Stitches: A Memoir by David Small

Stitches is a beautifully illustrated autobiographical graphic novel that tells the story of David Small’s illness and how his dysfunctional family dealt with it. As a child and teen growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, he lives in a silent, angry family that represses all emotions. From an early age he has “sinus problems” that his dad, a doctor, regularly X-rays to monitor. His mother is a pinched woman who takes her rage out on the pots and pans she washes. When he has an operation to remove a “cyst” growing on the side of his neck, one of his vocal cords is removed, leaving him mute. Only later does he find out that he had actually had throat cancer, and that nobody had thought to tell him about it.

Blending dream, imagination, and reality, this book is perfectly illustrated, with surreal excursions into his mind. Small has an innovative way of portraying what his younger self feels and thinks in stark, lovely black-and-white. One of my favorite panels is the one where David sees the stitches all along his throat for the first time. It is also a brilliant portrait of the ’60s. Truthful without being resentful, sad and slightly satirical, it’s a very quick and interesting read. The only thing is that I wish Small had gone more into his life after he left his family, as it seems to wrap things up quickly after age 16. That’s probably because the focus is on his life growing up with his family, but I feel it departs from the tone and style of the previous story a little.