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孤獨

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一部深刻描繪現代人內在情感的圖像小說,直指人最本質的精神困境:孤獨的存在
面對外面遼闊世界,未知的未來使人心生恐懼
人,該選擇孤獨過活或者勇敢迎向遼闊的世界?

  歐洲漫畫詩人,克里斯多福・夏布特(Christophe Chabouté)以細緻的圖象優美呈現人心深處,永恆的孤寂感受以及追尋自由的渴望。

  《孤獨》故事講述了一個畸形怪人,父母出自於關愛,將他禁閉在汪洋大海中的一座燈塔上,每天只能憑藉想像力生活。因為相貌醜怪,他一出生就被藏在燈塔中,與世隔絕,獨自生活五十多年。陪伴他的是父母留下的一本舊辭典,這也是他與外面世界的唯一連結。

  在每個孤寂的夜晚,他總是憑藉著辭典與想像力,在腦海中編織各種奇妙、荒誕、離奇的畫面。直到一位新進的水手幫助下,他才找到了真正屬於他自己的人生。

  作者夏布特以獨特的緩慢節奏敘事方法勾勒出人性中關於美醜、孤獨、膽怯、恐懼、嚮往自由……等值得深思的主題。運用豐富的場景轉換和剪影、輪廓的細緻描繪,推進故事情節。同時作品也巧妙捕捉了事物在不同角度呈現的情感意象,充滿了神秘引人深思的哲學氣質。

  《孤獨》是2009年安古蘭國際漫畫節入選作品,目前已有德語、日語、西班牙語、波蘭語等多國語言版本。它在2015年4月還被法國話劇導演搬上戲劇舞臺。

得獎紀錄

  ★日本知名遊戲製作大神,小島秀夫連讀三次痛哭落淚,啟發他創作2020隔離預言遊戲《死亡擱淺》的書籍之一
  ★中國版,獲豆瓣閱讀網站,9.2高分
  ★中國豆瓣2016年度十大好書第4名
  ★簡中版豆瓣圖像小說 TOP 2

各界推薦(依姓名筆畫順序)

  小深藍 圖文創作者
  大人的漫畫社 漫畫推廣粉專
  杰宇的法文邂逅 法國文化推廣粉專
  林莉菁 旅法漫畫家/ Ulysse亂彈動漫小站站長
  紙本分格 漫畫推廣粉專
  高妍(Gao Yan)插畫家、漫畫家
  張惠菁 作家
  達瑞 詩人
  霧室 設計工作室

感動好評

  「想像力以及對未知的渴求,是讓我們不斷的前進主要動力。作者以各種具象化的方式,巧妙的呈現心靈成長的過程。也讓我們深思,甚麼才是真正的『孤獨』」——小深藍 圖文創作者

  「快樂的人們擅長遺忘。
  《孤獨》一書採用蒙太奇的拼湊手法,讓受困於燈塔的「孤獨」以僅存的幻想與世界產生聯繫。喧囂的人群、奔騰的馬匹、未知的樂器、擱淺於海面上的戰利品。
  對『孤獨』而言,他也曾是個快樂的人,直到他發現世界的樣貌不僅存於幻想,於是他不再選擇遺忘。」——高妍(Gao Yan) 插畫家、漫畫家

  「本書乍看是本不多話的作品。作者用無對話或旁白的黑白圖像帶動敘事走向,有時加上狀聲詞,人物就只有水手跟獨居燈塔的男子三人。神秘的主角燈塔客雖然與世隔絕,仍試著拼湊外界事物的樣貌。島外居民少有人想跟他接觸,無論島內外,人們其實可能都是活在自己的一葉浮島上。
  船長覺得提供燈塔客食糧補給就好,水手則試著與燈塔客對話,他的善意開啟了後者生活的其他可能性。
  小島不只是與世隔絕之地, 也可以是探索世界的起點。瑞士探險家,梅拉(Ella Maillart,1903-1997)鼓勵人們探索世界。想像力固然可以豐厚生活, 而離開自身之島, 試著去了解外界或他人,更需要勇氣與善意。
  一起來探索燈塔客獨特的內心世界吧。Bon voyage!——林莉菁 旅法漫畫家/ Ulysse亂彈動漫小站站長

