{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1770463372?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"1770463372","authors":["Guy Delisle"],"book_id":"9781770463370","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/pyongyang-9781770463370","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781770463370.jpg?v=f082e257e986d85c","description":"The perennial graphic novel about a “hermit country,” with a new cover and an introduction by Gore Verbinski Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea is the graphic novel that made his career, an international bestseller for more than ten years. Delisle became one of the few Westerners to be allowed access to the fortress-like country when he was working in animation for a French company. While living in the nation’s capital for two months on a work visa, Delisle observed everything he was allowed to see of the culture and lives of the few North Koreans he encountered, bringing a sardonic and skeptical perspective on a place rife with propaganda. As a guide to the country, Delisle is a non-believer with a keen eye for the humor and tragedy of dictatorial whims, expressed in looming architecture and tiny, omnipresent photos of the president. The absurd vagaries of everyday life become fodder for a frustrated animator’s musings as boredom and censorship sink in. Delisle himself is the ideal foil for North Korean spin, the grumpy outsider who brought a copy of George Orwell’s 1984 with him into the totalitarian nation. Pyongyang is an informative, personal, and accessible look at a dangerous and enigmatic country.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781770463370","publication_date":"20181002","publisher":"Drawn & Quarterly Publications","slug":"pyongyang","subtitle":"A Journey in North Korea","title":"Pyongyang"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"TRV003080","confidence_band":"high","label":"Korea Travel","score":0.7835,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV003030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Far East Travel","score":0.7495,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"CGN007020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Historical Graphic Nonfiction","score":0.7194,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"TRV003080","confidence_band":"high","label":"Korea Travel","score":0.7835,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"TRV003030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Far East Travel","score":0.7495,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"CGN007020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Historical Graphic Nonfiction","score":0.7194,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"CGN006000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Literary Graphic Novels","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"TRV003030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Far East Travel","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Korea Travel","score":0.7835,"slug":"korea-travel"},{"label":"Far East Travel","score":0.7495,"slug":"far-east-travel"},{"label":"Historical Graphic Nonfiction","score":0.7194,"slug":"historical-graphic-nonfiction"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in an accessible graphic-novel account of North Korea","Readers drawn to a personal, skeptical view of life under propaganda"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["George Orwell","Fido Nesti"],"book_id":"9780358359920","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780358359920.jpg?v=7c07612ff9db0464","score":0.6082,"title":"1984: the Graphic Novel","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780358359920"},{"authors":["Evangeline Neo"],"book_id":"9784805315477","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9784805315477.jpg?v=3780a8535376784c","score":0.6071,"title":"A Manga Lover's Tokyo Travel Guide","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9784805315477"},{"authors":["Hayao Miyazaki"],"book_id":"9781250846525","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250846525.jpg?v=67a1052027f0186d","score":0.6069,"title":"Shuna's Journey","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250846525"},{"authors":["Abby Denson"],"book_id":"9784805312797","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9784805312797.jpg?v=d82455c7874c6454","score":0.6007,"title":"Cool Japan Guide","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9784805312797"},{"authors":["Christine Mari Inzer"],"book_id":"9784805313961","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9784805313961.jpg?v=0e08e7a3517dec64","score":0.5912,"title":"Diary of a Tokyo Teen","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9784805313961"},{"authors":["Julie Blanchin Fujita"],"book_id":"9784805316016","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9784805316016.jpg?v=f9de6b256ebbb4c8","score":0.5876,"title":"Tokyo Love Story","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9784805316016"},{"authors":["Katsuhiro Otomo"],"book_id":"9781935429043","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781935429043.jpg?v=b69707ce52a2f750","score":0.587,"title":"Akira 3","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781935429043"},{"authors":["Katsuhiro Otomo"],"book_id":"9781935429067","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781935429067.jpg?v=8af3b100891c75c5","score":0.585,"title":"Akira 4","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781935429067"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Themes: Life in North Korea, Propaganda and censorship, Outsider perspective.","Reading lane: Korea Travel and Far East Travel.","Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly Publications."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.88,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in an accessible graphic-novel account of North Korea","Readers drawn to a personal, skeptical view of life under propaganda"],"themes":["Life in North Korea","Propaganda and censorship","Outsider perspective"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":654,"goodreads_ratings_count":29117,"goodreads_reviews_count":2514,"quality_score":0.9915}}