the perspective of a staunch atheist.
DeleteI want to read more comics and I feel like non-fiction might be the way to get me in and this sounds excellent, if super heavy. I'll have to keep my eye out for this!
ReplyDeleteAlso well worth your time and effort: Guy Delisle's travelogues (obvs), and Fun Home / Alison Bechdel. Probably everything by Alison Bechdel is worth your time, but I've only read Fun Home.
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