Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28432 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-12
• Released on: 2009-05-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781596433755
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Book Description
In 1986, Afghanistan was torn apart by a war with the Soviet Union. This graphic novel/photo-journal is a record of one reporter's arduous and dangerous journey through Afghanistan accompanying the Doctors Without Borders. Didier Lefèvre’s photography, paired with the art of Emmanuel Guibert, tells the powerful story of a mission undertaken by men and women dedicated to mending the wounds of war.

Take a Look Inside The Photographer
These color panels and striking landscapes document Didier Lefèvre's journey across the Hindu Kush mountains with Doctors Without Borders (click each image to see the full page).

Mountain crossing with a caravan of horses and donkeys	Clinic in northern Afghanistan's Yaftal Valley

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This documentary graphic novel brings together starkly beautiful black and white photographs taken by Lefèvre, intimate drawings by Guibert, skillful design by Lemercier and a vibrant translation and thorough introduction by Siegel. In 1986, photographer Lefèvre was hired by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF; Doctors Without Borders), to document a mission into northern Afghanistan. Along the way, he and the doctors, guides and interpreters with whom he traveled endured physical hardship and the fracas of war. In one memorable scene, the group must cross an open plateau where Russian planes fired on the previous MSF caravan. Photographs acting as panels emphasize the vast openness of the plateau, while drawings allow a glimpse of the small human gestures of the travelers. Arriving on the other side of the plateau, they reach a wooded area where, two years ago, they buried the man who didn't make it. This revelation is punctuated by a large photograph of the burial mound under the trees, the mix of drawings and photographs heightening the emotional impact. Originally published in three volumes in France, the book has sold more than 250,000 copies there, and the reach of this magnificent work promises to extend far beyond the graphic novel community. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 10 Up—Lefèvre was a photographer who attached himself to a 1986 Doctors Without Borders (MSF) expedition into Afghanistan during its war with the USSR. Almost 20 years later, he worked with artist Guibert to create this stunning narrative of that trip. Lefèvre shot well over 100 rolls of film in Pakistan and Afghanistan as he crossed the border in a donkey convoy, watched the medical staff diagnose and treat young and old wounded in the war or sickened by disease, and headed back into Pakistan escorted only by a variety of guides, not all of whom had his interests uppermost in their minds. Guibert worked with Lefèvre to create the story that links these photographic images, most of which are black and white, with panels beautifully colored by Lemercier. The latter describe relationships among the travelers and with the local people, Lefèvre's political awakening, and assorted physical and emotional hazards, especially on his return trip without an MSF escort. This tour de force is essential reading for students interested in international relations, journalism, memoir, and the practice of medicine in Third World circumstances. Lefèvre's initial lack of political sophistication will resonate with thoughtful teens.—Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

A different type of photography book
It's not what you think. That's the thing that came to my mind when I began reading this photography book. It's not really a photography book, it's an essay, it's a comic, it's contemporary, it's graphics, it's an illustrated adventure from 1986 and it's a true story.

I began reading it as I had requested it from the publisher for review. Most of the time I browse books, assimilate the essence of it, write about it and move to the next project. Not so this time.

First of all I have great respect for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an organization that I supported when photographer Fernando Bengoechea (one of my photographers) vanished in the Asian Tsunami. The work that they do can't be put into words. I pay my respect to any nurse or doctor who will agree to be smuggled into a country torn apart by war (Afghanistan) so that they can set up hospitals and provide medical care in the most rudimentary conditions. To go places where the locals might not even have a word called "healthcare" is an undertaking far beyond my Westerner imagination. This is the work of pure love, dedication and it holds a sense of purpose that most people might not ever find in a lifetime. This comes through clearly throughout the book.

Photojournalist Didier Lefèvre joined a team of Doctors Without Borders in 1986 and followed them into Afghanistan to illustrate their efforts to help ease the suffering of the people by providing medical services. The country was literally torn apart by the war between the Soviet Union who invaded Afghanistan and the Afghan Resistance supported by America and other Western Countries. You know one part of this story. One Arab player rose through the ranks helping Afghanistan freeing itself from the occupant. His name: Osama Bin Laden who was thought to be an ally in this war. He made donations to the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan (the largest held a staggering 4 million refugees). This project was facilitated by the CIA, The Pakistani secret service, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Once the Soviets retreated there was no peace but extremists took over and created even more war and conflict amongst the people. The American people were presented with a steep price ticket for getting involved on September 11, 2003.

This is the backdrop of the story. A mess that I cannot really understand enough because I don't know enough about it, really. So I begin reading. The book is illustrated much like a comic book and it is Didier's photographs that fill in the story. I find myself reading and looking at the image thinking, this is not just a story, this happened. And I read, and read and read.

"You know, for example, if you have an aperture of 11 with a shutter speed of 1/60th, and you decide to close the diaphragm down to 5-6 for a shallower depth of field, you'll automatically have to increase shutter speed by two stops". "Hm". "That becomes second nature. But of course being able to produce a technically good picture doesn't mean you'll make great pictures. For great pictures you really have to tear your eyes out. I want to pour all my energy into improving my photography. I want to take good pictures." "And what is a good picture?" "I don't know."

