Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China
Selected Book Details
- Hardcover
- Author: Guy Delisle
- Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
- Release Date: October 2006
- ISBN-10: 1894937791
- ISBN-13: 9781894937795
- List Price: $19.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryThe follow-up graphic novel to the acclaimed Pyongyang: A Journey to North Korea Shenzhen is entertainingly compact, with Guy Delisle’s observations of life in a cold urban city in southern China that is sealed off from the rest of the country by electric fences and armed guards. With a dry wit and a clean line, Delisle makes the most of his time spent in Asia overseeing outsourced production for a French animation company. By translating his fish-out-of-water experiences into accessible graphic novels,Delisle is quick to find the humor and point out the differences between Western and Eastern cultures. Yet he never forgets to relay his compassion for the simple freedoms that escape his colleagues by virtue of living in a Communist state. Guy Delisle was born in Quebec City in 1966 and has spent the last decade living and working in the South of France with his wife and son. Delisle has spent ten years, mostly in Europe, working in animation, an experience that taught him about movement and drawing. Delisle has written and drawn six graphic novels, including Shenzhen. Shenzhen, Guy Delisle's follow-up to his acclaimed graphic novel Pyongyang, is entertainingly compact, with the author's observations of life in a cold urban city in southern China that is sealed off from the rest of the country by electric fences and armed guards. With a dry wit and a clean line, Delisle makes the most of his time spent in Asia overseeing outsourced production for a French animation company. By translating his fish-out-of-water experiences into accessible graphic novels, Delisle is quick to find the humor and point out the differences between Western and Eastern cultures. Yet he never forgets to relay his compassion for the simple freedoms that escape his colleagues by virtue of living in a Communist state. "A sharp eye for detail, self-deprecating humor and subtle, shadowy drawings highlight this engaging, ambitious graphic narrative . . . The artist makes no attempt to convince the reader to visit the Chinese city from which he couldn't wait to escape. As a Canadian native now based in France, Delisle is no stranger to cultural dislocation, yet he wasn't prepared for the strangeness and isolation he would feel when he traveled to China to direct a team of animators on a TV series. Within the workplace, the hotel and the restaurants he stumbles upon (where he proves far more open-minded and adventurous than many readers would be), Delisle runs into so many barriers that he ends up exploring his own psychological state here . . . The artist himself questions the value of sharing what he experienced during his stay in China, yet the Kafkaesque drawings that accompany his frequently droll narration are their own reward. Shenzhen may not be a nice place to live, but it's a provocative city to visitin graphic form, at least. While never preaching, this volume makes a forceful case for creative license and personal liberty, as the artist discovers that there's no place like home."Kirkus Reviews "[Delisle] recounts a 1997 stint in the Chinese boomtown Shenzhen . . . China showed signs of Westernization, at least in Special Economic Zones such as Shenzhen, where Delisle found a Hard Rock Cafe and a Gold's Gym. Still, he experienced near-constant alienation. The absence of other Westerners and bilingual Chinese left him unable to ask about baffling cultural differences ranging from exotic shops to the pervasive lack of sanitation . . . China is an authoritarian, not totalitarian, state, and Delisle escaped the oppressive atmosphere with a getaway to nearby Hong Kong, whose relative familiarity gave him 'reverse culture shock' . . . His creative skill suggests that the comic strip is the ideal medium for such an account. His wry drawings and clever storytelling convey his experiences far more effectively than one imagines a travel journal or film documentary would."Gordon Flagg, Booklist "Pyongyang introduced Delisle's acute voice, as he reported from North Korea with unusual insight and wit, not to mention wonderfully detailed cartooning. Shenzhen is . . . another installment in what one hopes is an ongoing series of travelogues by this talented artist. Here he again finds himself working on an animated movie in a Communist country, this time in Shenzhen, an isolated city in southern China. Delisle not only takes readers through his daily routine, but also explores Chinese custom and geography, eloquently explaining the cultural differences city to city, company to company and person to person. He also goes into detail about the food and entertainment of the region as well as animation in general and his own career path. All of this is the result of his intense isolation for three months in an anonymous hotel room. He has little to do but ruminate on his surroundings, and readers are the lucky beneficiaries of his loneliness . . . Delisle draws in a gentle cartoon style: his observations are grounded in realism, but his figures are light cartoons, giving the book, as Delisle himself remarks, a feeling of an alternative Tintin."Publishers Weekly |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Shenzen
Rating:
Its not bad, but not his best either
I'm no expert, but it feels hurried - the illustrations, narration was ok though
Quite excellent graphic travelogue from a rather boring stay in China
Rating:
Guy Delisle's travelogue from Shenzhen, China might not be as newsworthy as his book from Pyongyang, since China is not as veiled a country as North Korea. But he proves the same observational skills and manages to depict a somewhat boring stay in the People's Republic in a fascinating way. Delisle has an eye for facial expressions, awkward dialogue and crosscultural misunderstandings that makes for a great read as well as a sense of learning something about China (and the West). And he's funny! In a deadpan, subtle kind of way.
