Friday, October 9, 2009

The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, Fréderic Lemercier

Paperback, 288 pgs, Pub May 12th 2009 by First Second (first published 2003), Orig Title: Le Photographe, ISBN13: 9781596433755, Edition Language: English, Series: Le Photographe #1-3, Lit Awards: Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for Best U.S. Edition of International Material (2010)

This was such a suprising book. I found myself completely rapt to see how well the execution of the book worked--the interleaving actual photographs with graphic drawings of the travel and work of Doctors Without Borders in the northeast corner of Afghanistan. Didier Lefèvre, the photographer of the title, and his collaborators on this book, had personality enough to keep the tone moving constantly through interesting, awestruck, serious, funny, fearful. The reader is drawn into the photographs until one feels one has visited that place, was in that hospital, with those people. While the beauty of Afghanistan was constantly remarked upon, it was only at the end that I could see beauty there, in that stony and stark environment. There is something about the quality of the light and the air that is absolutely unique, and unforgettable. This book gives us something very special. It is a great gift shared.


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