I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

This was one of the sweetest graphic novels I’ve read that I still think about often even now. It’s a story about a whale, a man, and their need to share their love for reading with others. The artwork was so beautiful and wholesome in this novel and something I hope everyone picks up to read at least once in their lives.

Thank you Europe Comics and Netgalley for providing me an eARC of The Whale Library in exchange for an honest review.

The Whale Library is an insanely cute graphic novel that follows a mailman and a whale. The artwork was gorgeous. The story was sweet and touching. I really enjoyed reading this one!

This is a short graphic novel highlighting the friendship between a whale with a library within it and the sea postman who spends a lot of time delivering the post to offshore men, and this means he spends a lot of time by himself, away from his pregnant wife.
With regards to the latter point, like many of these European graphic novels, there is a random panel or two or complete nudity (for some reason or the other), apart from which point I think the content of this book is quite suitable for even a younger audience!
It took me a long time to get to this book on my virtual shelf. When I started it, however, I managed to go through it in one sitting. It feels more profound the longer I think about it. The whimsical beginning is straight out of a Disney movie, with an underground world where everyone is being entertained by the Whale, who has a library literally and figuratively inside it.
This Whale happens to rescue the sea postman and encourages him to read and think beyond his usual thought process. Then tragedy strikes.
Although sad, the last few panels and the way the story wraps up, was quite an interesting ending. I was still thinking about the book a while after I put it away, something that I always appreciate. I would recommend this to people who like graphic novels and those who like the sound of something different like this.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

“Deep, deep at the bottom of the ocean, there lived a 100,000-year-old whale…Behind her smile was hidden the world’s largest undersea library.”

Zidrou and Judith graphic novel “The Whale Library” starts off with this fantastic premise and is narrated by a postman who delivered mail by sea. On one of his trips, he comes across a 100,000-year-old whale that hosts a large undersea library within its belly. At first, the postman is terrified but a beautiful friendship blossoms between them when he sees how much the whale loves books just like him.

This was such a poetic, poignant allegorical story which combines flashes of darkness with playfulness. It urges us to see the harmony we naturally share with nature. It opens our eyes to the power of stories. It shows us that animals can truly be our friends.

I felt a mix of emotions when I finished this short, bittersweet 80-page book. In the 20 minutes or so that it took for me to read it, I had smiled, feared, reminisced, mused, and, finally, closed my eyes with unshed tears.
The artwork is simply stunning with vibrant blues and reds as befits an ocean theme. I am already a fan of Zidrou’s work. And I had enjoyed every page of Judith Vanistendael’s The Two Lives of Penelope, which was the first book I read by her, and this one has now made her a firm favorite.

There’s so much in this tender story. If you get a chance to read it please grab it with both hands.

The Whale Library follows the perspective of a sea postal service man and his encounters with the whale library.

I enjoyed this short tale and I do think it has some nice aspects of "save the whales" as well as "save the books". However, it almost feels too abrupt in how it all happens. We spend roughly 70% of the graphic novel setting up the storyline only for it to end within the last few pages. I wish we had gotten more about the whale and her stories. However, sometimes that's how life is, so I get it.

The visuals in this book are fun, but there are scenes in it that would be best under parental guidance for kids.

Having read Vanistendael's previous graphic novel, The Two Lives of Penelope, and knowing Zidrou is a big name in France, I was immediately attracted to this book and its strange title.

The Whale Library tells the story of a sea postman and the whale that lives in the nearby ocean. Both of them share a short-lived friendship during their travels at sea, until tragedy occurs.

The artwork is excellent, as I knew it would be. While The Two Lives of Penelope was dark and evocative, this comic is colourful and delightful. The story, however, doesn't know what it is or what it wants to say. The tone is incredibly childish, as if it was written for toddlers, but a couple of times the content is very much adult, including references to cunnilingus. The attempt to be some kind of eco-conscious work is a failure; just saying "oh and the whale is killed the end" doesn't make a story about ecology or animal rights. This is called greenwashing, buddy.

All in all, it's not a bad 30 minutes spent for an adult, but the fact that it looks and sounds like it's meant for little kids when it really isn't, the lazy storytelling and the lack of any direction or depth makes this not worth the money (any money) it costs. Just another case of a male one-trick pony diluting a great woman's work.

