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Um Pedaço de Madeira e Aço
A história de um banco, um simples banco de praça pública, que vê pessoas passarem durante horas, dias, estações, anos… Muitas passam, algumas param, outras voltam e há aquelas que esperam… O banco é um refúgio, uma ilha, um abrigo, um palco… um balé de anônimos conduzidos por uma coreografia habilmente orquestrada, em que pequenas curiosidades, situações incríveis e encontros surpreendentes dão à luz uma história singular, por vezes cômica, por vezes trágica. O quadrinista Chabouté (Moby Dick), com sua arte inigualável e seu excepcional domínio do preto e branco, tece uma narrativa gráfica com a magia de Jacques Tati, a beleza de Chaplin e pitadas de Marcel Marceau e Buster Keaton… 340 páginas de um drama cujo herói é um banco.
340 pages, Hardcover
First published September 12, 2012
16 people are currently reading
1951 people want to read
About the author
Christophe Chabouté
45 books242 followersChristophe Chabouté is a French author and illustrator.
D’origine alsacienne, il suit les cours des Beaux-Arts d’Angoulême, puis de Strasbourg. Vents d'Ouest publie ses premières planches en 1993 dans Les Récits, un album collectif sur Arthur Rimbaud. Mais il se fait surtout connaître en 1998 en publiant Sorcières aux éditions du Téméraire (primé au Festival d’Illzach) puis Quelques jours d’été aux éditions Paquet (Alph’Art Coup de Cœur au Festival d'Angoulême). Il a également illustré des romans pour la jeunesse.
D’origine alsacienne, il suit les cours des Beaux-Arts d’Angoulême, puis de Strasbourg. Vents d'Ouest publie ses premières planches en 1993 dans Les Récits, un album collectif sur Arthur Rimbaud. Mais il se fait surtout connaître en 1998 en publiant Sorcières aux éditions du Téméraire (primé au Festival d’Illzach) puis Quelques jours d’été aux éditions Paquet (Alph’Art Coup de Cœur au Festival d'Angoulême). Il a également illustré des romans pour la jeunesse.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 489 reviews
November 7, 2017
I have fallen in love with the talents of this amazing artist. Yes, a picture can tell a thousand words, and using a park bench, the author does just that. We have many benches in my town, along the river walk, benches that have probably seen it all. Once again using black and white pictures, we see the many things that this bench has seen. The same people walk past every day, a dog uses it as his favorite toilet, and other people and glimpses of their lives play out on this park bench. Some are sad, some are beautiful and some are rather hopeless. We see the changing seasons, the snow, leaves falling, the rain, bright sunny days. But it is the beginning scene that will resonate and have a place in the framing of the story. An amazing and beautiful ending, filled with hope, love and joy.
Not sure if I can find any more of his work here in the states, but will definitely keep trying.
Not sure if I can find any more of his work here in the states, but will definitely keep trying.
May 24, 2024
Visual poetry - highest recommendation. By focusing on a bench Christophe Chabouté shows us all our shared humanity; the different people who use the same park bench and the thread of connection that runs through their existence. Reminded me very much of Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters and Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.
January 4, 2018
What a touching artistic work this is. Last year I read (and loved) "Alone" by Chabouté, so when I saw that "The Park Bench" had also been translated into English from French, I ran to the library to fetch it.
As the title suggests, it's the story of one park bench and of the people who use it over the years. Musicians, elderly couples, readers, skateboarders, parents with children, a homeless man, and even a dog. It's almost a wordless book, and I was entranced as I slowly turned through the pages, following the changing seasons. (The focus on one object and place reminded me of another engrossing graphic novel, "Here" by Richard McGuire, which I would also recommend.)
There is a sweet, unexpected ending to "The Park Bench", which gave me such a smile that I had to rate this four stars. Recommended.
As the title suggests, it's the story of one park bench and of the people who use it over the years. Musicians, elderly couples, readers, skateboarders, parents with children, a homeless man, and even a dog. It's almost a wordless book, and I was entranced as I slowly turned through the pages, following the changing seasons. (The focus on one object and place reminded me of another engrossing graphic novel, "Here" by Richard McGuire, which I would also recommend.)
There is a sweet, unexpected ending to "The Park Bench", which gave me such a smile that I had to rate this four stars. Recommended.
