The first read of the year – I love the sound of this sentence. 2018 couldn't have started off better. Yes, it is a graphic novel. Yes, it is a book with only images and no words, but who said, images can't be read? Who said that this doesn't count as a book? No one really and even if they did, then well, to each his own. To me, ​it is a read and a satisfying one at that.
"The Park Bench" by Chabouté is about a park bench (obviously in a park) and the people it watches pass, stop, meet, return, wait, sleep, thrown out, and all of this happens in a strangely intertwined manner that is life. The bench in all of this is the central character – stable, stationary and yet witness to all of it. Imagine if the bench could talk, the stories it could tell, isn't it? The book is just like that.
There is so much hope contained in this book that it will make you see the world differently, even if it is for a short while. The use of space, lines, art that conveys so many emotions and yet there is something hidden that makes you want to know more and above all the recurring characters that become so familiar – the ache when the book ends and you know what you have experienced is something so profound.
"The Park Bench" makes you mull over​ things and people other than yourself (which is a very good thing, given the times we live in). It might also make you want to speak with a stranger, nod at someone in understanding, smile at someone or maybe just be. There have been so many times when I have wanted to reach out to someone and haven't. Maybe now I will.
This entry was posted in 100 Must-Read Graphic Novels, 2018 Reads, Books, Comics and Graphic Novels, Faber and Faber, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Reading Project, January 2018 Reads, Literary Graphic Novels and tagged 100 Must-Read Graphic Novels, 1of2018, 1st Read of January 2018, 2018 Reads, Books, Chabouté, faber and faber, Graphic Novels, January 2018 Reads, Reading Goals, The Park Bench on January 1, 2018 by thehungryreader.