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David Small s Stitches is aptly named. With surgical precision, the author pierces into the past and, with great artistry, seals thewound inflicted on a small child by cruel and unloving parents. Stitchesis as intensely dramatic as a woodcut novel of the silent movie era andas fluid as a contemporary Japanese manga. It breaks new ground forgraphic novels. --Francoise Mouly, Art Editor of The New Yorker
Product Description
One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die.In Stitches, Small, the award-winning children's illustrator and author, re-creates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. As the images painfully tumble out, one by one, we gain a ringside seat at a gothic family drama where David--a highly anxious yet supremely talented child--all too often became the unwitting object of his parents' buried frustration and rage.Believing that they were trying to do their best, David's parents did just the reverse. Edward Small, a Detroit physician, who vented his own anger by hitting a punching bag, was convinced that he could cure his young son's respiratory problems with heavy doses of radiation, possibly causing David's cancer. Elizabeth, David's mother, tyrannically stingy and excessively scolding, ran the Small household under a cone of silence where emotions, especially her own, were hidden.Depicting this coming-of-age story with dazzling, kaleidoscopic images that turn nightmare into fairy tale, Small tells us of his journey from sickly child to cancer patient, to the troubled teen whose risky decision to run away from home at sixteen--with nothing more than the dream of becoming an artist--will resonate as the ultimate survival statement.A silent movie masquerading as a book, Stitches renders a broken world suddenly seamless and beautiful again. Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award (Young Adult); finalist for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (Best Writer/Artist: Nonfiction; Best Reality-Based Work).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
David Small's autobiographical novel, told through drawings, is a powerful tribute to the resilience of one boy's spirit despite every possible attempt by his family to destroy it--and him. I had never read a "graphic novel" before and had no particular expectations when I began it, so I was unprepared for the directness with which this novel engages on an emotional level while still exhibiting many of the qualities one expects in the best written fiction. David Small illustrates his dysfunctional childhood--literally showing, rather than telling about, the harsh life to which he was exposed by his rigid and withdrawn mother and his cold, mostly-absent physician father.
Throughout childhood, David sees himself as the star of an Alice-in-Wonderland existence, wrapping a yellow towel around his head, at age six, to resemble Alice as he plays, and, like Alice, accepting even the weirdest experiences--and the most bizarre family members--as part of his everyday existence. As the reader sees his disturbed mother and grandmother develop, and reads about his even more obviously disturbed great-grandparents, the visual unwinding of David's life evokes strong, emotional responses, tantamount to that of a black-and-white film. At age fourteen, he has surgery that leaves him literally speechless for months, one vocal cord excised. But he is also emotionally "speechless," unable to express his anger at his family's long-time treatment of him. His nightmares, straight out of Wonderland, are terrifying. It is not until he meets the "White Rabbit," that he begins to understand his anger and accept it as justified.
Throughout the book, Small shows a sensitivity to the needs of the story while resisting the temptation to be melodramatic--the events of his life need no such embellishment. His use of symbolism--a fetus in a jar, X-rays, Alice in Wonderland, a crucifix, a religious building, a wind-up car--broadens the scope and allows the author to tap into a common pool of knowledge to achieve greater universality. His use of foreshadowing and irony, especially regarding his illness and that of his mother (who was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body), intensifies the nightmarish qualities of the novel, and his ability to capture body language and gesture conveys feelings without requiring words.
A graphic novel such as this gains from its clear, visual depiction of events, but it also risks appearing to be so over-the-top that it resembles a comic book, rather than a serious novel. Small walks that tightrope nimbly, achieving considerable power and great emotion without descending into bathos. His chronological gap between ages sixteen and thirty, however, raises questions for the reader/viewer, since those years, skimmed over very quickly, offer an opportunity for the author to give important information about exactly how he dealt with those turbulent years. The ending, a dream, feels a bit artificial in comparison to the honesty of the narrative, but it does tie up the loose ends and connect many of the themes and motifs. David Small's Stitches has been a unique experience for me, one I recommend to anyone else who may be curious about graphic novels.
