“Stitches” David Small

I had read a synopsis and I was prepared to face the darkness of this book by using my Garfield “Pooky is a one-cat teddy bear” bookmark. Why is it that we are drawn to books about dysfunctional families and tragic childhoods? Are we looking for someone worse off than ourselves, or do we want validation that others had it just as bad as we did? I have often written in the blog about how books either hit or miss the story of my own life, and this book is another one of those that has bits of my life in it. However, in this memoir David Small describes experiences that are far beyond my own experiences and experiences I have read about. I would call the abuse described in these pages somewhat incidental; that is, it was the result of the pshychological problems of the parents and the state of technology at the time. No one planned to treat David this way, it was just the only way they knew how to treat children, and they didn't know the result would be cancer.

I am an equal opportunity reader and have no qualms with alternate forms of writing. If you read my blog then first of all you are in the smallest minority possible, but secondly you know I listen to as well as read books. I also am fond of children’s literature and juvenile literature. I'm sure some day I will blog about a collection of cartoons. I had read other graphic novels before, so Small's book was not too much of a divergence for me from my usual reading fare. I suspect there are those that are prejudiced against graphic novels. Then shame on you. Read this book, because it is a good (if somewhat haunting) book and forget for a moment that it is a graphic novel.

On his website, Small talks about the style he was going for with the graphics---something akin to the movies by Hitchcock and others that he learned about in art school. The black-and-white images that start the book definitely set the tone. There are a few playful moments that deviate from the general darkness. I particularly like the images showing David as a child escaping into his drawings. In another fun sequence, he is trying, not too successfully, to put a pillowcase on a pillow. On a more serious note, I enjoyed the pages of images that showed the release that he felt when he made a connection with his psychologist.

It didn’t take me long to read this book---two hours counting the time I spent thumbing back through the drawings---so I actually didn’t need Pooky’s protection after all.