I have mixed emotions about this graphic novel. The lack of color was interesting, yet it turned out to be very boring and drab; however, it was apropos for its purpose. The scenarios depicted with a variety of people was fine, but incredibly repetitious -- again, apropos for its purpose. The stories that developed were okay, nothing exciting or intriguing. I just kept turning the pages. Now, the actual drawings themselves were very good, especially using only black and white. They felt like the black was etched off to create a white scene. I liked that a lot. Ultimately, mixed emotions remain.

So beautiful.

Without a word, Christophe Chaboute speaks volumes. The Park Bench shares human interactions (and one canine, too!) centered around this inanimate object. Sometimes the interaction is between people, sometimes it's with the bench itself. The interactions run the gamut - tender, funny, jarring - and each is thought-provoking. The experiences linger long after you've turned the page.

This is a book I want to get lost in again and again.

(Note for teachers: I'm considering using this to inspire student writing. Since the scenes have no words, it may be interesting to ask students to try and write a script to accompany a scene.)

Just a marvelously heartwarming story about life through a park bench's eyes.

Park Bench opens with a young boy carving I heart U in a park bench. Throughout the seasons, people pass by the park bench. Some sit for a while. Others sleep while avoiding the park’s police. No words are spoken throughout the graphic novel. However, occasionally the people use other objects to get their point across (like the I heart U in the beginning). One particular vignette uses newspapers and graffiti very cleverly. The less you know of the book’s plot the better.

I just adored Park Bench. The ending was perfect! The illustrations were excellent! I give my highest recommendation to Park Bench. It can be read by all ages (since there are very few words) but adults will probably enjoy it the most.

11 stars (dang the stars only go up to 5) correction 5 dazzling stars!

Thanks to the publisher, Gallery 13, and netgalley for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest review. The book will be available September 19, 2017.

Completely without written dialogue, this book is a narrative around the fixed point of a park bench in a public park over time. The art is simple and well drawn and manages to convey a sense of atmosphere and pace with the seasons changing and the same recurring characters as time passes around the same park bench.

Much of the human experience is represented here.. life, rebirth, death, sadness, love, constancy, hate, sadness all contrasted with the hurrying obliviousness of living a life of unvarying routine and failing to simply notice what's happening around us.

I was familiar with this artist/creator from his other works, but was surprised how moving this book was for me. It really could easily have been extremely pretentious or overly precious, but it was touching and profound. Deftly, beautifully written.

It's a relatively long book (336 pages), but I read it in one sitting and with a later re-read, noticed things I had missed on a first reading. I suspect it's one I will revisit many times.

So this was interesting. It was totally unlike any graphic novel I've read before. It's told entirely in images and focuses on one park bench. It was a really interesting way to tell a story! That being said, there was some things I didn't like. I really couldn't get into the artwork. I know that it was trying to be simplistic, but it was a little too simplistic. The art style and the fact that it was in black and white just left me underwhelmed. The overall plot was both cool and boring lol. I get the concept of it, but it didn't leave me with anything. I didn't come from it thinking. I came bored. The way that it was told (no dialogue) was really the only thing I liked about it. I also liked how it came full circle in the end. But I just left it feeling like I couldn't hold onto any part of the story.

So very clever. Sadness, happiness, the ebb and flow of life - all realized in a few drawings. This was really great (and a fast read).

Words cannot adequately express how magnificent this was. It was so much with so little and brilliant in every regard. Bravo.

This is an absolutely astounding wordless graphic novel that chronicles the lives of several folks (and one dog) who regularly pass by a particular park bench. It beautifully captures moments of not only everyday life, but of unexpected connection and quiet revelation. Truly gorgeous.

This graphic novel is unique. It's the story of a park bench. There are no words, only emotions on people's faces tell their story. We see benches everywhere. Do you see who sits on them?

Gallery 13 and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published September 19th.

I liked the simplicity of the story and was amazed to see how much could be conveyed by actions and expressions. This is a tribute to the bench's life and I enjoyed reading it.

It starts with a young couple, still in grade school. He's carving a heart in the bench saying he loves her. One man sits on it and plays music trying to make some money. An older couple comes and sits on it and shares a pastry dessert. A homeless man tries to sleep on it but the cop keeps running off. Love dies and love grows all on this bench.

