Stitches : a Memoir--

Locations
Call Number: Adult Graphic Novel / Small, David
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Adult Graphic Novel / Small, David	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Adult Graphic Novel / Small, David	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Adult Graphic Novel / Small, David	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Adult Graphic Novel / Small, David	4-week checkout	Due 05-04-2024

Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award and finalist for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards: the prize-winning children's author depicts a childhood from hell in this searing yet redemptive graphic memoir. 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.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Dark Graphic Memoir Done Right submitted by Brad B. on December 6, 2010, 1:49pm All I can say is this book is amazing. Ok, maybe I should explain a bit more. David Small is an artist usually known for his award winning picture books, but here he brings us something very different. Stitches is a darker tale for a much older audience. It's an autobiographical account of his own childhood, a childhood that was not all sunshiny, let me warn you... it's unsettling, it's moving, it's powerful — perhaps in part because it's true; it's one of those books that amazes you with its ability to tell so much with so few words. I really don't mean to just bandy this word about, but it really is a "masterpiece".

The "Glass Castles" of Middle Class 60's Life submitted by sdunav on June 25, 2011, 1:56pm This is a memoir in the form of a graphic novel about growing up in a joyless, fairly dysfunctional family in Detroit in the 1950's. Small was a lonely kid who drew a lot (as an adult, he became an illustrator & author of children's books, like "Imogene's Antlers"). As a 11 y.o., he developed a growth on his neck, and at 14 he had it removed - thus the stitches in the title.

It was a shocking, sad story, but ultimately uplifting. It's the "Glass Castles" of graphic novels, but with a more middle class, stable family. And it's so gorgeously illustrated, it's worth reading for the family portraits alone.

N.B.: This is NOT a kid's book. It is an adult graphic novel, with some incredibly creepy dream sequences and depressing parent relationships. There's no sexual molestation or prolonged physical abuse, but really, the disapproval, lies, betrayal and lack of love is enough. It sounds depressing, but because of the ending - it really isn't. It's somewhat sad, but amazing. Strangely enough, Small's b & w artwork in this book reminded me of those gorgeous Paleolithic cave paintings in France. Wonderful.

Now you know why Imogene grew antlers submitted by jeansager on May 7, 2012, 7:46am Read this twice and still want to reread or rather study the illustration of feelings. The intensity of this author drives his creativity for also illustrating children's books. My favorite children's book is his Imogene Grows Antlers.

Anyone and everyone who feels different will find some hidden insight to savor in all David Small's work especially Stitches, a memoir of feelings every adult has had.

Uniquely told memoir submitted by sushai on June 16, 2019, 6:08pm A dark...haunting...and somewhat beautiful memoir. Sparse text but the minimalist storytelling is enhanced by the drawings.

Beautiful and Disturbing submitted by howarde on June 21, 2019, 1:13pm The story of an isolated boy in a silent, dysfunctional family. This tale is about how corrosive and destructive silence can be, as well as how healing it can be to finally have someone to talk to. Sparsely and beautifully told. If you are a fan of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, this is reminiscent on several levels. It contains less detail than Bechdel's work, but no less complexity of emotion.

Memorable memoir submitted by FordAlpha on August 11, 2019, 8:59pm "Stitches" is by David Small, one of my favorite picture-book illustrators. The joyful movement that imbues his picture-book illustrations belies some harrowing experiences he had growing up, with distant and unhappy parents. However, this memoir is ultimately hopeful and compassionate toward the adults who weren't always compassionate toward the young David. The drawings are amazingly expressive of the full range of complex human emotions (I would expect no less from David Small).

Loved. submitted by bcartm01 on June 21, 2022, 8:02pm Well this book was very different from David smalls typical works, it was also a stunning graphic novel. I really enjoyed learning more about his life story, and the illustrations were incredible.