  「主角自幼在海中心的燈塔獨居,伴侶是各種海中廢物、一條魚及一本字典。
  整本漫畫依靠流暢且大氣的分鏡和獨特的漫畫語言帶領,令人有一口氣看完三百多頁漫畫的衝動。
  窮人最不幸的,就是得知富人的存在。
  孤獨的人最不幸的,就是得知了別人多姿多彩的生活。」——紙本分格

外國媒體推薦

  「《孤獨》堪稱一部發人深省的哲學漫畫,作者創造了一個異化、空虛的獨特空間,具有強烈的現實主義意味。作品的結尾正好與我的想法不謀而合,它在結束的同時又開啟了比孤獨更為深遠的課題——無私與寬容。」——漫畫家Joel Heirman

  「376頁至純至深的情感,溫情和幽默,憂傷和歡喜,互相交錯,如夢如幻,它讓我思考,又讓我心碎。感謝夏布特,帶給我一段如此淒美的孤獨旅程。」——日本讀者

  「聽說製作《潛龍諜影》的小島秀夫先生連續不斷反覆讀了這本書三遍,不知不覺中落下眼淚。他在《孤獨》中讀到,自己多年以來所感受到共通的孤獨感是,這種感覺牢牢地擄獲他不放。」——日本亞馬遜讀者評語

  「夏布特從來都不懼挑戰,這一回他選擇了大海作為故事背景,僅僅開頭幾頁就顯示出他過人的才氣。」——2008年法國《讀書》雜誌9月刊

  「一部極簡主義的黑白作品,卻綻放出如此強烈的人性光輝。」——法國漫畫書評網

Récit d'un homme qui, depuis cinquante ans, vit seul dans un phare et se perd dans un monde aux apparences irréelles. Un album où se côtoient onirisme et quotidien, et où s'enchevêtrent sensibilité, tendresse et humour.

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

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About the author

Christophe Chabouté

45 books254 followers
Christophe 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.

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5 stars
2,095 (53%)
4 stars
1,350 (34%)
3 stars
402 (10%)
2 stars
57 (1%)
1 star
13 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 606 reviews
Profile Image for Diane.
1,140 reviews3,250 followers
August 6, 2017
An entire life spent alone on a rock. What's he do all day?

This graphic novel is stunning.

First published in France in 2008, Alone was just translated into English this year, and I'm grateful I had the chance to read this beautiful book. It's about a disfigured man who lives alone in a lighthouse, and he's never been been off the island. He passes the time by reading the dictionary and using his imagination to dream up stories. Once a week, a local fisherman drops off food supplies for him, but the man never comes out to talk. The novel takes a turn when another fisherman hears about the lighthouse keeper and decides to intervene.

The story is told in black and white drawings and with very few words. It's one of the most captivating and haunting graphic novels I've read — right up there with Nat Turner by Kyle Baker and The Arrival by Shaun Tan. I read Alone in one sitting during a rainstorm, and when I turned the last page, I sat silently for several minutes, still absorbed in the book, listening to the raindrops on the roof.
Profile Image for Diane S ☔.
4,901 reviews14.6k followers
September 8, 2017
Okay Sandi, you were right, I was wrong. After my friend Sandi posted a glowing review of this graphic novel, I told her I love her review but that graphic novels were not my thing. I had only read one previous to this, and tried a few more, but those little boxes and bubbles of speeches, just irritated me. She told me she thought I would love this one, that in very few words, but with some wonderful pictures the story was one I should read.

So I did, and it was an amazing story, gorgeous black and white drawings. paint a heartfelt and lonely picture of a disfigured man living in a lighthouse. With only a fish in a bowl for a friend,and an encyclopedia his only book, he uses his imagination to travel where he cannot. A boat drops off supplies for him, an arrangement his father had made before his death. Well, the less said the better, just savor the experience, a picture indeed can tell a thousand words.
Profile Image for Jakob J. &#x1f383;.
286 reviews149 followers
January 27, 2026
A compendium of imaginative isolation in its most mythic and romantic representation.

