The Fixer and Other Stories

A darkly violent Fellinesque riff on the Bosnian war, this "graphic novel," by Joe Sacco is a fast read, a noirish examination of the relationship between a parachute journalist and the necessary local 'fixer' who serves as a local contact and makes it possible for the journalist to drop into a foriegn country and get a story. In this case, the local turns out to be a questionable ex-fighter whose war stories are both more and less true than appearances indicate. The fixer, a troubled ex-fighter scorned by his former comrades and spurned because of his ethnic background, is a terrific character, evocative of both the unresolved issues behind the Balkan wars as well as the marginalized citizens anywhere made exiles in their own land.

All three stories in this volume, reports from the former Yugoslavia during its recent conflicts, are fascinating, fast-moving, sobering, and darkly humorous.

After reading ''Safe area Gorazde'' this was a must buy.Sarajevo was always a city in which history was made.