Burma Chronicles

"This is a graphic novel written by Guy Delisle who was a househusband – his wife was working for Médecins Sans Frontiers in Burma. He went to live there with her and this book is all about his observations of everyday life. It has an ex-pat kind of bent to it and focuses mainly on life in Rangoon. He has lovely details in there about the mundane happenings of Rangoon life. For example, he talks about electricity and how you can suddenly be plunged into darkness when you least expect it and how that affects your day-to-day life and your evenings with your friends. He explores the lack of modern-day amenities and how this leads to a rather old-fashioned life-style. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter One of my favourite sections is when he describes drawing pictures of the ruling generals from the state newspaper and notices that the pockets of the general’s uniforms were especially elongated to account for all the medals that they had to wear. He has a wonderful eye for small but illuminating details."