Linger on and bask in each scrupulous panel, becoming intimately familiar as with a brick at eye level in front of your work desk. Each crack, crevice, and granule becoming a friend you see every day, contributing to memories of which these features will remind you on account of the vagaries conceived while staring at it in fits of creative agony or ecstasy.

To be alone is to be in innumerable worlds simultaneously, exploring unadulterated and uninterrupted expressiveness within oneself, playing with words as pictures in pure and personal perfection.
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books32.2k followers
September 9, 2017
“Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

Alone, finally translated this year (2017) in English from the French, is Chaboute’s masterpiece. Early on he did graphic interpretations of the work of Rimbaud, and more recently, an interpretation of the story of Moby Dick, but this more than 400 page novel is Chaboute’s story, in black and white, mostly wordless, and an amazing artistic accomplishment about the nature of words and the imagination.

The story is rather simple; a man with some physical deformities—one is reminded of the Hunchback of Notre Dame in the bell tower—is born in a lighthouse and never leaves this tiny island for more than fifty years, fifteen of them after his parents are dead. Regularly a fisherman, according to arrangements made by our hermit’s father, leaves him food and supplies.

What does the man do most of the day? He picks out words in a dictionary and uses these words as a trigger to his imagination, to create stories that he sometimes enacts for himself and a goldfish. Words free the man for several decades from his prison, but one day a man newly hired by the fisherman leaves him a note with the supplies and everything changes. In a sense, this simple nearly wordless story is an allegory about language and creativity, but the turn to human connection moves it in yet another important direction. A literary masterpiece in comics!
Profile Image for Sam Quixote.
4,844 reviews13.5k followers
October 29, 2018
Christophe Chaboute’s Alone is kind of a modern-day fairytale where a deformed man with the unlikely name of Alone lives - yes, alone! - in a lighthouse - and he’s lonely cos he’s alone…

… am I missing something here - is that it? Yes it is. Wow. It looks like an imposing book but it’s mostly silent so you can breeze through it in no time. The art is very accomplished and some of the visuals are amusing. He spends his days reading random dictionary entries then tries visualising them and they’re odd-looking as he has no experience of the outside world.

I wish there was more substance here though - “having an imagination is good” is not enough for an entire book! Barely anything happens and then it’s over. Alone left almost no impression on me. I has more substance on the underside of my gross bin’s lid!
Profile Image for Ray Nessly.
385 reviews38 followers
November 25, 2022
Superb. An achingly sad yet beautiful story.
I'm thankful I'm not among those who are alone today, alone tomorrow.

Also, on this day, I need to repeat what I wrote below:
"Many thanks to the Goodreads members I follow. Without them, I might never have known about this book, a fine example of the art of the graphic novel, and a gifted artist’s ode to the imagination."

Read June 2022/Edited July & Nov. 2022 (added images and so forth)


Alone, the beautiful and moving graphic novel by the French author and illustrator, Christophe Chabouté, is a stunning achievement both visually and story-wise. Black and white and nearly wordless, it almost suggests a silent film, but set in the present. Cinematically, it incorporates montage and liberal use of point of view “shots” that echo the moves of a camera. The opening is as if samples of frames were clipped from a reel, closing in and zooming out on a seagull and on the lighthouse which leans in expressionistic angles against the world and the sea, as though in combat with all that is outside. Inside the lighthouse, we climb the spiral stairs and move through the rooms, noting its contents—a fish in a bowl, trapped much as he is; toy medieval soldiers on horseback (or chess pieces?) and a bit of tree branch, which evoke battle scenes and imagined forests in the mind of the protagonist, who we don’t actually see until the book is one-third or so gone.




The story:
A middle-aged man has lived his entire life in a lighthouse, never interacting with even one soul, living off the fish he catches and supplies dropped off by a pair of fishermen, who explain,
“Why has he never set foot on land?”
“Because of his parents! He was born deformed … a monster …They kept him hidden in the lighthouse—they were ashamed of him.”
A monster? Huge exaggeration. Yes, he is homely; one of his eyes and the eyebrow is smaller than the other, he has oversize teeth, hair clinging in patches to a misshapen head. True, he is even more imperfect than the rest of us, but … a monster? Of course he isn’t, but that’s how his parents and others in the outside world perceive him. And most sad of all, that’s how he perceives himself. A monster, who must be kept in isolation, with nothing to keep him company but a fish in a bowl, and his imagination: sparked by things from the outside world that have drifted to the lighthouse, and by random glances at his dictionary. His imagination creates surreal versions of everyday items he's never seen, and has only the dictionary descriptions to guide him. Here for example, violins:


