The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Emmanuel Guibert, Frederic Lemercier, Didier Lefevre, Alexis Siegel (Translator)

From the Publisher

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 Lefevre’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.

The Washington Post - Douglas Wolk

The Photographer is a riveting account of Lefevre's first journey and his experiences in Zaragandara, the Afghan town where Doctors Without Borders set up a makeshift hospital. Lefevre's blisteringly forceful black-and-white photographs, and sometimes his contact sheets, appear on nearly every page of the book. So does Emmanuel Guibert's artwork. The cartoonist adapted his friend's memories of the trip into comics form, filling in the spaces between photos with sequences that bind the story together (and providing, understandably, almost every image we see of Lefevre himself) and explain what was happening at less photogenic moments.

The New York Times - Chris Hedges

It is impossible to know war if you do not stand with the mass of the powerless caught in its maw. All narratives of war told through the lens of the combatants carry with them the seduction of violence. But once you cross to the other side, to stand in fear with the helpless and the weak, you confront the moral depravity of industrial slaughter and the scourge that is war itself. Few books achieve this clarity. The Photographer is one. A strange book, part photojournalism and part graphic memoir, The Photographer tells the story of a small mission of mostly French doctors and nurses who traveled into northern Afghanistan by horse and donkey train in 1986, at the height of the Soviet occupation. The book shows the damage done to bodies and souls by shells, bullets and iron fragments, and the frantic struggle to mend the broken.

Publishers Weekly

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)

VOYA

Originally published as three volumes in France from 2003 to 2006, this graphic novel follows photojournalist Didier Lefevre during his three months in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1986 as he documented the medical missions of Doctors without Borders. Unable to travel by road because the Soviet army monitored them, they journeyed through the mountain passes in caravans of horses and donkeys. The villages where they stopped along the way showcased the horrors of a war-torn country, the damage done to both the people and the countryside, and how humanity still survives. His solo journey back to Pakistan is wrought with hardship including abandonment by his escorts, freezing temperatures, the death of his horse, illness, and being taken advantage of by both escorts and police. The chronicle of Lefevre's learning experience creates a similar effect on the reader. The graphic novel combines traditional comic art with some of the four thousand photographs Lefevre shot while in Afghanistan. The comic artwork by Guibert is primarily small square panels with realistic figures. The powerful photographs are where the real story unfolds. Many images will stay with readers as both horrifying and glorious. The Afghan children being treated for burns, bullet wounds, and shrapnel are page by page next to the beauty of the Afghan mountainous landscapes. Although this nonfiction graphic novel will not be very popular with the common reader, it has a powerful message and images of a part of the world that should be discussed more often. Reviewer: Kristin Fletcher-Spear

Martha Cornog - Library Journal

By truck, it would have taken a day or two, but the government army and the Russians were holding the roads. So instead it was a three-week march with pack animals over the mountains, like Marco Polo. LefA vre was photojournalist to a 1986 Doctors Without Borders team, off to staff M*A*S*H-style clinics in northeast Afghanistan. Fantasy doesn't get any stranger than trekking overland, techno-free, into a completely different culture. LefA vre's photos tell his story of the wonderful, intriguing Afghani people and their sweeping country, while Guibert's drawings tell the story of LefA vre telling his story. As a result, Afghani life seems more real than LefA vre's-and somehow that seems right. This magnificent and moving account of the human costs of war won the Canadian BAİdAİlys Prize and sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Europe. The heroism of the doctors contrasts with the daily hassles of surviving in Afghanistan and with LefA vre's loneliness, exhaustion, misunderstanding, and several rash decisions that nearly cost him his life. This has the potential to attract noncomics readers and inspire another generation of humanitarian heroes; highly recommended for high school and up. Needs topic-specific cataloging.

School Library Journal

Gr 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

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