Stitches

( 30 )

Overview

The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist that "breaks new ground for graphic novels" (Francois Mouly, art editor, The New Yorker).

David Small, a best-selling and highly regarded children's book illustrator, comes forward with this unflinching graphic memoir. Remarkable and intensely dramatic, Stitches tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy who awakes one day from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he has been transformed into a virtual...

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More About This Book

Overview

The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist that "breaks new ground for graphic novels" (Francois Mouly, art editor, The New Yorker).

David Small, a best-selling and highly regarded children's book illustrator, comes forward with this unflinching graphic memoir. Remarkable and intensely dramatic, Stitches tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy who awakes one day from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he has been transformed into a virtual mute—a vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot. From horror to hope, Small proceeds to graphically portray an almost unbelievable descent into adolescent hell and the difficult road to physical, emotional, and artistic recovery.

A National Book Award finalist; winner of the ALA's Alex Award; a #1 New York Times graphic bestseller; Publishers Weekly and Washington Post Top Ten Books of the Year, Los Angeles Times Favorite Book, ALA Great Graphic Novels, Booklist Editors Choice Award, Huffington Post Great Books of 2009, Kirkus Reviews Best of 2009, Village Voice Best Graphic Novel, finalist for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (Best Writer/Artist: Nonfiction; Best Reality-Based Work).