It is a story so well told that it draws you in- completely. A documentary as good as as it gets. Photojournalism as it is intended to be - an eye witness account shown to us image by image. Told by a naive and at first innocent photographer who is in way over his head but somehow manages. Illustrated with humor and pictures so simplistic and gripping. Each a testament to how incredibly lucky we are to live in peace and in a democratic environment. A journey serving as a dark reminder that even idealistic and well meaning people can die or get very ill.

Didier suffered from chronic furunculosis and lost fourteen teeth after the mission. A consequence of malnutrition, exhaustion and the incredible stress. Unfortunately Didier saw only modest success in his lifetime, he passed away in January 2007 of heart failure at only 49. "The Photographer" has sold over 250,000 copies (a number unheard of for a photography book) in France alone. It has won several awards since.

The book says about Didier Lefèvre "His work and character, both of which were outstanding, remain mostly to be discovered."

What Emmanuel Guibert has done with the book is for lack of a better word amazing. Was it not for his graphics and the way he has put it together - we wouldn't be able to read it. Emmanuel makes us watch and observe the story. His illustrations give us a much needed rest during the heartbreak we see. Doubtful that it could have been told in a more suitable way. This holds true especially for our society that doesn't like to be confronted with the realities of what war really looks like for those who are in it.

To sum it up, it is not an easy book. It will make you think, ponder and perhaps you may get angry on why war is still tolerated. But you read it anyway and you think about it some more.

The beauty is, this is what Didier Lefèvre had set out to do. To tell a story as a photojournalist and he has done it masterfully and with heart. I am with him through the journey, I know when he is happy that he can capture through the lens of the camera what he can't bare to watch with his eyes open.

And I cry when he cries.

Read this on the blog: http://photosecrets.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/bookreview-the-photographer/

Afghan wonder and horror in graphic-photojournalism
First, if you want to get the most out of this book buy a magnifying glass (mine cost $1 at CVS) - there are very small reproductions of contact photos containing great detail.
Second, "graphic-novel" seems a misnomer, as this is not a novel. Perhaps graphic-photojournalism better describes this memoir of the second author's experiences traveling to Afghanistan with MSF in 1986, the wonder and the horror captured by B&W photos when they exist and by the first author's drawings when they do not.

The book has 3 parts: the trip in, the medical mission, the trip out. Each part features, for me, a particularly moving photo. Part 1 begins in Pakistan where the photographer, Didier, acculturates first to Peshawar and the MSF team, then to the Afghans and the stark landscape in which they live, captured in the photo of the donkey and its rescuers recuperating on a rock in the middle of a shallow rushing Afghan river (see promo material above). Part 3 follows Didier's near catastrophic attempt to walk back to Pakistan without the MSF team, culminating in the nightmare photos of his beleaguered horse and the landscape in which he expected to die. Part 2 is harrowing in its depiction of human suffering in the Badakshan MSF clinic. Most moving to me is the two-page sequence of the emotions of a young girl treated for a burned hand. Other photos straight-forwardly document more ghastly injuries.

Babur wrote of his campaign into Afghansitan, as did some 19th century English explorer/soldiers, but there is a recent canon of writings of westerners traveling here: R Byron, early 30s; E Newby, late 50s; D Murphy early 60s; P Levi early 70s; J Elliot, late 70s-mid 80s; R Stewart, 02; and (though it's a different sort of book) S Chayes, 02-05. To this add The Photographer. Together they form a picture of honorable people (actually a variety of ethnic groups of honorable peoples) living tenaciously, very close to the earth, besieged and mistreated by invading forces. From the 50s-early 70s, it looked like the country had a chance to offer many of its citizens a decent life. But more chilling than the worst suffering depicted in this book is Sarah Chayes's discussion of the effects of 30 years of war/violence on the operation of Afghan society. If this book moves you, consider reading hers.

So why only 4 stars? At some level the book does not work perfectly for me, though I recommend it highly. It may be that the back and forth between the detail of the photos and the economy of the graphics is distracting. It may be that I never really connected with Didier the way I did with the young Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis. Hard to say... but I'm still very glad that we have it.

Another Angle in a Complicated - and Tragic - Story
The decades of war in Afghanistan remains such a mystery for so many that words alone may not deliver a true understanding of the region, its people and the various local factions that have incredible significance in the international chess game of politics.

This incredible memoir that mixes stunning photography with powerful comic art is presented by Didier Lefevre, Emmanuel Guibert and Frederic Lemercier. Lefevre took photographs for Doctors Without Borders as a village clinic was being established in the Hindu Kush mountains.

The rugged and stark terrain comes alive through the resiliency of people who want normalcy in their lives. The unique presentation of material chronicles an important angle in an ongoing tragic story of war and peace.