This is a memoir in a graphic novel format with some actual photos included taken by the author. If you need to flesh out your knowledge of Afghanistan, this seems like a good choice to have on your list of informative books to learn about that terrible country.

I'm glad to have discovered 'The Photographer' on my library shelves and I highly recommend it to folks wanting a look at Afghanistan from a travelor's viewpoint. I have the greatest respect for the Doctors Without Borders organization and this book will win more admirers for them. Although the book was about a trip during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan I don't believe it is out of date except things are probably worse now in 2012, the year I am reading this innovative and informative comic.

If there is a hell on Earth, Afghanistan is it. Didier Lefevre tells an unbiased, even-handed account of his journey. My opinion from reading these pages is that Afghanistan is a horror. The social infrastructure and culture that appears in these pages shows an extremely corrupt and rotten society. One telling aspect of this society which reveals the underlying sadism is how travelers pass dead, exhausted donkeys and horses on the dirt roads. All human necessities for survival are almost completely unavailable. An ancient and religious environment obviously is not adequate on any level to lift a society up from depravity and deprivation.

The comic book format is amazingly good and makes for a great memoir.