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
This graphic memoir by Caldecott Medal-winning children's book author/illustrator David Small is singular. So singular that we will leave its description to his fellow artist, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer: "Like the boy in this autobiographical novel my first reading of Stitches left me speechless. And in awe. David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem. Spare in words, painful in pictures, Small, in a style of dry menace, draws us a boy's life that you wouldn't want to live but you can't put down. From its first line four pages in, 'Mama had her little cough,' we know that we are in the hands of a master."
Miami Herald
“A breathtaking, horrific, and ultimately redemptive work.”
Washington Post
“Small . . . employs angled shots and silent montages worthy of Alfred Hitchcock.”
Jules Feiffer
“A profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem.”
Michael Sims
…brilliant and heartbreaking…Although the dialogue and narration are well written and moving, Small often shows us the story without a word of speech or commentary—not just for a few panels but for several pages at a time. He employs angled shots and silent montages worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. Revelations trigger haunting flashbacks in which we see an earlier scene from a new point of view. Small's drawing is masterful and evocative…think of Daniel Clowes's Ghost World or Megan Kelso's Squirrel Mother stories or Art Spiegelman's Maus. Now, to the list of powerful works of art in this versatile medium, we can add the horrific but ultimately redemptive Stitches.
—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
In this profound and moving memoir, Small, an award-winning children's book illustrator, uses his drawings to depict the consciousness of a young boy. The story starts when the narrator is six years old and follows him into adulthood, with most of the story spent during his early adolescence. The youngest member of a silent and unhappy family, David is subjected to repeated x-rays to monitor sinus problems. When he develops cancer as a result of this procedure, he is operated on without being told what is wrong with him. The operation results in the loss of his voice, cutting him off even further from the world around him. Small's black and white pen and ink drawings are endlessly perceptive as they portray the layering of dream and imagination onto the real-life experiences of the young boy. Small's intuitive morphing of images, as with the terrible postsurgery scar on the main character's throat that becomes a dark staircase climbed by his mother, provide deep emotional echoes. Some understanding is gained as family secrets are unearthed, but for the most part David fends for himself in a family that is uncommunicative to a truly ghastly degree. Small tells his story with haunting subtlety and power. (Sept.)
VOYA - Timothy Capehart
Caldecott winning artist Small relates the harrowing story of his childhood from ages six to sixteen under the less-than-watchful eye of his coolly distant father and his emotionally abusive mother. At six, he endures physical abuse from his deranged maternal grandmother. At eleven, as a "cyst" appears on his neck, his parents ignore his medical problems, burn his books, and focus on their own needs. At fourteen, he believes he is entering the hospital for the easy removal of the neglected "cyst," but leaves without one of his vocal folds or the ability to speak above a croak. After discovering he had cancer thanks to frequent x-rays by his radiologist father aimed at curing his sinus problems, David's attitude gets him sent to a boarding school. Later sessions with a psychiatrist only lead him to leave home before he is done with high school. Small's first title for much older audiences is sequential art at its most effective and affecting. The ink wash panels with some full-bleed illustrations expertly convey first his innocence and confusion and then his horror and anger. Although the ending offers a redemptive glimmer of forgiveness, readers may find it as difficult to take that final step as it is to put this one down before the final pages turn. This one definitely takes its place on the shelf next to Alison Bechdel's Fun Home (Houghton Mifflin, 2008). Reviewer: Timothy Capehart
Library Journal
"Stitches" refers to the clumsy sutures on 14-year-old David's neck after a cancer operation he wasn't supposed to know was cancer—an operation that renders him mute for a long time. More subtly, "stitches" could allude to how David's family members clumsily hold together their outwardly normal but unhappy lives: dad a stiff radiologist taking refuge in the liberal application of "healing" X-rays, mother a furious, cruel force, the cranky and feisty grandmother. Amidst enforced family silence about the parents' marriage and this unexpected handicap, a psychiatrist tells David a simple truth, freeing him to find his voice in art and, later, win awards for children's picture books. In fact, it's Small's art that lifts his memoir into the extraordinary. His seemingly simple black-and-white wash captures people, emotions, relationships, and plot subtleties with grace, precision, and a flawless sense of graphic narration. VERDICT In no way the latest ho-hum episode of Dysfunctional Family Funnies, Stitches is compelling, disturbing, yet surprisingly easy to read and more than meets the high standard set by the widely praised Fun Home. With some sexual issues; highly recommended for older teens up.—M.C.
School Library Journal
Gr 10 Up–Small is best known for his picture-book illustration. Here he tells the decidedly grim but far from unique story of his own childhood. Many teens will identify with the rigors of growing up in a household of angry silences, selfish parents, feelings of personal weakness, and secret lives. Small shows himself to be an excellent storyteller here, developing the cast of characters as they appeared to him during this period of his life, while ending with the reminder that his parents and brother probably had very different takes on these same events. The title derives from throat surgery Small underwent at 14, which left him, for several years, literally voiceless. Both the visual and rhetorical metaphors throughout will have high appeal to teen sensibilities. The shaded artwork, composed mostly of ink washes, is both evocative and beautifully detailed. A fine example of the growing genre of graphic-novel memoirs.–Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Kirkus Reviews
Emotionally raw, artistically compelling and psychologically devastating graphic memoir of childhood trauma. An award-winning illustrator of children's books (That Book Woman, 2008, etc.), Small narrates this memoir from various perspectives of his boyhood in the 1950s. He considered his radiologist father one of the "soldiers of science, and their weapon was the X-ray . . . They were miraculous wonder rays that would cure anything." Or so it seemed to a young boy who realized early on that his family was what now would be labeled "dysfunctional." His mother was cold, neurotic and acquisitive, with little love for either her spouse or their children. His older brother had little use for or contact with his younger sibling. His father was barely a presence in the household. The author was chronically ill, with treatment prescribed by his father, including X-rays. When Small was ten, he developed a growth on his neck that his parents were too preoccupied to have diagnosed, though friends of the family urged them to. It wasn't until after he turned 14 that he finally underwent surgery for what was initially considered a harmless cyst but turned out to be a cancerous tumor. A second surgery left him with only one vocal cord, all but voiceless as well as disfigured. Terse and unsentimental throughout, the narration becomes even sparer once the author loses his voice, with page after wordless page filled with stark imagery. Yet the intensity of the artistry reveals how he has been screaming inside, with nightmares that never fully abate when he is awake. Psychological therapy helps him come to terms with his condition, as does his precocious artistry. While the existence of this suggestssomewhat of a happy ending, the reader will find forgiving and forgetting as hard as the author has. Graphic narrative at its most cathartic. Author tour to New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Denver, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Mich., Kalamazoo, Mich., Boston. Agent: Holly McGhee/Pippin Properties
The Barnes & Noble Review
A stitch in time can save nine, but Caldecott-winning children's book author David Small's unloving parents spared him not a one, as Stitches, his graphic memoir of his harrowing childhood, makes clear. Small was a sickly child, and his radiologist father subjected him to repeated X-rays, believing it would cure his sinus problems. When a lump materialized on his neck, his mother complained about the expense and put off surgery for three years. Small emerged from multiple operations at 14 unable to speak, and only learned later that he'd had cancer. Like Alison Bechdel's genre-bending Fun Home, Stitches melds ink-washed drawings and incisive captions to tell Small's devastating story about growing up in a silent, angry household with miserable parents. With its menacing, child's-eye view of Detroit smokestacks, hospital corridors, and scowling, bespectacled adult faces looming up close, Stitches reads like a silent horror movie. Communication in the Small household was nonverbal: "Mama had her little cough," he opens, which augured her unexplained rages. His father "thumped a punching bag. That was his language." His older brother, who grew up to become a percussionist with the Colorado Symphony, beat his drum. And little David, "born anxious and angry," got sick. David is saved by a wonderful psychiatrist, depicted as Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit, who helps defang his nightmares -- including his parents -- and makes him realize that drawings are his language. Small writes, "Art became my home. Not only did it give me back my voice, but art has given me everything I have wanted or needed since." Stitches leaves the reader speechless -- stunned at its power and perfect pitch. --Heller McAlpin
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780393338966
  • Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
  • Publication date: 9/13/2010
  • Pages: 329
  • Sales rank: 111,414
  • Product dimensions: 6.90 (w) x 8.90 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

David Small is the recipient of the Caldecott Medal, the Christopher Medal, and the E. B. White Award for his picture books, which include Imogene’s Antlers, The Gardener, and So, You Want to Be President? He and his wife, the writer Sarah Stewart, live in Michigan.