Throughout childhood, David sees himself as the star of an Alice-in-Wonderland existence, wrapping a yellow towel around his head, at age six, to resemble Alice as he plays, and, like Alice, accepting even the weirdest experiences--and the most bizarre family members--as part of his everyday existence. As the reader sees his disturbed mother and grandmother develop, and reads about his even more obviously disturbed great-grandparents, the visual unwinding of David's life evokes strong, emotional responses, tantamount to that of a black-and-white film. At age fourteen, he has surgery that leaves him literally speechless for months, one vocal cord excised. But he is also emotionally "speechless," unable to express his anger at his family's long-time treatment of him. His nightmares, straight out of Wonderland, are terrifying. It is not until he meets the "White Rabbit," that he begins to understand his anger and accept it as justified.
Throughout the book, Small shows a sensitivity to the needs of the story while resisting the temptation to be melodramatic--the events of his life need no such embellishment. His use of symbolism--a fetus in a jar, X-rays, Alice in Wonderland, a crucifix, a religious building, a wind-up car--broadens the scope and allows the author to tap into a common pool of knowledge to achieve greater universality. His use of foreshadowing and irony, especially regarding his illness and that of his mother (who was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body), intensifies the nightmarish qualities of the novel, and his ability to capture body language and gesture conveys feelings without requiring words.
A graphic novel such as this gains from its clear, visual depiction of events, but it also risks appearing to be so over-the-top that it resembles a comic book, rather than a serious novel. Small walks that tightrope nimbly, achieving considerable power and great emotion without descending into bathos. His chronological gap between ages sixteen and thirty, however, raises questions for the reader/viewer, since those years, skimmed over very quickly, offer an opportunity for the author to give important information about exactly how he dealt with those turbulent years. The ending, a dream, feels a bit artificial in comparison to the honesty of the narrative, but it does tie up the loose ends and connect many of the themes and motifs. David Small's Stitches has been a unique experience for me, one I recommend to anyone else who may be curious about graphic novels.
Format:Hardcover
There simply is no other way to say it. This book is fantastic. The drama and the way it's depicted are so subtle and yet you can almost hear the main character's words in your head.
The story is sad, it is about a troubled childhood. Yet you find the little guy fighting to get over some complicated moments in his life. And the way it's drawn is wonderful.
The story is sad, it is about a troubled childhood. Yet you find the little guy fighting to get over some complicated moments in his life. And the way it's drawn is wonderful.
Format:Paperback
I must admit right from the start that It's been taking me some time to find the right words to express what I feel about this book - but to no avail. That book had left me speechless and I still can't put into words how strong and tremendously emotional this book is.
The book is written from a child's point of view and focuses on the autor's dealing with cancer when he was a kid, But alongside with that - he describes his childhood in general. Right from the first page he depicts the atmosphere of his home, family and beyond. Through the drawings and the text we see little David, subjected to a rough life with bitter cold-hearted parents in a house in the middle of nowhere. Without anyone who ever listens to him, hugs him or even gives him a slightest sense of compassion, David is descending to being a victim of cancer - and with every page you turn you only discover it's just the tip of the iceberg. I won't reveal any of that here - but I just hope you will read that book to discover the rest yourselves.
It has never occured to me that a book can have such an impact. I've read lots of strong books that thrilled me to the bone and even got me to cry - but this one tops them all. When you look at those drawings and read about David's childhood - you just can't help wishing you could dive into the book, give David the warmest hug you can give and save him from the bleak world he lives in. It is THAT emotional - and I promise you that I'm not exaggerating.
Do yourselves a favor and add this book to your collection. One can finish reading it in less than an hour - but I assure you that this book will remain inside you for much longer!
The book is written from a child's point of view and focuses on the autor's dealing with cancer when he was a kid, But alongside with that - he describes his childhood in general. Right from the first page he depicts the atmosphere of his home, family and beyond. Through the drawings and the text we see little David, subjected to a rough life with bitter cold-hearted parents in a house in the middle of nowhere. Without anyone who ever listens to him, hugs him or even gives him a slightest sense of compassion, David is descending to being a victim of cancer - and with every page you turn you only discover it's just the tip of the iceberg. I won't reveal any of that here - but I just hope you will read that book to discover the rest yourselves.
It has never occured to me that a book can have such an impact. I've read lots of strong books that thrilled me to the bone and even got me to cry - but this one tops them all. When you look at those drawings and read about David's childhood - you just can't help wishing you could dive into the book, give David the warmest hug you can give and save him from the bleak world he lives in. It is THAT emotional - and I promise you that I'm not exaggerating.
Do yourselves a favor and add this book to your collection. One can finish reading it in less than an hour - but I assure you that this book will remain inside you for much longer!
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