Review: Stitches: A Memoir by David Small

Small, David. (2009). Stitches: A Memoir. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 331 pages. ISBN 9780393068573

Awards/Selection Lists:
- Richie's Picks
- NBA Young People's Award Finalists 2000- 2013

Author's Website: http://davidsmallbooks.com/

Brief Summary:  Born into a dysfunctional, cruel and angry house, the young David Small suffered in sadness and darkness, just wanting to be loved and taken care of, so much so that he looked toward the hospital staff when he had surgery at the age of 14 to remove a growth, as a sort of family. That was, until he saw what they had actually done to him, and later found out why. Fumbling for his own way, his right of passage burned on until he finally found a way to be true to himself and break free of the cycle set before him , to forge his own path.

Personal Reaction: The book jacket described this book as a silent film, and I have to agree with them. The images scream so much louder than any words could, and it's appropriate, given the operation that the author undergoes as a teen and the stifling cruelty and dysfunction of his family. I was sad, the entire time I read this book, and troubled. I felt like that kid. I went where he went, was terrified when he was, desperate with a small glimmering of hope that was none to bright at the end, but the only thing to latch onto. This was a very, very powerful book and there was no better way, in my opinion, to portray it than in this graphic format. It was painful, but, in a way, cathartic, for when you break a cycle, you feel vindicated, and somehow, powerful where you had none of it before.

Front/Back Matter: Title page, copyright page, dedication, secondary title page, content, pictoral background on author, acknowledgments, about the author.

Content Evaluation: This book is, for all intense and purpose large graphic novel, and brilliant in my opinion, at that, so it does not have the typical format of an autobiography, and no references of course. But what it does have is character and heart, you can practically feel the uncomfortableness and sad cruelty in the illustrations before we ever get to the word. It is very powerful.