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Foreword

1. Stitches is the story of one man's attempt to understand and reclaim his past. How is the act of remembering - and memory itself - handled in the book? Discuss the effectiveness of the transitions between the book's "chapters."

2. Early on, David Small describes how each member of his family had his or her own "language." What does each family member's language reveal about them? How does David's "language" change over the course of the book? 

3. Discuss the theme of silence. Which silences are forced, and which are self-imposed? Did you feel there were moments when Small's perceptive depictions of body language, facial expression, and suppressed emotion spoke more powerfully than words could have? What are the consequences when characters do speak up to tell the truth?

4. During the editing process, Small tried to "get rid of as many words as possible. That's what the book is about - not being able to speak feelings, and being kept silent." But he was also interested in the role language plays in a "largely wordless book." What are the repercussions of young David's use of the words ain't (p88) and crazy (p101)? Are there other highly charged words in the book? What significance do such sounds as Whap! and Kkrraackk! have in the story?

5. How would you describe the role that art and the imagination play in the book? Which images spoke most powerfully to you about the importance of art in David's life? How does young David's retreat into his imagination compare with how his parents deal with reality?

6. Discuss the significance of the fairy tales, daydreams, and nightmares that appear in thebook.

7. In conceiving of the approach he would use to tell his story, Small was inspired by favourite filmmakers who could "tell a story visually, directly, simply, and, preferably, in black and white. Colour, they knew, often confused the issue." How might your experience of reading Stitches have been different if the book was in colour? Are there particular images that could only have been drawn in black and white? Do you agree or disagree with Small's comment that colour can "confuse the issue"? Which images have stayed with you most?

8. One of Small's visual influences for Stitches were the early films of Michelangelo Antonioni, who is known for the way he uses architectural and landscape shots to reflect his characters' inner lives. What do Small's depictions of architecture and landscape reveal about his characters?

9. Stitches has been widely praised for its "cinematic" style. Consider the extended wordless sequence where young David is roaming the halls of the hospital. How does Small control the tension within and pacing of this section? How do you think a familiarity with the visual language of movies affected your reading of the book? Did Stitches call to mind other movies you have seen?

10. Small uses a variety of drawing styles throughout the book, ranging from the realistic to the cartoonish (pp68-69), to the abstract and expressive (pp180-181). How are these and other shifts in style revealing of young David's state of mind?

11. As a child, David falls in love with Alice in Wonderland - in particular, Alice's ability to travel to a magical land (p56). In the original story, it is while Alice is chasing after the White Rabbit that she unwittingly falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, an upside-down world where nonsense and confusion prevail. Consider how images of things falling and things inverted appear again and again in Stitches. What are some of the other ways in which Small alludes to Alice in Wonderland? Why do you think Small chose to portray his psychiatrist as the White Rabbit?

12. Consider the "mirrored" images that appear on the following pages: 192-193, 215-216, 294-295. How did Small's decision to pair these images together add to your appreciation of one or both of the images? Can you point to other examples of repeating images and/or scenes?

13. On p.174, there is a split image showing David and his mother as opposite sides of the same face. Discuss the significance of this image, especially in light of the dream that David has toward the end of the book.

14. The publication of Stitches has already had a profound impact on David Small's own life. After Small was encouraged to share an early copy of the book with his brother, from whom he had been estranged for many decades, the two men started talking again, brought together by a shared recognition of the troubled childhood they had both lived through. Discuss the reconciliations of a sort that occur within the book.

15. "Nobody heard her tears; the heart is a fountain of weeping water which makes no noise in the world." Why do you think Small is reminded of this line when he thinks of his mother at the end of the book?

16. What is the significance of the book's title? An earlier title for the book was Burning Down the House. What might be some of the reasons why this title was not used?

17. One early reader had this to say about the book: "If you have ever questioned whether graphic novels can be as poignant and powerful as traditional novels or memoirs, Stitches proves that they can. In fact, I don't think David Small's memoir could be told as powerfully in any other format." Do you agree or disagree? Why do you think the book has been called a "gateway book" to the graphic narrative form? Has Stitches changed the way you think of graphic narratives? Will you be recommending Stitches to friends?

