Bibliography:
Small, David. 2009. Stitches: A Memoir. W. W. Norton: New York. ISBN 9780393068573
Plot Summary:
In Stitches: A Memoir, author David Small tells the chilling story of his childhood. David’s wrenchingly dysfuctional family life is dominated by the rage of his mother and abusive grandmother, and the distance of his radiologist father. A sickly child, David’s father gives David X-Ray treatments to “cure” his sinus problems. Some years later, David develops a lump on his throat, diagnosed as a “harmless cyst”. Admitted to the hospital three and a half years later for what he has been told is minor surgery, Small wakes to find that he literally has no voice. His “minor surgery” is actually a serious procedure to remove a life-threatening tumor, during which part of his vocal cords are removed as well. As he loses his physical voice, however, Small begins to find his own inner voice, angrily lashing out at his parents for withholding the truth from him. Small leaves home at sixteen, starting a new life for himself as an artist. He returns home at the death of his mother, distraught, but strengthened in his resolve to follow his own path.
Critical Review:
David Small, best known as an illustrator and writer of children’s picture books, strikes a very different tone in his graphic novel Stitches. In Stitches, Small faces the demons of his childhood. Raw and disturbing, the book feels very much like a confession. The devastation of growing up in a loveless, at times abusive family does not make for light reading. Anger wells up on practically every page. The anger of Small’s mother (described as a “black tidal wave”), the anger of his abusive grandmother (who holds his hands under scalding hot water), and eventually the anger of Small himself toward the family that refused to give him the love and affirmation he so desperately wanted.
The central theme of Stitches is silence vs. expression. Each character in the book is, in a way, trapped in his or her own isolated hell. Small’s mother silently rages in the kitchen, slamming pots and pans while doing the dishes. His radiologist father escapes to his work at the hospital. His brother Ted retreats to the basement to play his drums. Small, himself, escapes through his artwork.
The bleak, frightening tone of the book is largely created by Small’s artwork. Faces are amazingly expressive. Mouths are tight and angry. Shadows darken characters’ features as they seethe in anger. The eyes of adults are hidden behind the reflective lenses of their glasses, giving them a soulless quality. Their inner thoughts and motivations are as inscrutable to us as they must have been to the author.
With the help of a therapist, Small slowly begins to put the pieces of his life back together. While the stitches of the title refer to the sutures on Small’s neck after surgery, they surely also refer to his attempts to repair the devastating effects of his destructive family. The end of the book gives the reader no easy happy ending. The death of Small’s mother is heartbreaking. While Small has not found complete peace, he clings to a fierce determination not to follow in his mother and grandmother’s footsteps.
Review Excerpts:
A National Book Award Finalist
ALA Great Graphic Novels
“This is not a two-dimensional caricature of an unhappy family; these people are painfully historied and complexly pictured and Small is a powerful teller of their stories.” – ForeWord (September 1, 2009)
“Some understanding is gained as family secrets are unearthed, but for the most part David fends for himself in a family that is uncommunicative to a truly ghastly degree. Small tells his story with haunting subtlety and power.” – Publishers Weekly (August 10, 2009)
“His seemingly simple black-and-white wash captures people, emotions, relationships, and plot subtleties with grace, precision, and a flawless sense of graphic narration.” – Library Journal (July 1, 2009)
“Like other important graphic works it seems destined to sit beside (think no less than Maus) this is a frequently disturbing, pitch-black funny, ultimately cathartic story whose full impact can only be delivered in the comics medium, which keeps it palatable as it reinforces its appalling aspects. If there's any fight left in the argument that comics aren't legitimate literature, this is just the thing to enlighten the naysayers.” - Booklist (July 1, 2009)
Connections:
Compare other books by Small, such as Imogene’s Antlers and Fenwick’s Suit.
Compare Craig Thompson’s graphic novel memoir Blankets.
Discuss Small’s artwork in this novel and how it contributes to the mood and the story.