Alone is an almost unbearably sad tale, but lightened with generous doses of humor, and uplifted with a humanist message, and it nearly, almost, drew a tear from me. Many thanks to the Goodreads members I follow. Without them, I might never have known about this book, a fine example of the art of the graphic novel, and a gifted artist’s ode to the imagination.
Profile Image for ♥ Sandi ❣	.
1,700 reviews79 followers
August 30, 2017
5 stars

What a great book. This is a graphic novel - a novel that a lot of work went into. It is all in black and white. It has very few words, but tells a sad, sad story, ultimately ending well. This is translated from French and regarded as Chaboute's masterpiece.

The story tells of a man - a hermit, that no one has ever seen - who lives in a lighthouse way out to sea, on just an outcropping of rock. He was born in that lighthouse. Now 50 years later he has been the sole inhabitant for the last 15 years, since losing his parents. He gets supplies delivered weekly, however he hides while that boat is there. Once that boat takes on an ex-convict as the crew things begin to change.

This is 368 pages of very little words and a story well told in pictures. The pictures speak to you and you feel his isolation and his fears. This is an author that I definitely will read again.
Profile Image for Dave Marsland.
179 reviews110 followers
January 6, 2026
What a delightful start to 2026 (thanks Sandi). Christophe Chabouté’s graphic novel Alone is about solitude and reclusiveness and the power of imagination.
Alone is the name given to a hermit living on a lighthouse. A dictionary and a goldfish are his only company, leaving his imagination as his only form of entertainment.
Until a single act of kindness from a fisherman changes everything.
It’s a wonderful story, underpinned by beautiful illustrations.


Profile Image for Paula Mota.
1,768 reviews602 followers
September 11, 2025
“Solitário” é possivelmente a obra mais amada de Chabouté e agora compreendo porquê. Como não adorar a história de um homem deformado que vive há 50 anos desamparado no sítio mais isolado que pode existir? Nesta GN quase silenciosa consagrada ao poder da imaginação, há um pescador que cumpre a promessa de entregar provisões a um homem que nunca ninguém viu, num farol onde o único som que se ouve é “boom, boom”. É descoraçoante perceber o que o produz e como se processa este jogo solitário de uma pessoa sem qualquer tipo de estímulo ou de contacto humano, que tem como única companhia um peixinho num aquário.

Um navio de pedra imóvel, um barco de granito que não balança, ele não nos leva a lado nenhum, ele não acosta.

Basta uma frase tão simples como “há algo que você gostaria?”, escrita por um homem que também sabe o que é estar só, para desencadear uma reacção no protagonista que pode significar a vida ou a morte.
Profile Image for Donna.
544 reviews234 followers
January 3, 2018
His name is Alone. Well...that’s what we call him anyway.

It begins with a captain of a small boat and his assistant delivering two boxes to an automated lighthouse in the middle of nowhere. The assistant is new and thinks the captain must be part of a smuggling ring and isn’t shy about showing his disapproval. But the captain soon sets him straight, telling him he’s only delivering supplies to the man who lives in the lighthouse. The man was born there 50 years ago and has never once set foot on land. He then tells his assistant why that is, but he isn’t satisfied and starts peppering the captain with questions the captain doesn’t care to think about such as what does the man do all day and isn't he unhappy living under those circumstances?

Did I hire a sailor or a social worker?

The captain hired an assistant with a past as mysterious as the man in the lighthouse, and the assistant unknowingly sets off a chain of events by leaving a note for the lighthouse inhabitant whom no one living has ever seen.

I picked up this graphic novel because I was intrigued by the beautiful cover and the description of the story which on the surface is a simple one. But there are depths to it like the ocean surrounding the lighthouse, with ripples that reach out to the reader, especially anyone seemingly stuck where they are in life. The text is minimal, which works to the story’s advantage in making it a universal one. The black and white graphics are bold and sometimes bleak, adding atmosphere and dimension to the story which had me tensing toward the end. Written and illustrated by a renowned French artist, this graphic novel kept me riveted and left an impression. Following is a link for a short video clip of this book that’s very cool, but it contains major spoilers, so be warned if you plan to read this book.