November 27, 2017
As is his graphic novel Alone, The Park Bench, another graphic novel, is silent, like a Charlie Chaplin silent black and white film. Oh, there are words on shirts in the book, you see the titles of books, but this tome of a book wordlessly tells the story of a cultural site for a kind of loosely constructed community: A wooden park bench. The focus, over some time, is on a collection of people who live in the area and who use the bench: A woman reader, a runner, lovers. A guy who paints it from time to time. Most often there are solo users of the bench, but sometimes the solo use creates a response: A homeless guy can't drink or sleep there, a cop insists. Another cop agrees; that is, until he retires! There's not much real narrative here, or the narrative is really loose, except this tale of the "bum" and a couple other bare bones anecdotes that emerge, giving one a sense of the mundanity of life, and its humanity, and kindness, at its best.
Compared to Alone, about a man who lives his life alone on a tiny, bare lighthouse island, who creates his own entertaining stories for himself out of words in a dictionary, there is less narrative. And neither of them have the grand drama of his Moby Dick, (also using as few words as possible) of course. But this is sweet and powerful, in its own minimalist way. Again, it's a study in the power of images to affect.
Compared to Alone, about a man who lives his life alone on a tiny, bare lighthouse island, who creates his own entertaining stories for himself out of words in a dictionary, there is less narrative. And neither of them have the grand drama of his Moby Dick, (also using as few words as possible) of course. But this is sweet and powerful, in its own minimalist way. Again, it's a study in the power of images to affect.
August 2, 2018
The Park Bench is full of quiet, revealing, and intimate glances into everyday moments, capturing clever little details in the background. Including romantic couples both young and old, gossiping, people watching, and so much more. This silent graphic novel speaks volumes.
Marketing his English-language debut, The Park Bench is Chabouté's beautiful and acclaimed story of a park bench and the lives it witnesses. At once intimate and universal, it is one of the most moving books you could hope to come across.
From its creation to its witness to the fresh ardor of lovers, the drudgery of businessmen, the various hopes of the many who enter its orbit, the park bench weathers all seasons. Strangers meet at it for the first time. Paramours carve their initials into it. Old friends sit and chat upon it for hours. Others ignore the bench, or (attempt to) sleep on it at night, or simply anchor themselves on it and absorb the ebb and flow of the area and its people.
I've had my eyes on this particular graphic novel for ages, so when it finally arrived in the mail I took my sweet time perusing the book. Letting the story sit with me for a while was certainly a wise way to go about Chabouté's work. Though, I do have to say that for that second half I couldn't help but read through it in a whirlwind. For anyone who loves to be deeply involved in their own thoughts, The Park Bench (both the book and the object) is a must.
The above is a prime example of tiny details coming together to create a bigger picture.
No words need to describe how the above page is utterly heartbreaking.
ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date: July 6th, 2017
Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying The Park Bench, just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!
Support creators you love. Buy a Coffee for nat (bookspoils) with Ko-fi.com/bookspoils
Marketing his English-language debut, The Park Bench is Chabouté's beautiful and acclaimed story of a park bench and the lives it witnesses. At once intimate and universal, it is one of the most moving books you could hope to come across.
From its creation to its witness to the fresh ardor of lovers, the drudgery of businessmen, the various hopes of the many who enter its orbit, the park bench weathers all seasons. Strangers meet at it for the first time. Paramours carve their initials into it. Old friends sit and chat upon it for hours. Others ignore the bench, or (attempt to) sleep on it at night, or simply anchor themselves on it and absorb the ebb and flow of the area and its people.
I've had my eyes on this particular graphic novel for ages, so when it finally arrived in the mail I took my sweet time perusing the book. Letting the story sit with me for a while was certainly a wise way to go about Chabouté's work. Though, I do have to say that for that second half I couldn't help but read through it in a whirlwind. For anyone who loves to be deeply involved in their own thoughts, The Park Bench (both the book and the object) is a must.
The above is a prime example of tiny details coming together to create a bigger picture.
No words need to describe how the above page is utterly heartbreaking.
ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date: July 6th, 2017
Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying The Park Bench, just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!
Support creators you love. Buy a Coffee for nat (bookspoils) with Ko-fi.com/bookspoils
June 7, 2019
Christophe Chaboute tells the story of a park bench’s “life” - the people who walk past it, who sit on it, who they are, what they’re doing, and so on. And it sounds gimmicky and contrived but it’s actually a very poignant “read”. I say “read” because there are no words but there’s something very powerful about silent narratives - think the first five minutes of Up or the animated short Paperman. They’re incredibly moving and deeply memorable sequences in large part due to their simplicity in communicating arguably the most extraordinary emotion: love.
