DeLisle’s (Pyongyang
) latest exploration of Asian life is probably the best possible argument against the ruling junta in the embattled (and now nearly obliterated) nation also known as Myanmar. Readers will find themselves initially shocked and surprised at the country’s differences, then awestruck by the new traditions and finally in love with and yet enraged by Burmese daily life. DeLisle’s wife is a French aid worker with Medecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), leaving DeLisle alone with their son, Louis, and his cartooning. DeLisle’s style is simple but highly eloquent, and he tells more about the depth and breadth of the Burmese experience in the book’s little nonfiction vignettes than he ever could in an artificially imposed narrative. Burma Chronicles
is not merely a neat piece of cartooning but a valuable artifact of a repressive and highly destructive culture that curtails free speech with unparalleled tenacity. Like Joe Sacco’s The Fixer
and Safe Area Gorazde
, DeLisle uses cartooning to dig into a story that demands to be told. (Sept.)
