Writer and Artist: Guy Delisle
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| via Goodreads |
Quebecois graphic novelist Guy Delisle interviewed Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André about the latter's experience being kidnapped in the Caucasus. André was snatched out of his office one evening in 1997, then held for ransom for several months in Chechnya. For most of the time, he was chained to a radiator, only a bare mattress between himself and the floor. On a typical day, he only saw his captors for meals and a single bathroom break.
Delisle drags us along through the seemingly endless, torturous tedium. Since he doesn't speak his kidnappers' language nor they his, he has no idea what's going on most of the time with only occasional indications that anyone on the outside is looking for him. For his own psychological survival, André, a war buff, plays mentally through battles from the Napoleonic Wars and the American Civil War in order to keep his brain occupied.
Amazingly, he survived to tell the tale. I'd be interested to know more about his adjustment back to "normal" life afterwards but the book doesn't dig into that. While the action is minimal, it's certainly a compelling story. The starkness of Delisle's typical art style suits it well.
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