Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995

The graphic novel is a good book to read snippets of throughout the day. I was able to put away a fair amount of the book before lunchtime, and then finished it off (uninterrupted) in the evening. I found that I read quickly, and didn't pay the attention that was due to the lovely images (so much work went into this book!).

So, the author Joe Sacco is a journalist. He was sent to Eastern Bosnia (cities/towns you may have heard of there are Sarajevo, Gorazde and the now infamous Srebrenica) to cover the Bosnian War. Media attention was focussed on Sarajevo, but languishing further to the East was the designated Safe Area of Gorazde. Its status as safe was in name only. The Bosnian Serbs shelled it, had snipers based around it, many many people were killed and injured, and eventually after 3.5 years of this the Muslim population were forced out. The town was eventually "handed back" once peace was declared, but was surrounded by Serbian territory, with only a narrow corridor connecting it to the rest of Bosnia.

The author/illustrator spent a total of 4 weeks in Gorazde and made friends there who told him their stories of the various offensives they endured, the escapes, near-misses, sightings of mass murders, burning and looting of their homes, the constant moving around to safety, trying to exist on meager food available, the lack of information and communication. This is the human face of war. You see the faces in the illustrations and it makes for a fuller story.

For me this book highlighted the problems with modern media: they fly in for a few shots of the war-torn area, talk to one or two people for a "sound-bite" and then fly out again. The true, fully-fleshed stories never come out until afterwards. Despicable things were happening to the Bosnian Muslims, and nothing was done as the UN "had to keep impartial". The Serbian leaders were making promises of cease-fire and then breaking them straight away, they did this multiple times even in a day. Yet, the UN kept on refusing to intervene, I presume choosing to trust the word of the Serbian leader over evidence that massacres were occurring.

This book pushes through all the soundbites and official statements, and tells it like it really was for people living as prisoners in their own town. Sad and traumatising, but real stories. ( )

I'm new to the graphic novel genre but I feel it's becoming a fast-growing and relevant resource; so I've been checking out a few books. I think this particular novel provides an engaging collaborative medium of illustration and journalistic report. Excellent supplementary material for anyone interested in the Bosnian war. ( )

As a comic book nerd I've long enjoyed Joe Sacco's amazing work. Superb journalism presented in comic book format, he is an artist who reminds us of all of the promise in the format.

I bought Safe Area Goražde at my local comic book store because I am in a period of learning more about the Bosnian War and it was by Joe Sacco and I could afford it at the time. I read it following my read of Logavina Street by Barbara Demick and it was a great companion piece. Where Demick's book is all about Sarajevo, Sacco's is about conditions in Safe Area Goražde, a small place that was under unrelenting siege from 1992 to 1995. Sacco gives a great deal of background information about the conflict while at the same time humanizing it through format and the eyes of the people who lived through the siege (including his own). Each in their own put themselves in the center of the stories they're telling - an acknowledgment of the myth of objectivity.

I've read a lot of history and a lot of historical fiction and when the words "siege warfare" come up I tend to think about castles and knights and big walls and the people inside eating their horses. Safe Area Goražde taught me a lot about modern siege warfare and opened my eyes further to a story I have neglected. It is simple to understand why Mr. Sacco won the Eisner Award for this book. Brilliant, heart-stopping, and terribly sad this is a work of genius - highly recommended. ( )

Startling and compelling, like any great graphic novel. Made me realize how little I understood about the Balkan Wars. ( )

Another stunning non-fiction graphic novel. Joe Sacco went to live in Gorazde, a small Bosnian Muslim enclave that was cut off from Sarajevo and surrounded by Bosnian Serbian militia groups. It was declared a 'safe area' by the UN for refugees, but that did not prevent it being repeatedly shelled and attacked. Sacco here tells the story of Gorazde and the people he came to know there and how they lived and survived through the war. By the time Sacco arrives there, the fighting is mostly over, but the fate of Gorazde is still uncertain, as there is talk of it being traded to the Serbs for territory further to the west. The ruminations by various inhabitants about whether they would leave their homes if this does happen, or whether they could ever live with their Serb neighbours again as they did before the war are truly heartbreaking. This is first class reporting, wonderfully touching, brutally honest and beautifully illustrated. The people Sacco came to know are shown with their faults and quirks, not lionized or idealized but shown in all their humanity. I can't recommend this enough. ( )