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books...
Profile Image for Alan.
739 reviews285 followers
July 19, 2022
I love walking. When it’s warm out, I go for a walk. I usually stick to the same 3-4 routes that I have done for years, and sometimes I explore. Until last year, I would do this with one of my close friends. They lived within a 10-minute walking distance, so we’d make something happen. That changed. Within a summer, everyone was gone. What now? The same routes, the same distances, the same activity – but alone.

What’s been the result? I can still text my friends and set something up, but it’s different now. Waiting 2-3 days to be able to schedule something is not off the table, and I know this will start to pile on as the years go on. Nowadays, quite often, there is no recipient in the immediate vicinity for my stupid jokes, otherwise I would be laughing a lot more (often at my own jokes). But there has been a surge in imaginative creativity. At the risk of missing scenery (who cares, I have seen it hundreds of times anyway), I dig into an idea, exploring and coming up with alternative solutions to problems. Sometimes I am so into what I’m thinking about that I miss acquaintances on the street. This happened earlier today – I walked past someone I knew, ghosted her, and felt a tap on my shoulder. I get lost, I’m telling ya.

These are the images that came to me when I read Alone, poetry in graphic motion. Who is that man, solo, in a room, tossing the dictionary like dice, putting his finger on a random word and then going to town? I don’t know, but he’s sure as hell got a wild imagination.
Profile Image for Maxwell.
1,482 reviews12.8k followers
July 2, 2017
I don't read graphic novels too often, so when this one showed up on my doorstep courtesy of the publisher (not sponsored, not obligated to review) I was intrigued. I was even more intrigued when I found out it was translated from French, and told almost entirely in illustrations. There is a bit of dialogue, but not much; so little, in fact, that you can probably read this nearly 400-page book in less than an hour.

I thought the drawings were evocative and showcased the characters' feelings really well. I was a bit unsure about the representation in this book, mainly of the character with a physical disfigurement. It is an empowering and hopeful story, but mainly read to me as a bit dated and old hat.

If you're looking for something new to try, I'd recommend checking this out for a quick read.
Profile Image for Urbon Adamsson.
2,204 reviews120 followers
September 17, 2025
PT O poder do silêncio num mundo dominado pelo ruído.

A capacidade de Chabouté contar uma história apenas através da arte é extraordinária — verdadeiramente única.

Estas páginas transmitem uma profunda sensação de conforto e serenidade.

Quanto à história em si, cabe a cada um de nós tirar as suas próprias conclusões, mas há, sem dúvida, uma mensagem profunda no seu núcleo.

Uma mensagem de solidão.

--

EN The power of silence in a world overwhelmed by noise.

Chabouté’s ability to tell a story purely through art is extraordinary—truly one of a kind.

These pages radiate a deep sense of comfort and serenity.

As for the story itself, it’s left to each of us to draw our own conclusions, but there is undoubtedly a profound message at its core.

A message of solitude.
Profile Image for Jon Nakapalau.
6,671 reviews1,057 followers
October 21, 2017
At first this book reminded me of Samuel Beckett's Company, Ill Seen Ill Said, Worstward Ho and The Lost Ones: individuals placed into a contextually indifferent existence that defines them through their lack of connectedness to anything. But this story soon takes a positive turn as the hermit in the lighthouse (fantastic metaphor!) finds that random words found by throwing up a dictionary and reading the definitions can never help him find the Platonic forms he is trying so hard to envision; it takes a former prisoner on the boat that delivers supplies to him (another fantastic metaphor!) to understand the world through a kindred spirit. Wonderful to discover such a talent - Christophe Chabouté is now on my 'reading radar'!
Profile Image for Betsy Robinson.
Author 11 books1,248 followers
September 29, 2017
Breathtaking
Black and white aloneness
A story in pictures
Slices of feeling
Picture: ocean rocking
Picture: wind roaring
Picture: taste of solitude—Tout Seul; the French title says it better.
A quiet, gut-wrenching masterpiece
Profile Image for Negin.
801 reviews146 followers
July 22, 2018
This graphic novel is simply remarkable. There is almost no text, but the story is so powerful, that it speaks for itself.

