Shenzhen by Guy Delisle

Book Expo America, the nation’s largest convention for books, bookselling, and publishing, took place last month in Washington D.C. I shipped home two boxes of galleys that will most likely make appearances here as they get read. One that my husband and I both read already is Shenzhen, by Guy Delisle.

Shenzhen is a brilliant graphic novel about Delisle’s experience working in the city of Shenzhen on an animation project. We grabbed it immediately when we saw it on the convention floor because we ourselves just got back from a trip to China in April. What we loved about the book was Delisle’s perfect representation of the culture shock Americans feel upon arrival in China. The artwork serves to both illustrate the details and make the vignettes resonate emotionally.

We didn’t visit Shenzhen, but the culture of his book is unmistakably the same as the places we visited: Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Beijing. From the never-ending construction to the way toothpicks prevail on every dining table, every page brought a nostalgic chuckle and a, “Yeah! Exactly!”

Whenever our friends ask us what China was like, we show them our photos and hand them this book.

Shenzhen by Guy Delisle

tags: books book reviews china Guy Delisle