An elderly couple who sit on the bench and share a pastry every week; a homeless man who sleeps on the bench every night and his nemesis, the local copper, who fruitlessly tries to keep him away from the park; the glum businessman who walks past it everyday until one day he decides to quit his job and take up music again; and the kids who carve their love into the wood and the married adults they become.
Yes, it’s a very sentimental kind of book - very Shel Silverstein-ish in fact - but undeniably and strongly tugs at the heart-strings. Chaboute’s gorgeous inked art perfectly captures the body language of the characters so you always know what’s happening on the page - his storytelling is extremely high level and if it were less the book wouldn’t be nearly as effective.
I won’t say it’s a perfect read because I prefer a stronger narrative than this collection of slightly connected storylines. But I still really liked The Park Bench, proving that anything, when told well, and if the creator’s heart and mind are in sync, can be great art.
An elderly couple who sit on the bench and share a pastry every week; a homeless man who sleeps on the bench every night and his nemesis, the local copper, who fruitlessly tries to keep him away from the park; the glum businessman who walks past it everyday until one day he decides to quit his job and take up music again; and the kids who carve their love into the wood and the married adults they become.
Yes, it’s a very sentimental kind of book - very Shel Silverstein-ish in fact - but undeniably and strongly tugs at the heart-strings. Chaboute’s gorgeous inked art perfectly captures the body language of the characters so you always know what’s happening on the page - his storytelling is extremely high level and if it were less the book wouldn’t be nearly as effective.
I won’t say it’s a perfect read because I prefer a stronger narrative than this collection of slightly connected storylines. But I still really liked The Park Bench, proving that anything, when told well, and if the creator’s heart and mind are in sync, can be great art.
September 26, 2017
A very sweet story about a park bench and all the people that interact with it over the years. I enjoyed this graphic novel because it was able to express so much without using any words; it's 100% illustrated.
May 29, 2021
I am so impressed!
Felt like I was watching a good, classic silent movie.
It's showing life in general with the constant presence of a park bench and everything that happens around it day after day.
I really like the concept of this graphic novel. It shows so much more than any number words would have ever described such scenarios.
Like how life is made up of conflicts and compromises, regrets and surprises, uncertainties and promises this collection got me thinking a lot about life in general.
Love the basic black ink art. It's actually soothing to read such serious expressions and depictions with hundred percent reliance on the illustrations.
Captivating to the inner soul, one of the best reads of 2021.
Felt like I was watching a good, classic silent movie.
It's showing life in general with the constant presence of a park bench and everything that happens around it day after day.
I really like the concept of this graphic novel. It shows so much more than any number words would have ever described such scenarios.
Like how life is made up of conflicts and compromises, regrets and surprises, uncertainties and promises this collection got me thinking a lot about life in general.
Love the basic black ink art. It's actually soothing to read such serious expressions and depictions with hundred percent reliance on the illustrations.
Captivating to the inner soul, one of the best reads of 2021.
October 28, 2018
This is the second graphic novel that I have read by this author. If you can call it reading, that is. His books are far more visual than anything. It wasn’t as much of an emotional read as his first one, “Alone”, but it’s still a beautiful story nonetheless – the sort of book that makes you think and appreciate the world around you. It’s a story is about a park bench and the various people who visit it at different times.
September 25, 2017
I mean... from an artistic point of view, I get it, but this was not for me at all.
The Park Bench is literally 300-something pages of focusing on a park bench while people of all walks of life come and go - some sitting on it, some walking past it, some interacting with one another. When interactions do occur, there is no text dialogue whatsoever, so we have no idea what is happening or why.
I felt like this is one of those graphic novels that was built just for the ~artistic aesthetic~, and while that is great for a certain audience, I'm not part of that group, sadly.
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber Faber for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
The Park Bench is literally 300-something pages of focusing on a park bench while people of all walks of life come and go - some sitting on it, some walking past it, some interacting with one another. When interactions do occur, there is no text dialogue whatsoever, so we have no idea what is happening or why.
I felt like this is one of those graphic novels that was built just for the ~artistic aesthetic~, and while that is great for a certain audience, I'm not part of that group, sadly.
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber Faber for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
September 26, 2023
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Shaun Tan has taught me what sequential art can achieve in the hands of true talent.