Profile Image for Algernon.
1,922 reviews1,188 followers
March 13, 2024

Onboard this lighthouse, we’ll never get ashore ...

boat

Associating lighthouse with loneliness is one of the most abused metaphors in literature. Yet Christophe Chaboute manages to create something that feels fresh and poignant out of the premise.
Unlike Park Bench , this album makes use of words and dialogue and concentrates on one character, but the artwork is clearly coming from the same hand that likes to draw simple, clear black and white line drawings arranged in cinematic progression, reminding me of childhood flipbooks. His delicate touch on human emotions is well served by these stark graphic images

The main character is a recluse, a middle aged man who takes care of an offshore lighthouse. The only regular visitor to the rocky outcrop is a supply boat that was instructed to respect the resident’s privacy, leaving his packages on the pier at the base of the tower.
Before we are introduced to the main character, we witness the speculation of the two sailors manning the boat about who the man is, why he hides from the world, what does he do all alone in the middle of nowhere?

who

I believe the clue to this enigma can be found in the epigraph from the first blank page of the album:

Imagination : the ability to form a mental image of fictional or perceived objects or concepts not actually present to the senses. The ability to invent, create, or concoct.



When the focus of the story moves from the supply ship to the room where the keeper lives, we learn that he occupies his time fishing, taking care of his pet fish in a bowl and playing a game with a fat dictionary, riffling the pages and pointing his index finger at a random line.
He then proceeds to imagine what the word he picked really means. In the absence of any significant contact with the outside world, the keeper lets his imagination take over, with some oddball results.

moon

Among the words randomly chosen from the dictionary are the astronaut Neill Armstrong, centaur, cello, battle, solitude, routine, prison, etc.
Chaboute is actually carefully choosing these words in order to underline the quest of the keeper to escape from his marooned stone ship and to find a way to experience the real world directly, through his own senses.
The argument here is that the keeper needs to use his imagination in order to create a different future than the dreary repeat of his solitary habits.

I am planning to check out what else this talented artist has published.

Profile Image for Chad.
10.7k reviews1,084 followers
December 18, 2019
The story of a deformed man who lives alone on a lighthouse. He spends his day randomly selecting words from an tattered dictionary, imagining their definitions. That is almost the entirety of the book over and over. It quickly lost my attention. The book also followed seagulls around for the first 50 pages. The book appears daunting at over 400 pages, but is almost wordless. I flipped through it in about 30 minutes. The art is quite good, but the author needs to learn how to edit.
Profile Image for Murat.
646 reviews
January 27, 2020
Son zamanlarda okuduğum en güzel grafik eser.

Bu anlatının filmi de çekilebilir, kitabı da yazılabilir. Ama en güzel sanatsal formu grafik roman olmalı. Rutinin hem içinde hem de oldukça dışında ruha dokunan muhteşem detaylar, okuyucuyu/izleyiciyi alıp başka bir gerçekliğe götüren çizgiler ve de içimizdeki münzeviye ayna tutan minimalist bir hikaye. Kesinlikle tavsiyedir.

Profile Image for Erica.
1,478 reviews502 followers
December 29, 2017
There's some dialogue in this story, but very little. Mostly, it's pictorial tale, illustrated simply, strongly, beautifully.

There's an automated lighthouse out in the ocean but every week, a guy drops off two boxes of supplies down at the lighthouse dock. When his employee, a new hire, asks why, the captain of the boat explains that a man lives in that lighthouse, all alone in the 15 years since his father died. The new sailor asks why the alone man doesn't just leave and the captain then explains that the guy is horribly disfigured and the parents had never let him set foot on land so he's spent his entire life in the lighthouse and on the surrounding rock. It's been 50-some years.

The rest of the story shows/tells what this solitary man does with his life, day in and day out. He's clever, coming up with ways to entertain and stimulate his mind.


He has a collection of treasures washed up from the sea and they're enough to give him opening into the larger world, but not an opening large enough that he feels he can enter that world.


