Hostage

by Guy Delisle, Helge Dascher (Translator)

Overview

APPEARED ON BEST OF THE YEAR LISTS FROM NPR, WASHINGTON POST, PASTE, AND MORE!

How does one survive when all hope is lost?

In the middle of the night in 1997, Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André was kidnapped by armed men and taken away to an unknown destination in the Caucasus region. For three months, André was kept handcuffed in solitary confinement, with little to survive on and almost no contact with the outside world. Close to twenty years later, award-winning cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang, Jerusalem, Shenzhen, Burma Chronicles) recounts André’s harrowing experience in Hostage, a book that attests to the power of one man’s determination in the face of a hopeless situation.

Marking a departure from the author’s celebrated first-person travelogues, Delisle tells the story through the perspective of the titular captive, who strives to keep his mind alert as desperation starts to set in. Working in a pared down style with muted color washes, Delisle conveys the psychological effects of solitary confinement, compelling us to ask ourselves some difficult questions regarding the repercussions of negotiating with kidnappers and what it really means to be free. Thoughtful, intense, and moving, Hostage takes a profound look at what drives our will to survive in the darkest of moments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770462793
Publisher:	Drawn & Quarterly
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Pages:	436
Sales rank:	335,464
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Born in Québec City, Canada, in 1966, Guy Delisle now lives in the south of France with his wife and two children. Delisle spent ten years working in animation, which allowed him to learn about movement and drawing. He is best known for his travelogues about life in faraway countries: Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City, Pyongyang, and Shenzhen. He has since expanded his oeuvre by telling a Doctors Without Borders acquaintance’s story as a nail-biting thriller (Hostage) and revisiting his teen years and first summer job (Factory Summers).

Editorial Reviews

In some ways, this story…is a bizarre choice to present as comics: André spends 300 straight pages as a captive, with very little change of scenery and almost no other identifiable characters in sight…But the location captured here is less André's grim little room than his mind, as he tries to ward off existential despair—a battle that lets Delisle transmute tedium into compelling suspense.

The New York Times Book Review - Douglas Wolk

★ 05/01/2017
Delisle (Jerusalem) departs from his usual subjects and artistic style in this quietly powerful graphic “as told to” hostage story. Christophe André, a volunteer with Médecins San Frontières in Chechnya, was kidnapped on July 2, 1997, and held for 111 days. Handcuffed and isolated for almost all his captivity, he can only speculate on his fate and the possible progress of imagined negotiations. A change in his food, such as that brought by some stolen garlic, is a high point, as are the few occasions on which his captors share a drink or bring him out of his room to watch television. Despite the lack of action, Christophe is an admirable figure, facing boredom, fear, and a complete lack of information about his status for months while managing to keep his head and, eventually, rescue himself. Delisle perfectly captures his subject’s inner monologue of pep talks and mental diversions, creating an indelible portrait of an ordinary person facing a frightening ordeal. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Hostage shows what it's like to be held captive ... Delisle brings readers into the room with the hostage and, more importantly, into his state of mind."—The Atlantic

"[Hostage is] an indelible portrait of an ordinary person facing a frightening ordeal."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"The location captured [in Hostage] is less Andre's grim little room than his mind... Delisle transmute[s] tedium into compelling suspense."—The New York Times

"The account of André's experience... would be powerful enough, if depicted in prose alone. But Hostage is a comic, and it's Delisle's art — his character design, his use of page and panel layout to underscore the mind-numbing sameness of solitary confinement while controlling the story's mood and pacing — that makes us feel André's plight so deeply."—Glen Weldon, NPR

"This true story of a man’s kidnapping in Chechnya confirms Guy Delisle’s position as one of the greatest modern cartoonists."—Rachel Cooke, The Guardian

"Harrowing and beautiful... I've felt haunted by the book since I finished it."—John Warner, Chicago Tribune

"Delisle’s new book, Hostage, is his best since Pyongyang... In its beat-by-beat, day-by-day scope, is ultimately a travelogue about the power of imagination."—Hillary Chute, New York Review of Books

"In muted grays, André’s capture is depicted as both terrifying and monotonous at once. The terror of loneliness is present in every frame—the cells, tightly centered on André, claustrophobia-inducing in their own right."—Kevin Nguyen, GQ

"The gutters of a comic have never felt more like those prison bars than they do in Hostage. Still, Delisle’s humane approach keeps this from become a trip to the zoo; he makes you not just see, but feel André’s anguish."—Mark Peters, Salon

"A modern master of the travelogue... [returns] with a surge of blood-pumping adrenaline."—Amos Barshad, The Fader

“Guy Delisle conveys great, slow-burning tension in this sublime account of what Christophe Andre endured as a hostage in Chechnya. Delisle’s controlled handling of claustrophobic physical and mental spaces – and the rhythm he generates – is the work of a patient master.”—Joe Sacco, author of Palestine

“A book about a man trapped in the corner of a room should not be exhilarating, but somehow Delisle has managed to create just that. He takes us through Christophe André’s narrative of his time spent as a prisoner with an attention to detail that makes you feel like you’re right there with him, chained to a radiator, counting the days to keep yourself from losing your mind. My heart was racing by the end.”—Sarah Glidden, author of Rolling Blackouts

From the Publisher

06/01/2017
In 1997, Christophe André was working in Chechnya for Doctors Without Borders when armed men kidnapped him. Based on André's firsthand account, prize-winning cartoonist Delisle's (Jerusalem: Chronicle from the Holy City) work depicts the entire ordeal, as André is held in solitary confinement with almost no contact with the outside world for three months. This may be the most suspenseful book you'll ever read in which very little happens—André spends most of his days ruminating on his kidnappers' motivations, thinking about his family, and trying to find a comfortable position to sit with one arm chained to a wall. And yet the story is a true page-turner, as Delisle brings the reader so fully into André's world that a simple change in his routine becomes either harrowing or hopeful, and the mundane details of his daily existence, saving a piece of bread from his morning meal for a snack, enjoying some music drifting through the wall into his cell, become heroic acts of defiance. VERDICT Delisle's previous books have gained him a loyal following among fans of highbrow cartooning, but this may be the masterpiece that elevates his name to the ranks of legends such as Art Spiegelman and Lynda Barry.—TB

Library Journal