Yes, I know somewhere there will be someone who will go "how on earth can a comic be a great travel book?" Honestly, I do not know why not. It is written nowhere that all great works of literature should be just words and not come with illustrations. I mean, Asterix is awesome, right?
And so is Guy Delisle's Jerusalem, or to give it its complete name Jerusalem: Chronicles From The Holy City. He is not the most elaborate illustrator alive - in fact, some might find his sketches a bit basic - but Delisle has a gift for capturing the essence of a place and its people with a few lines and with hardly any colour. And if we saw him in fine form in his books on Burma and China, he is downright magnificent when tackling the holiest and most controversial city of them all - Jerusalem.
The first thing you have to do is to ditch any expectations you have of this being a politically charged narrative. Delisle is no Joe Sacco, but that does not mean that he turns a blind eye to the Palestinians and the religious issues that dog the city. No, he just tackles them in his role of being an illustrator dad at home who travels with his partner, Nadege, who works for Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF). Delisle travels along with her and takes care of their child, while staying at home. Which means, of course, that he has to figure out things like where to shop, where the park is, and so on, and while this is on, pull out time for his sketches.
And he is not only able to do so but captures his experiences of the city so brilliantly, that you can almost hear the shouts of the street vendors, the roll of traffic, the inevitable security arrangements, and the mutter of tourists at holy sites. He takes no sides and narrates what he sees - this is a travelogue and not a treatise on Jerusalem today. The result? You get not just an idea of the city, but a 'feel' of it, and of its people. No, there is no detailed study of the psychology of the population or the history of the place - this is just a man living in Jerusalem going about his day to day life and writing about it. The result? After putting it down, I might not become an expert on the Holy City, but I think I could actually find my way around in a particular part of the city and know how people behave. I would also know where to get the best views of some of the best known monuments of the city and at what time they open to the public.
Which is why I consider this to be the best travel book I have ever read. It is not about history or culture or the people.
It is about the place. And what you do there.
And Delisle handles them both in a masterly fashion. Read it if you are interested in Jerusalem. Read if if you like to travel. Read it if you like comics. Read it if you like a good book.
In sum: read it. It is a great book about modern day life in a great city.
What more can I say?
(Guy Delisle's Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City is available on Amazon. Click on the image above or the link below to get your copy).
And so is Guy Delisle's Jerusalem, or to give it its complete name Jerusalem: Chronicles From The Holy City. He is not the most elaborate illustrator alive - in fact, some might find his sketches a bit basic - but Delisle has a gift for capturing the essence of a place and its people with a few lines and with hardly any colour. And if we saw him in fine form in his books on Burma and China, he is downright magnificent when tackling the holiest and most controversial city of them all - Jerusalem.
The first thing you have to do is to ditch any expectations you have of this being a politically charged narrative. Delisle is no Joe Sacco, but that does not mean that he turns a blind eye to the Palestinians and the religious issues that dog the city. No, he just tackles them in his role of being an illustrator dad at home who travels with his partner, Nadege, who works for Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF). Delisle travels along with her and takes care of their child, while staying at home. Which means, of course, that he has to figure out things like where to shop, where the park is, and so on, and while this is on, pull out time for his sketches.
And he is not only able to do so but captures his experiences of the city so brilliantly, that you can almost hear the shouts of the street vendors, the roll of traffic, the inevitable security arrangements, and the mutter of tourists at holy sites. He takes no sides and narrates what he sees - this is a travelogue and not a treatise on Jerusalem today. The result? You get not just an idea of the city, but a 'feel' of it, and of its people. No, there is no detailed study of the psychology of the population or the history of the place - this is just a man living in Jerusalem going about his day to day life and writing about it. The result? After putting it down, I might not become an expert on the Holy City, but I think I could actually find my way around in a particular part of the city and know how people behave. I would also know where to get the best views of some of the best known monuments of the city and at what time they open to the public.
Which is why I consider this to be the best travel book I have ever read. It is not about history or culture or the people.
It is about the place. And what you do there.
And Delisle handles them both in a masterly fashion. Read it if you are interested in Jerusalem. Read if if you like to travel. Read it if you like comics. Read it if you like a good book.
In sum: read it. It is a great book about modern day life in a great city.
What more can I say?
(Guy Delisle's Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City is available on Amazon. Click on the image above or the link below to get your copy).
No comments:
Post a Comment