Very interesting point of view...
Rating:
After reviewing Pyongyang, which I found very interesting and have already reread a couple of times, I ordered his other books, one of them being this one. I happen to love everything about Japan, China, and other Asian nations, so as you can guess I enjoyed this book very much. Yes, I have reread it a couple of times even before doing this review. In some ways Mr. Delisle didn't really tell us anything we haven't heard before a hundred times. Yet I think some of the events, some of the happenings that happened to him, were interesting in the way he presented them to us. Maybe because he deals with the world in the form of shapes and forms and interactions, that he wants to understand cause and effect, and how things work.
There is no racism or buckteeth, not sure where one of the reviews got that, he just truly enjoys learning. I get the impression that he wants to understand just for the fun of it. He desires, in the end, to understand people, why they do things and uncover life's little mysteries. Like, who is stealing the manhole covers? Was the girl who put the photo albums on his desk in love with him? Why do the hostesses on the train give a military salute when they pull into the station?
Get it used or new, but enjoy it.
Good, But Not As Good As The Great "Pyongyang"
Rating:
"Shenzhen" is cartoonist Guy Delisle's graphic novel describing three months he spent in Shenzhen, China working on a cartoon TV series. He writes and draws in the same black and white, witty style that he used in his weightier "Pyongyang."
I enjoyed reading "Shenzhen," but it did not have the same effect on me that "Pyongyang" did. I thought about "Pyongyang" for days after reading it. "Pyongyang" moved me and had me questioning: "how do people get so brainwashed? How does an obvious tyrant create mass hypnosis in an entire country?" "Pyongyang" is a masterpiece, which drew me in, step by insidious step, into a truly strange land.
"Shenzhen" was mostly the story of a boring three months in a boring, gray city. The author was often in his hotel room, or struggling to order food at restaurants, or dealing with co-workers that he couldn't communicate with. I found myself thinking, "What do you expect is going to happen when you go to a place where you don't speak the language?"
What I did like about the book was the funny cultural points he picks up, funny little habits that I've also seen the Chinese people do during my several visits there. I think DeLisle missed an opportunity here to go deeper into this and was limited by his language barrier.
Where the book fails is lack of importance. What is the message? That Chinese culture is different from western culture? Or is the message that Shenzhen is an industrial city and it's not much fun to be in China when you don't speak Chinese?
"Pyongyang," his other book, on the surface was very similar, but it was much more substantial because it dealt with a bizarre, enclosed world. It dealt with the political and cultural reality of a country in total isolation from the rest of the world. "Pyongyang" felt important, like a window into a unique and strange place - almost a parallel universe. Maybe because I've been to China already "Shenzhen" just felt like a book the author did to keep himself busy while there.
Rush out and read "Pyongyang!" Then, if you loved it for the style and the witty writing, you'll enjoy "Shenzhen," but not as much.
Clash of cultures
Rating:
I agree with reviewers who think there is a lot of stereotyping going on in this graphic novel. The book is more a demonstration of a serious clash of cultures and things not meeting the author's expectations (based on the things he is used to through living in France and Canada) rather than a story with any deep insights into life in Shenzhen or even broadly about Chinese culture. I can see how suddenly landing up in a foreign city, especially one that due to its language, food, and other constraints is difficult to adjust to, can be a rude introduction to a Westerner and can be shocking at times; especially when it comes to food, concept of individual space, cleanliness, etc.
That said...it gets 3 stars still as I think it is worth a read and worth even a chuckle or two... but definitely do not read this as an introduction to China or its culture! Note that I am not saying that anything Guy said is false. It might be a 100% perfect reflection of how life goes on in the city but the problem I had was with the sarcasm (covert mostly but sometimes not so tacit) inherent in the way he deals with these surprises. Also, not to say I wouldn't be pained or hassled by some of these aspects that trouble him myself -- in fact, he is quite enterprising in trying some of the more exotic foods, etc.
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