Reading this story is like seeing a slice of life. Most people don't slow down enough to do that but if you did, it'd be a lot like this.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

I had never heard of Christophe Chabouté, but after "reading" Park Bench, I am a fan! I put reading in quotes because there's nothing to read! It's all art, all pictures, no interpretation necessary - a truly international work in some senses (see caveat in penultimate paragraph). Almost all the action takes place around the titular public seat in a park. Just by watching this one locale through the lens that the author provides us, we see a microcosm of life.

We see people who use the bench and we see those who don't even see the bench. We see friendship and antagonism, love and abuse, and a persistent dog which is determined to claim this territory for its own! I particularly loved the scene in the snow where we don't even see the dog - only its footprints.

That's the genius of this. At first, when I started to look through it, I kept wondering if this was it, and then I realized it's not only it; it's everything. Naturally, the first impression is that speech is missing, but that's intentional. The one thing that was truly missing is the sense of the passage of time. I don't know if that was intentional or not.

Yes, we see the occasional season now and then, but do we see years? Are we meant to? That's the only explanation for the remarkable phenomenon which slipped right by me, mesmerized as I was by the images, until the author hit me over the head with it at the end!

I loved this, I thought it was brilliant, amusing, engaging, and really, really well done. The artwork is exquisite and detailed, and evocative. The French cop actually looked so French it rather removed it from its cosmopolitan flavor for those few frames, but everyone else could have been anywhere else - anywhere that's largely white and western that is, because there were few people of color visiting this park. That, I think, was an omission, but no doubt there are parks like this. Donald Trump probably lives near one.

But I am not going to quibble over that when the rest of it was so perfect. Not this time. I recommend this.

In the graphic novel format, Chabouté's warm, evocative story is a delight to the eyes and the mind.
With the warm, loving pathos of Silverstein's The Giving Tree, the slow, steady passage of days, seasons, and years in Park Bench shows the reader the multiple stories and people who have played out their lives in the presence of the park bench.

It is those stories, and the bench's witness to their value, that make the book compelling. The story reads calmly, peacefully, poignantly. The depth of communication through the simple drawings makes the impact all the more powerful. You'll want to enjoy --and share-- this one.

Chaboute's typically stark yet lovely artwork communicates a funny and touching story. Another great work from a master.

This is a lovely book. Told entirely in images, the actions and expressions of the characters hint at and reveal a deep story about life and connectedness. Through a focus on a single park bench, this graphic novel traces the monotony of life's repetition, as well as the highs and lows of the moments that mark our lives. Alternately melancholy and humorous, "Park Bench" carries a lot of weight in its simplicity.

Human lives follow many repetitions, get disrupted unexpectedly, and cross with others in ways that are sometimes obvious, sometimes imperceptible. "Park Bench" captures these repetitions, these crossed paths, all against the backdrop of a world that is steadily moving forward. Things come and go and come around again, and this simple, sweet, and beautiful graphic novel examines, mourns, and celebrates these cycles which so often make up the human experience.

A enlightening perspective of a object in everyday life and a enlightening perspective of everyday life of a object.

A wordless book that is genuinely moving: life as seen through the "eyes" of a humble park bench.

An old couple shares their dessert and their love, for their entire lives together.
A middle aged man is stood up over and over.
A homeless man looking for a place to sleep is repeatedly kicked out of the park by a cop, with hilarious results.
A dog finds his favorite place to relive himself...
And a tireless maintenance worker keeps up the good fight to maintain the bench.

These are just some of the stories of the park bench.

I love the stark art style in this graphic novel. Reminds me of a grown up version of the Giving Tree.

French Award-winning artist, Chabouté, delivers a beautiful meditation on time and community! I am always impressed by how much emotion one can convey with black and white art and to take that ability and focus on something as mundane as a park bench is wonderful. This is a poignant wordless graphic novel sharing the ebb and flow of a community from the view of a park bench. It reminds me of Eisner and Harvey Award nominee Ray Fawkes’s work (One Soul, The People Inside).

Ah, the cycles of life as told by a park bench! I loved the creative, non-verbal narrative that this book had. It's a very creative way to tell many stories while focusing on just one item. The art style is simple but beautiful--just like the story.