Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-95

For anyone who 'missed' the war this is an immense read from both a very localised perspective but also it gives the overall picture and causes of the conflict. One could be forgiven for dismissing the 'comic' book style outright but I can only confirm with others that it is a masterly approach to bringing a conflict to life. It is a work of art on one level and a literary one also. I was old enough to understand the war when it took place but found that it was delivered on the news in a way that failed to illustrate the causes and therefore without the foundations to understand what was going on it passed me by. I bought this together with Martin Bell's ( BBC journalist) 'In Harms Way'. Both are great books in their own right and I now feel enlightened and have a far greater understanding that would enable me to hold my own in any discussion about it. I have also bought the memoirs of Colonel Bob Stewart, who commanded the 1st Cheshire's in their tour as UN peacekeepers, but am yet to read it. This tragic episode in post WW" history has largely been passed over although its repercussions are still being contested in the Court at Hague and the Dutch Courts because of their guilt over the atrocities that they could have perhaps prevented. Any doubts...don't have...buy it.

Great book. Moving interviews with detailed illustrations. The cover and paper are made of high quality materials.

I have only recently discovered Sacco's works and it pains me, because had I discovered his graphic novels while I was at university, they would have made for interesting background reading for some of the subjects I came to study. Safe Area Gorazde is thought provoking and at times hard to read, if only because it paints a vivid and unapologetic image of the hardships and betrayals that the Islamic people's of Gorazde (and the wider Bosnia) faced during a the early nineties. Do not be disheartened however, as light relief is easily found in the inspiring characters Sacco surrounds himself with over the course of his visits. The overarching story this piece ultimately tells is one of the United Nations' ineptitude throughout the majority of the bloody affair that is the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the resultant Balkan war. At times I found myself more appalled at Western inactivity than at Serbian atrocities. Sacco may well stand as one of the UN's most ardent critics, even if poorly acknowledged.

An absolutely amazing take on the war in Bosnia. Country which survived a three pronged agression by its neighbours, Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia (1993-1994), with an unhelpful UN to say at least on top and with an international embargo on weapon imports deserves the best and with this book, it got it from Joe Sacco. Well done Joe, you are a legend for taking the time to write and in particular illustrate your experiences. The book is a must have for all those who are keen to know what actually happened in Bosnia, and what the meaning, the true meaning is of SERBIAN EXTREMISM whose bandits and gang of Tchetnik Ultra-Orthodox terrorists did not stop from doing such crimes as killing or even impalling babies, cutting off breasts of mothers whose babies were thrown of the Visegrad Bridge and into the cold river Drina, from mass raping girls as young as 9 and torturing and mass murdering boys and men simply because of their ethnicity.

This graphic novel is excellent in the way it communicates specific events of the Balkan war in visual terms. I feel the illustrations are highly effective in encouraging reader engagement and they are intricate and full of detail. The only reason l didn't give it five stars is because, a. l found the writing style and order of events rather confusing: the story would have worked much better in chronological order in my opinion, and divided into sections accordingly, rather than divided into characters and their recollections of events for example. It meant a lot of going back and forth which was heavy going at times, especially considering the challenging subject matter, which bearing in mind, many readers will know very little about before reading this; and, b. l felt Sacco lacked empathy throughout which in certain areas came across as being patronising (especially regarding the sections on 'the silly girls' which l felt highly inappropriate considering what they had been through and suffered. I can see that his unempathic position stems from his journalistic background and the need for objectivity but when presented with obviously unjust events, l think he could have injected much more personality and feeling into the narrative. Despite this the book is compelling to read and an enormous feat of illustration competence. Even if just to raise awareness of this tragic event (the supposed 'safe area' situation of Gorazde) the book is a must read and will undoubtedly open discussion and meaningful thought.

Great way to get younger folk interested in international affairs

Any book dealing with such a sad episode is going to be emotional. The novel is superbly written and seems like it captures the events well. Takes a lot to read as it deals with such a difficult subject. Highly recommend if you like historical graphic novels (especially about conflict). This sits on my shelf next to my Tarde books.

It’s said too many times now, History continues to repeat itself with our behaviour. How quick we continue to forget our past mistakes of the the powerful few and how we allow as a people to ignore this behaviour. Shame on us all…

In chapter four of his The "New Journalism" Revisited, Rocco Versaci explains that to many New Journalists "all "truth" is mediated, and we ignore this fact at the expense of our critical faculties" (115). He further contends that many new journalists attempt to acknowledge and consequently overcome the biases of journalism by involving themselves directly in their narrative frameworks, thereby "flaunting their subjectivity" (114). Joe Sacco's 2001 Safe Area Gorazde is an example of new journalism wherein the author places himself firmly within the story and examines all levels of truth, relaying many voices in non-linear fashion to perhaps encapsulate the skewed emotional ups and downs of war. Sacco, it seems, is not searching for a central truth with which to unify his experiences in Bosnia. In the book's prologue (1-2), he is approached by a man who promises to reveal to him the "Real Truth" of the war. Sacco consciously avoids the man and he is never mentioned again. Instead, Sacco choses to exemplify the facet of new journalism which Versaci finds most enduring: "the foregrounding of the individual perspective as an organizing consciousness" (111) except that Sacco relates many consciousnesses, and the result is less than ideally organized. Instead of an organizer, Sacco acts as mediator in Safe Area Gorazde, creating a vivid patchwork of wartime experience by many people he meets, including his principle guide Edin whose trips to Grebak to procure food for his family showcase tenacity in the face of starvation (136) and a gaggle of girls Sacco deems "The Silly Girls" who have one wish, for a pair of "genuine American Levi jeans" (56). They are ultimately disillusioned when the jeans they receive are "not originals" (193) however, displaying another facet of wartime fatigue. Elsewhere, Sacco uses his characters as narrators--sharing their war experiences which are then related to the reader in disturbing detail. When a man relates his terror crossing a river to safety on page 110, his story appears in quotations, as though he is speaking not only to Sacco but to reader, the author cutting back to the man in the narrative's present tense as he stares straight off the page (111), continuously reminding us that we are viewing this account from one subjective consciousness, not from a journalist intent on applying his own bias. Such is the success of Sacco's new journalistic graphic storytelling. By the time the author is chastised for taking interest in Bosnia by a local who asks, "Why you come, money?" (192) the reader knows that Sacco is instead embedded in the war-ravaged country to bear witness; indeed the people he has seen speak very much for themselves.

Our level or should i say, volume of cruelty is nonsensical, bottomless. And there are people who do us a great favour of never letting us forget that, lest we tear each other apart yet again. Thanks to Joe Sacco We should forgive, but we must never forget—- Marjane Satrapi

コミックジャーナリズムという概念が気になって読んでみました。全編を通じて暗さと重さを感じる作品ですが、ところどころ、作者が見つけたささやかなおもしろみのようなものも伝わって、そういう部分にはコミックならではの柔らかさを感じました。基本的には救いがたい世界が描かれた重苦しい作品です。それでも、終わりまで一気に読みました。ジャーナリズムとしてどうかについてはよくわかりません。

Texto original en inglés, todo un imprescindible de la obra de Sacco. No sólo se aprende sobre la guerra de los valcanes sino también sobre sus consecuencias.

Joe Sacco non delude mai