It takes a question from a stranger and a gossip magazine to make him realize there's so much more beyond his island and the treasure-bringing sea.

I loved all the emotions I got reading this story. The lighthouse dweller, isolated his entire life, is childlike in his awareness of the world. He imagines a podiatrist measuring human feet, the feet of tables and chairs, the bases of lamps because his lack of experience creates a lack of context. He has created a tidy existence for himself and his one friend, another gift from the water. Perhaps not knowing what he's missing - I'd say freedom but it's not so much that he's not free, more that he isn't aware of the possibility of stepping beyond his environment - makes him not bitter, not aggrieved, not yearn for everything beyond his doorstep. Because all that lies beyond his doorstep is saltwater and, once a week, a boat from which he hides. But no one can live without connection and he makes do until he can't anymore.

It's a sad story, sort of, but also graceful and uplifting.
I really liked it.
Profile Image for Stewart Tame.
2,510 reviews123 followers
September 1, 2017
Although this book is huge, it reads quickly. The majority of the panels are wordless. A ship makes a delivery to a lighthouse on an island just barely large enough to hold it. The captain tells his shipmate that, even though the lighthouse is automated. The son of the former caretakers lives there. Born deformed, he shuns human company, and hasn't been seen in years. We, the readers, do get to see the island's sole inhabitant and how he spends his days ...

The cover makes this seem like a more grim and bleak tale than it turns out to be. Alone is warm, whimsical, and human. Chabouté's approach is cinematic. Many of the panels feature moment to moment transitions which give the effect of slow pans and zooms. The pacing is leisurely, but never lethargic.

This whole book feels like some forgotten classic of French cinema, perhaps something from the 70's or 80's. It's not strongly set in any particular era. It made me smile and warmed my heart, which is no mean feat for a graphic novel. Recommended!
Profile Image for Leonor.
78 reviews36 followers
September 13, 2025
Solitário é uma obra-prima em novela gráfica que combina sensibilidade visual e narrativa minimalista para explorar os temas da solidão, do isolamento e da descoberta do mundo. A história acompanha um homem que passou toda a sua vida, ou seja, 50 anos, confinado a um farol, sem nunca ter contacto humano directo, vivendo sob a proteção e controle de seus pais até estes falecerem. O protagonista possui uma deformação física que sempre foi mantida escondida, conhecida por todos, mas nunca vista, aumentando o sentimento de alienação e diferença.

O pai, o último a falecer, deixou instruções e dinheiro confiados a um pescador para garantir que o filho tivesse alimento. O pescador mais velho apenas entregava as caixas de mantimentos, cumprindo mecanicamente a função, sem jamais interagir ou despertar curiosidade no protagonista. Essa rotina reforça o isolamento total: ele conhecia apenas o farol, o mar, o peixe que tinha no aquário e o dicionário que lia aleatoriamente e que gerava nele criatividade, sem nunca imaginar um mundo além daquele espaço.

Um momento significativo ocorre quando, ao folhear o dicionário, encontra a palavra “monstro” e decide ver-se ao espelho. É o primeiro instante em que se confronta com sua própria imagem e com a deformidade que o isolou socialmente. Esse episódio revela o peso emocional do confinamento e da percepção de si mesmo em relação ao mundo exterior, ainda que invisível.

O verdadeiro ponto de viragem na história surge com a acção muito humana do pescador mais jovem. Diferente do mais velho, ele faz uma pergunta simples mas transformadora através de um bilhete: “Há algo que você gostaria?”. Esse gesto aparentemente banal desperta no protagonista curiosidade, fazendo-o refletir sobre sua própria vida, sobre liberdade e sobre tudo aquilo que nunca conheceu. É um exemplo claro de como uma acção pequena, humana e empática, pode provocar uma revolução interna, quebrando anos de isolamento e rotina.

Chabouté usa elementos visuais para reforçar o tema da liberdade e do autoconhecimento. Há vários que contrastam com a prisão do farol, como por exemplo gaivotas a voar, cavalo a correr, o mar, sugerindo possibilidades infinitas e instigando o leitor a refletir sobre limites e oportunidades.