Christophe Chaboute, who I just discovered in this album, is cut from the same cloth. He packs more empathy, more humor and more social awareness in this wordless sequence than many a prolific comic book scriptwriter. [there’s also a movie, the shortest one to win an Oscar, also from a French artist, and also without words, about the friendship between a boy and read balloon]
I loved Park Bench for this author’s amazing talent, but also for my own memories of park benches scattered throughout all the major cities of Europe I visited. I am a big city boy, born and raised in the concrete jungle, which might explain my fascination for escaping into the mountains on weekends or to a city park whenever I need my batteries re-charged.
From childhood rollerskating, to my first bike ride, the first love affairs and later years traveling the world, there’s a park and a park bench somewhere in the background.
Chaboute somehow manages to touch on every emotional chord in this fixed camera story: people of all ages and social standings come in an out of the frame, seasons change, story-arcs slowly coalesce in the minute differences between one entrance and the next.
There are a lot of repetitions, just as there are a lot of drudgery days in any given life, but change is also a guarantee, sometimes for the better, more often than not leading to pain and loss.
The park bench itself is not untouched by time and by the contact with humans. I will not spoil the story, but one of the very first sequences has a couple of kids carving a message with a penknife on one of its wooden slats.
Vandalism or graffiti?
I know that in the end I was enchanted with the conclusion of this long and solitary journey: it could be said that the whole comic is about loneliness, and about how a simple utility object in a city park can cure us of it.
>>><<<>>><<<
Do you have a favorite park bench? A favorite personal memory of it?
I think everyone must have one, solitary or not.
To those of us who do, I warmly recommend this trip down memory lane.
there are many candidates for my best location, but if push comes to the shove, it will be this leafy, cool groove in Jardin de Luxembourg on a sweltering August day in Paris, taking refuge by the fountain after long hours walking the boulevards and taking snaphots of tourist traps.
I look forward to my next album by this author, titled Alone
Shaun Tan has taught me what sequential art can achieve in the hands of true talent.
Christophe Chaboute, who I just discovered in this album, is cut from the same cloth. He packs more empathy, more humor and more social awareness in this wordless sequence than many a prolific comic book scriptwriter. [there’s also a movie, the shortest one to win an Oscar, also from a French artist, and also without words, about the friendship between a boy and read balloon]
I loved Park Bench for this author’s amazing talent, but also for my own memories of park benches scattered throughout all the major cities of Europe I visited. I am a big city boy, born and raised in the concrete jungle, which might explain my fascination for escaping into the mountains on weekends or to a city park whenever I need my batteries re-charged.
From childhood rollerskating, to my first bike ride, the first love affairs and later years traveling the world, there’s a park and a park bench somewhere in the background.
Chaboute somehow manages to touch on every emotional chord in this fixed camera story: people of all ages and social standings come in an out of the frame, seasons change, story-arcs slowly coalesce in the minute differences between one entrance and the next.
There are a lot of repetitions, just as there are a lot of drudgery days in any given life, but change is also a guarantee, sometimes for the better, more often than not leading to pain and loss.
The park bench itself is not untouched by time and by the contact with humans. I will not spoil the story, but one of the very first sequences has a couple of kids carving a message with a penknife on one of its wooden slats.
Vandalism or graffiti?
I know that in the end I was enchanted with the conclusion of this long and solitary journey: it could be said that the whole comic is about loneliness, and about how a simple utility object in a city park can cure us of it.
>>><<<>>><<<
Do you have a favorite park bench? A favorite personal memory of it?
I think everyone must have one, solitary or not.
To those of us who do, I warmly recommend this trip down memory lane.
there are many candidates for my best location, but if push comes to the shove, it will be this leafy, cool groove in Jardin de Luxembourg on a sweltering August day in Paris, taking refuge by the fountain after long hours walking the boulevards and taking snaphots of tourist traps.
I look forward to my next album by this author, titled Alone
October 9, 2017
With the only words in “Park Bench” being book titles and scribbles on the bench, it is the purest form of a graphic novel. I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful this book is. No words could do it justice. I laughed and I cried and I felt despair for the human race and hope for the human race and etc. I can’t recommend this enough. It is truly something you will never forget. If only there were 100 star ratings.
This unbiased review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
This unbiased review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
September 22, 2017
Wow. Just … wow.