A short but beautifully told story. Whimsical, lovely and emotional. With gorgeous artwork, some spreads I could spend forever looking at.

The Whale Library is a charming little story that tells its tale in a slow and meandering sort of way. It follows the unlikely friendship of a fisherman and a whale and the stories they tell each other. It reminded me of the tales you were told as a kid while tucked in bed. The watercolor renderings emphasized this idea from the first page. It truly reminded different children's books I read as a child. The prose and art went perfectly together hand in hand. The author's voice was just as unique and kept me enraptured the whole way through.

My only critique is that some panels felt a little cramped and the cursive lettering was a little hard to read for my eyes.

Besides that, I really enjoyed it!

I bloomin' loved it!
It packs a punch & may have caused a few tears.
The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous.

A lovely gentle story about a whale who has a library in her stomach. She collects books which the fish and other sea life read, and she sometimes tells them stories. She befriends a man who delivers post to ships. Apparently this used to be how mail was delivered to lighthouses and fishermen etc working away from home. I wasn’t aware of this. I do know that parcels and freight can be shipped via ships and that seafarers on tankers still have limited access to the internet but I wasn’t aware that small boats were also used to deliver mail. In any case the sea mail man and the whale become friends.

The artwork is beautiful with a whimsical and dreamlike quality. This is a heartwarming story with an ending that could have been sad, but which is actually hopeful. It also leaves you feeling that more should be done to protect our seas and the creatures that live in them.

Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Uma bela amizade entre uma baleia e um homem mostra de maneira lírica e lúdica, repleta de sensibilidade e trazendo belas mensagens sobre a importância das relações. As imagens de Judith Vanistendael são lindas e complementam a narrativa.

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A beautiful friendship between a whale and a man shows in a lyrical and playful way, full of sensitivity and bringing beautiful messages about the importance of relationships. The images by Judith Vanistendael are beautiful and complement the narrative.

This story was so whimsical, breathtaking and sad at the same time. The love for stories that both the whale and the postman had was the perfect connection between the characters. The ending though. It left me sobbing for a while.

This is the story of a postman and a whale who both share a deep profound love of books and stories. Within its belly, the whale holds a whole library. I was drawn into this book title by the cover art and I was not disappointed. The art throughout the story is breathtakingly beautiful.

Though the stories they share usually have happy endings, the same cannot be said for this story. The concept was great but the story itself just didn't do it for me. Maybe it needed to be a bit longer to flesh everything out more fully? I'm not sure.

I would still recommend this book for the experience, but it could have done better. Don't let the beautiful artwork fool you, this is not a children's book. The story is meant for adults, but it will leave you with a lasting impression.

I found the tonal shifts in the story a little too intense and unexpected, but I can't deny the beauty of the artwork!

This book tells the story of a sea postman and whale that bump into each other on the sea. Their connection is the love of books. The whale carries a library in her belly, and the sea postman is the lover of stories. So their friendship began.

The best part of the book for me was the illustrations. Coloring, style, drawing, etc. everything accompanies the tale very beautifully.

However, the story did not have the same effect on me. It ended abruptly in my opinion. There were sudden cuts and jumps. In the end, I cannot shake the sense that there are so many things that could be added to the tale. So in this case illustrations steal the focus. I was rather fascinated with drawings than the story itself.

Also, this is a personal complaint but I am going to mention it anyway. Since I have bad eyesight I struggled with reading the writings. I wish characters would be bolder.

Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for providing the  ARC of the book for the reviewers

Thank you so much to net galley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book! I absolutely loved this story and the art it so freaking cute

I loved this story ! It follows a mailman who works on the sea who one day meets the Library Whale. This Whale loves books and is very curious about life on land. They both love stories that end well, and sadly this was not the case for this comic, even though the last page is kind of philosophical.
The illustrations were beautiful and I wanted one for my walls.

TW : blood, death

Utterly magical, lovely story with beautiful illustration work. Only thing I didn't like was the font used.

This was an absolutely beautiful book. With colourful playful illustrations, it follows the story of a sea postman and his friendship with a whale librarian. This story took me in with all it's beauty and wholesome message, that books can bring land and sea together. With tragedy and joy combining its end, this book left a print on my heart and a lump in my throat.