Burma Chronicles

Burma Chronicles is the travel diary of Québécois cartoonist Guy Delisle*. He is married to Nadége, a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières, and she's assigned to Burma (Myanmar). Guy and Baby Louis follow. Hilarity ensues.This is definitely one of the best graphic novels I've read. The artwork is black and white, but it's so detailed and inventive, I never really missed the colors. Delisle's outlook on Burmese life is funny and light, which is refreshing considering the heavy subject matter that living in a totalitarian state entails.For those of us who read and enjoyed the book, there are some really interesting goodies in Delisle's website, including photos of the real-life places featured in the book: [...]

Once I started this book, I couldn't stop sneaking off to read it. It actually sucked me in and my whole world for 3 days was Burma, in black and white,Not much else to say except that it is really like a blog with drawings and humor peppered here and there. Very easy to digest, and would be a great addition to any PoliSci course or literature course looking to go multi-modal or just change it up a bit.I loved the fact that the hardcover does NOT have a (useless and gratuitous) dustjacket. The image that would be on the dustjacket is actually the hard cover.

Presented primarily in tidy iconic panels, Delisle's Burma Chronicles paints a vivid portrait of the incredibly isolated though vastly intriguing Burma culture examined by a stay-at-home-abroad dad limited by constant governmental censorship. Delisle discovers the Burma regime's intensive censorship campaign while reading a severely-edited Time magazine on pg.9 and commenting "In Myanmar, all magazines go through the censorship bureau. Articles that are unflattering to the country are systematically removed." The theme of censorship and its effects on Burma's citizens is omnipresent throughout the Burma Chronicles. The censorship bureau is acutely thorough, extensively editing the 80+ Myanmarian magazines every week (66). Moreover, the country's censorship extends to individuals. A small magazine snafu in which a government official is apparently criticized results in the mysterious removal of a student from Delisle's private cartooning class (197). A Nobel Prize winner is currently under mandated house arrest for her views against the government (33). Perhaps in response to the censoring nature of the Burma dictatorship, Delisle deliberately renders governmental officials not in his signature simplistic style but in fully-featured and in some instances downright frightening detail, as on page 22 a girl fawning over his baby retrieves her father, referred to merely as "the patriarch," and presents him like a stiff and leering corpse (23). The same drawing style used on this familial figurehead is used to depict the leaders of Burma as well--often in larger-than-life poses-- towering, for instance, over the country's deadly opium fields (207) or bulldozing homes (208). Delisle, by writing this account, is subverting the patriarchy's attempts to impose order through censorship of the Burma people. It makes sense that Delisle's most enriching experience arrives late in the novel when he mediates at a Vipassana temple (246-254). By placing himself into the imposed silence of the monks, he experiences true happiness. He is at initially uneasy, his thoughts spinning wildly on page 250. Then he resolves to enjoy the experience of meditation in solitude. Basking in what amounts to a self-imposed censorship of the external struggles of the world around him, Delisle finds peace. Perhaps the Burma government could learn a lot from the monks who roam the streets, praying and accepting gifts of rice; as Delisle remains silently studying himself under their guidance, he is controlled and contented. His experience is self-reflective, beyond the sway of larger governmental censorship.

Burma Chronicles is the third book I have by Guy Delisle. I also read Pyongyang and Shenzhen, which were both interesting in their own way. Burma Chronicles is, I think, the overall best. He has learned how to deliver the humor, the sadness, the landscape of another place, another country, giving us the feel in both images and words. From him I learned about the Noble Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, about how the nation is run, about the water festival and many other things like malaria.In fact the last few weeks Burma...excuse me, Myanmar, was in the news BECAUSE of that American who ended up staying with Aung San Suu Kyi. So I have gained knowledge that helped me understand the morning news. Amazing! A comic book helping me to learn. I hope he writes and draws more about the places he has been.

I saw Guy Delisle's new work "Jerusalem" in a bookshop and bought it on an impulse. Immediately hooked, I sought out his other graphic travel accounts. As with all of his similar work, I found this book to be easy to access and both very interesting and entertainingly informative. It is a fascinating combination of intimate travel diary and political commentary. I have read graphic works of non-fiction in the past but Guy Delisle now has me seeking them out wherever I can find them.

It is a good exploration with Guy Delisle to Burma.After I read this book, it gave me a lot of exploration about Burma.The author had many interaction with local people in Burma, he let me know about how the localpeople like and what is the characteristic of Burma people.

I love how he tell his story. Sonl sincere! Coming from the heart. I will read everything that he wrote.

I've read this book many years again and now bought again as a gift. The author is not only a talented graphic artist but also a fantastic story teller and it's great to be transported with him to Burma and see what he saw then. Very enjoyable for both adults and older kids.

Originale ma dettagliato e molto interessante

So so endearing and informative.I can't wait to read his other books. He's a genius of an illustrator, I'm thoroughly inspired!

Just like Guy Delisle's other books, this is also entertaining and shows the everyday lives of a country sealed from the world. It has been even more interesting as we have just been there, so could understand more and laugh at the situations that were familiar.

Sencillo, auténtico, es como estar allí y verlo todo desde sus ojos, la vida real en dibujos.Si te gusta viajar te gustará.