Say you're a park bench. A nice, traditional, roomy seat – big enough for two, or three, or four if you're friendly, shaded by a tree in a park. Every day dozens of people go by – you see joggers taking a favorite route, or people on their way to work. Some pause to tie a shoe or take a call or catch their breath – and there's that one bloody dog … And then there are the regulars, who come to enjoy the weather and maybe read or watch people go by – or stretch out on you to sleep, since they have nowhere else to go. Sun and rain and snow and starlight, through the four seasons, until …
The saying about pictures and thousands of words is a cliché – but it's a cliché for a reason. As someone who has handled pencils, pens, and brushes, I know how tiny the difference is between a line that evokes an emotion or plays its part in a story, and a line that is … just a line. Christophe Chabouté is French – but that's the other cliché about art, isn't it? It's universal. I didn't have to blow the dust off my high school language course, because without a word a very clear and achingly beautiful story is conveyed – a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end, a climax, a denouement – and an epilogue. Sometimes funny, occasionally heart-rending… the only small weakness I can think of in the book is that one of the threads of the story seemed far too predictable – I had a terrible feeling I knew what would happen. And I was right. And it hurt.
I love this book. In fact, I think I'll go and start it over again.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
Say you're a park bench. A nice, traditional, roomy seat – big enough for two, or three, or four if you're friendly, shaded by a tree in a park. Every day dozens of people go by – you see joggers taking a favorite route, or people on their way to work. Some pause to tie a shoe or take a call or catch their breath – and there's that one bloody dog … And then there are the regulars, who come to enjoy the weather and maybe read or watch people go by – or stretch out on you to sleep, since they have nowhere else to go. Sun and rain and snow and starlight, through the four seasons, until …
The saying about pictures and thousands of words is a cliché – but it's a cliché for a reason. As someone who has handled pencils, pens, and brushes, I know how tiny the difference is between a line that evokes an emotion or plays its part in a story, and a line that is … just a line. Christophe Chabouté is French – but that's the other cliché about art, isn't it? It's universal. I didn't have to blow the dust off my high school language course, because without a word a very clear and achingly beautiful story is conveyed – a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end, a climax, a denouement – and an epilogue. Sometimes funny, occasionally heart-rending… the only small weakness I can think of in the book is that one of the threads of the story seemed far too predictable – I had a terrible feeling I knew what would happen. And I was right. And it hurt.
I love this book. In fact, I think I'll go and start it over again.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
February 3, 2018
5 stars
This is an author that can create in one picture what others take 300 pages to try to relate. He can tell a whole story in one page. And can do that without words. This mans talent is superb.
His emphasis is low key, his trajectory is off the chart. He is able to take the simplest of thing - such as a park bench - and create story after story of the life of that bench and the community that surrounds it. His graphic art, in black and white, is simplistic, but speaks volumes. His storytelling style qualifies Chaboute as a great graphic novelist.
This is an author that can create in one picture what others take 300 pages to try to relate. He can tell a whole story in one page. And can do that without words. This mans talent is superb.
His emphasis is low key, his trajectory is off the chart. He is able to take the simplest of thing - such as a park bench - and create story after story of the life of that bench and the community that surrounds it. His graphic art, in black and white, is simplistic, but speaks volumes. His storytelling style qualifies Chaboute as a great graphic novelist.
January 4, 2024
Has Chabouté missed before? Is he capable of missing? Asking for a friend.
September 5, 2022
This is the third graphic novel I’ve read by this French author/artist, and while it wasn’t as deep as Alone or as exciting as Moby Dick, it made me think, and the black and white art, as usual, was atmospheric and expressive. In fact, reading this book was like witnessing a time-lapse video of a park bench as the residents of a small town passed by or interacted with it, and sometimes, with each other, season after season. There were little to no words to let the reader know about those residents, but how they interacted with each other and the bench told much, whether it was through their actions, inactions, gestures, or facial expressions.
This book also reminded me very slightly of The Giving Tree, in how much that silent bench witnessed over time and how much it gave to its community, which maybe the residents didn’t always realize or appreciate for a good part of the book. But unlike The Giving Tree, this book will leave the reader with a sense of validation and hope.
A respite, a moment, a pause
A shelter, a haven, a refuge
A scene, a society
A crossroads
Just a little wood and steel
This book also reminded me very slightly of The Giving Tree, in how much that silent bench witnessed over time and how much it gave to its community, which maybe the residents didn’t always realize or appreciate for a good part of the book. But unlike The Giving Tree, this book will leave the reader with a sense of validation and hope.