A narrativa de Solitário é quase sem palavras, transmitida principalmente através de ilustrações a preto e branco. A economia de palavras aumenta a intensidade das imagens e faz o leitor mergulhar na experiência de solidão e descobrimento do protagonista.

Solitário é uma história sobre solidão, coragem, descoberta e liberdade, mostrando que mesmo gestos simples ou palavras aparentemente banais podem ter impactos transformadores. Chabouté constrói uma narrativa sensível, visualmente rica e profundamente humana, lembrando-nos que o mundo é maior do que os nossos limites autoimpostos e que a liberdade muitas vezes exige coragem para deixar para trás aquilo que nos protege, mas que também nos aprisiona.
Profile Image for Orbi Alter .
234 reviews54 followers
November 23, 2016
Ako ovo nije najtuznija prica ikad nacrtana, onda je barem u samom vrhu. Kadrovi su predivni i isto toliko usamljeni i tuzni.

Jedna stolica, jedna casa, jedan tanjur, jedna vilica, jedan tragican lik, na prozoru naslagane stvarcice koje pripadaju nekim drugim zivotima, a koje su slucajno doplutale... Jedna ribica, jedan rjecnik i nevjerojatna snaga maste. Jedan krevet i rutina...

Jedan slucajni, empaticni prolaznik i jedna mozda mala nada.

Slomio me sa svim svojim detaljima. Pretuzno.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sercan.
323 reviews107 followers
December 7, 2021
Başından sonuna hüzün dolu, etkileyici. Anlatmak istediğini sessizlik içinde anlatıyor. Dingin ve sakin. Çizimler de buna paralel çok detaylı değil ve sade. Dolayısı ile kalın olmasına rağmen çok çabuk okunuyor (izleniyor). Daha uzun olabilirdi diye düşünmeden edemedim açıkçası bitirince. Bir iki şey eksik kaldı gibi hissettim; tekne misal.
Profile Image for Roya.
192 reviews378 followers
June 11, 2018
A door stopper that I could have read in an hour or less. The dialogue was minimal even for a graphic novel. The story may seem simple, but it’s really not. Would recommend.
Profile Image for Jefi Sevilay.
820 reviews96 followers
June 7, 2021
Yüksek fiyatına karşın hafif içeriği ve hızlı okunması nedeniyle üniversite yıllarımdan sonra çok uzun bi süre çizgiromandan uzak kalmıştım. Ancak yıllar sonra Sualtı Kaynakçısı, Portekiz, Jeff Lemire'in Essex County üçlemesi gibi harika çizgi romanlar beni tekrar bu yola soktu.

Yapayalnız da anafikir ve işleniş olarak güzeldi. BOOM sesinin nereden kaynaklandığı merak uyandırdı ve sonundaki plot twist de beni mutlu etti. Ancak yine de hikaye bir bütün olarak tatmin etmedi. Çizgiler sadeydi ve pek fazla detay barındırmıyordu. Bununla birlikte bir martı uçuşuna 4 sayfa ayırınca yer yer sayfaları oldukça hızlı çevirirken buldum kendimi. Öyle ki sayfaları yanyana değil de arka arkaya koyup bassalar ve çocukluğumuzdaki gibi sayfaları hızlıca parmağımızın ucuyla serbest bıraksak muhtemelen çizgi film gibi hareketli bir görüntü elde ederdik muhtemelen.

Dolayısıyla belki 40 dakikada bitirdiğim 376 sayfanın ardından ödediğim 41.25 TL'ye değdi mi? Bence değmedi.

Herkese keyifli okumalar
Profile Image for Fulya.
562 reviews206 followers
October 4, 2020
Bir deniz fenerinde toplumun normlarına aykırı bir görünüşe sahip olduğu için kapalı kalan bir adam Yapayalnız. Bir tek sözlüğü ve bir de akvaryum içinde balığı var. Sözlükten rastgele kelimeler seçip onların anlamını hayal gücüne göre şekillendirerek o deniz fenerindeki sonsuz zamanı tüketmeye çalışıyor. Ta ki ona haftalık erzakını bırakan tekneye çalışmaya herkesten farklı biri gelene kadar. Çizimler benim tarzım değildi ancak hikayeyi sevdim.
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