A respite, a moment, a pause
A shelter, a haven, a refuge
A scene, a society
A crossroads
Just a little wood and steel
April 27, 2025
Esta banda desenhada fez-me lembrar a célebre frase “o essencial é invisível aos olhos” porque andamos sempre no nosso mundo, mergulhados nas nossas ideias e anseios e não vemos o que acontece nos lugares pelos quais passamos diariamente.
Este é o privilégio de ser um banco de jardim - acompanhar várias vidas, várias estações e poder ser um lugar de conforto.
Num livro repleto de imagens monocromáticas e sem falas, percebemos que as imagens valem realmente mais que mil palavras. E os canivetes? Esses servem para gravar amor eterno e partilhar bolos com quem gostamos.
Este é o privilégio de ser um banco de jardim - acompanhar várias vidas, várias estações e poder ser um lugar de conforto.
Num livro repleto de imagens monocromáticas e sem falas, percebemos que as imagens valem realmente mais que mil palavras. E os canivetes? Esses servem para gravar amor eterno e partilhar bolos com quem gostamos.
May 7, 2025
Just pictures, but it actually tells a bunch of stories through the images. Some sad, some heartwarming, all centred around a specific bench. Really enjoyed this, but I wish all the park regulars had a full circle arc, not just a few of the characters.
June 11, 2018
This is probably my favourite of Chabouté’s graphic works. Similar to Alone, The Park Bench is a (mostly) wordless graphic novel with a tight focus on a singular entity. Instead of a person, readers follow a small group of people who frequently use a (wait for it) park bench.
I really enjoyed this examination of a microcosm of people. Chabouté evokes a sense of community around the use of this bench, even though only a few of the characters interact with one another. I was also impressed with the emotions and investment Chaboute was able to pull out of me. These characters never speak, but I found myself caring about their lives and relationships (well, the bits we get to glean).
Chaboute’s black-and-white art is a highlight. There’s a good balance between realism and stylization and the inking is really nice! Honestly, I’ll keep returning to Chabouté’s work for the art alone.
I really enjoyed this examination of a microcosm of people. Chabouté evokes a sense of community around the use of this bench, even though only a few of the characters interact with one another. I was also impressed with the emotions and investment Chaboute was able to pull out of me. These characters never speak, but I found myself caring about their lives and relationships (well, the bits we get to glean).
Chaboute’s black-and-white art is a highlight. There’s a good balance between realism and stylization and the inking is really nice! Honestly, I’ll keep returning to Chabouté’s work for the art alone.
February 27, 2019
Who knew you could say so much without having to say a word? This story is about human ties, the passing of time, change, and simply people living their lives. There's nothing remarkable about it, but at the same time, that's what makes it so special.
August 13, 2020
A respite, a moment, a pause
A shelter, a haven, a refuge
A scene, a society
A crossroads
Just a little wood and steel
A shelter, a haven, a refuge
A scene, a society
A crossroads
Just a little wood and steel
January 17, 2018
Because I enjoyed Alone so much last year, I put this on hold as soon as we ordered it for the library because I wanted to see if it would be as intriguing, melancholy yet hopeful, and endearing as the other.
It is.
This actually reminded me strongly of Here, which I love dearly, with the unfolding of life around one specific area.
Park Bench is just that - a story about life surrounding a park bench.
Recurring characters pass or visit the bench and as the years go by, you see their stories unfold in tiny bits and little hints. Some are amusing, some are what you'd expect from an ordinary life, some are sad.
And this is all shown without words. Well, there's graffiti and there are book titles, but you know what I mean. It's all visual narration.
This is only the second Chaboute book I've looked at but it seems he's got a soft spot for full circles and lovely endings. I think I've got a soft spot for his simple but powerful black and white stories.
It is.
This actually reminded me strongly of Here, which I love dearly, with the unfolding of life around one specific area.
Park Bench is just that - a story about life surrounding a park bench.
Recurring characters pass or visit the bench and as the years go by, you see their stories unfold in tiny bits and little hints. Some are amusing, some are what you'd expect from an ordinary life, some are sad.
And this is all shown without words. Well, there's graffiti and there are book titles, but you know what I mean. It's all visual narration.
This is only the second Chaboute book I've looked at but it seems he's got a soft spot for full circles and lovely endings. I think I've got a soft spot for his simple but powerful black and white stories.
January 16, 2018
Well, the title character is a little wooden... (Ba-dum bum!)
Despite its physical thickness and heft, this book is actually pretty slight as it is almost entirely wordless. The park bench serves as the setting for several different vignettes that play out in just a few panels each, but are intermingled and spread out over the course of several years. It's repetitive in nature, but the stories are mostly uplifting or gently bittersweet and worth the short time it takes to scan through the book.
Despite its physical thickness and heft, this book is actually pretty slight as it is almost entirely wordless. The park bench serves as the setting for several different vignettes that play out in just a few panels each, but are intermingled and spread out over the course of several years. It's repetitive in nature, but the stories are mostly uplifting or gently bittersweet and worth the short time it takes to scan through the book.
April 6, 2018
Chabouté is brilliant! He does so much with so little.
August 12, 2020
A remarkable gem.
No words, but tells so many stories.
MUST read!!!
No words, but tells so many stories.
MUST read!!!
November 2, 2022
Дуже спокійний, майже безсюжетний німий мальопис про життя однієї лавочки в парку і всіх людей й змін сезонів що вона бачить.
April 5, 2021
Review to come.
May 30, 2021
They could have called this The Jesus Bench.
Quite an achievement to make an over 300 page graphic novel where the main character is a park bench being visited by various repeat sitters. Quite an endurance test to read through as well, but have to rate it highly for its originality and optimism, in the hands of most post modern comic artists you'd probably have a visitor to the bench get stabbed or at least mugged...
SPOILERS
but instead you get some quite schmaltzy stuff like babies learning to walk, homeless guys standing up against the park warden, a sad guy whose date never turns up gives his flowers to a cancer survivor and then they start going out with each other... so basically this is the story about some kind of miracle bench. Towards the end of the book the bench is replaced by some new fangled modernist bench that all the regular park visitors ignore, and the Jesus Bench is put into storage until eventually it is found in a junk yard sale by two kids from the start of the book who carved "I love you" onto the bench, and are now in their 20s and settled into a relationship with a kid; who then learns to walk by touching the miracle bench.
SPOILERS OVER
I guess I should maybe have been moved to tears by The Park Bench and filled with joyful love of the human race, it's actually quite lovely... but maybe I'm just too punk for this book? Or too jaded maybe? After reading it I can feel a knotted bubble of something positive in my chest, but somehow I'm not able to fully engage with it. This actually makes me question my emotional state and maybe in the way the author intended... as all the humans in this book are similarly jaded but affected positively by whatever it is The Park Bench represents. So I'm torn between giving this 4 stars because I don't personally jive with the content, but also thinking it should have 5 stars for objective greatness... but on the other hand I'm wondering if I should give it 1 star because that would be really punk! So for now I'm going to settle on 4 stars, and maybe see how I feel in a month and either decrease or increase the rating.
Quite an achievement to make an over 300 page graphic novel where the main character is a park bench being visited by various repeat sitters. Quite an endurance test to read through as well, but have to rate it highly for its originality and optimism, in the hands of most post modern comic artists you'd probably have a visitor to the bench get stabbed or at least mugged...
SPOILERS
but instead you get some quite schmaltzy stuff like babies learning to walk, homeless guys standing up against the park warden, a sad guy whose date never turns up gives his flowers to a cancer survivor and then they start going out with each other... so basically this is the story about some kind of miracle bench. Towards the end of the book the bench is replaced by some new fangled modernist bench that all the regular park visitors ignore, and the Jesus Bench is put into storage until eventually it is found in a junk yard sale by two kids from the start of the book who carved "I love you" onto the bench, and are now in their 20s and settled into a relationship with a kid; who then learns to walk by touching the miracle bench.
SPOILERS OVER
I guess I should maybe have been moved to tears by The Park Bench and filled with joyful love of the human race, it's actually quite lovely... but maybe I'm just too punk for this book? Or too jaded maybe? After reading it I can feel a knotted bubble of something positive in my chest, but somehow I'm not able to fully engage with it. This actually makes me question my emotional state and maybe in the way the author intended... as all the humans in this book are similarly jaded but affected positively by whatever it is The Park Bench represents. So I'm torn between giving this 4 stars because I don't personally jive with the content, but also thinking it should have 5 stars for objective greatness... but on the other hand I'm wondering if I should give it 1 star because that would be really punk! So for now I'm going to settle on 4 stars, and maybe see how I feel in a month and either decrease or increase the rating.
March 28, 2021
3.5 stars
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