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Reading Group Guide

1. Stitches is the story of one man's attempt to understand and reclaim his past. How is the act of remembering - and memory itself - handled in the book? Discuss the effectiveness of the transitions between the book's "chapters."

2. Early on, David Small describes how each member of his family had his or her own "language." What does each family member's language reveal about them? How does David's "language" change over the course of the book? 

3. Discuss the theme of silence. Which silences are forced, and which are self-imposed? Did you feel there were moments when Small's perceptive depictions of body language, facial expression, and suppressed emotion spoke more powerfully than words could have? What are the consequences when characters do speak up to tell the truth?

4. During the editing process, Small tried to "get rid of as many words as possible. That's what the book is about - not being able to speak feelings, and being kept silent." But he was also interested in the role language plays in a "largely wordless book." What are the repercussions of young David's use of the words ain't (p88) and crazy (p101)? Are there other highly charged words in the book? What significance do such sounds as Whap! and Kkrraackk! have in the story?

5. How would you describe the role that art and the imagination play in the book? Which images spoke most powerfully to you about the importance of art in David's life? How does young David's retreat into his imagination compare with how his parents deal with reality?

6. Discuss the significance of the fairy tales, daydreams, and nightmares that appear in the book.

7. Inconceiving of the approach he would use to tell his story, Small was inspired by favourite filmmakers who could "tell a story visually, directly, simply, and, preferably, in black and white. Colour, they knew, often confused the issue." How might your experience of reading Stitches have been different if the book was in colour? Are there particular images that could only have been drawn in black and white? Do you agree or disagree with Small's comment that colour can "confuse the issue"? Which images have stayed with you most?

8. One of Small's visual influences for Stitches were the early films of Michelangelo Antonioni, who is known for the way he uses architectural and landscape shots to reflect his characters' inner lives. What do Small's depictions of architecture and landscape reveal about his characters?

9. Stitches has been widely praised for its "cinematic" style. Consider the extended wordless sequence where young David is roaming the halls of the hospital. How does Small control the tension within and pacing of this section? How do you think a familiarity with the visual language of movies affected your reading of the book? Did Stitches call to mind other movies you have seen?

10. Small uses a variety of drawing styles throughout the book, ranging from the realistic to the cartoonish (pp68-69), to the abstract and expressive (pp180-181). How are these and other shifts in style revealing of young David's state of mind?

11. As a child, David falls in love with Alice in Wonderland - in particular, Alice's ability to travel to a magical land (p56). In the original story, it is while Alice is chasing after the White Rabbit that she unwittingly falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, an upside-down world where nonsense and confusion prevail. Consider how images of things falling and things inverted appear again and again in Stitches. What are some of the other ways in which Small alludes to Alice in Wonderland? Why do you think Small chose to portray his psychiatrist as the White Rabbit?

12. Consider the "mirrored" images that appear on the following pages: 192-193, 215-216, 294-295. How did Small's decision to pair these images together add to your appreciation of one or both of the images? Can you point to other examples of repeating images and/or scenes?

13. On p.174, there is a split image showing David and his mother as opposite sides of the same face. Discuss the significance of this image, especially in light of the dream that David has toward the end of the book.

14. The publication of Stitches has already had a profound impact on David Small's own life. After Small was encouraged to share an early copy of the book with his brother, from whom he had been estranged for many decades, the two men started talking again, brought together by a shared recognition of the troubled childhood they had both lived through. Discuss the reconciliations of a sort that occur within the book.

15. "Nobody heard her tears; the heart is a fountain of weeping water which makes no noise in the world." Why do you think Small is reminded of this line when he thinks of his mother at the end of the book?

16. What is the significance of the book's title? An earlier title for the book was Burning Down the House. What might be some of the reasons why this title was not used?

17. One early reader had this to say about the book: "If you have ever questioned whether graphic novels can be as poignant and powerful as traditional novels or memoirs, Stitches proves that they can. In fact, I don't think David Small's memoir could be told as powerfully in any other format." Do you agree or disagree? Why do you think the book has been called a "gateway book" to the graphic narrative form? Has Stitches changed the way you think of graphic narratives? Will you be recommending Stitches to friends?

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 30 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(12)

4 Star

(9)

3 Star

(5)

2 Star

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 30 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 20, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father

    HAUNTING!

    I read this book in under 2 hours and three days later I can't stop thinking about it. What this poor boy went through is more teriifying in it's unfairness alone than any horror comic. I felt shocked and angry that such selfish beings ever exisited and became parents. Mr Small is an amazing writer and artist. I have deep respect for his survival and creativity.

    5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 4, 2011

    Good, intense book easy to read

    It was a very good book the pictures described a lot but the words described more. Smalls really didnt have the best of luck and it shows things can always get worst but there is always somewhere you can go or something you can do to get away from things. If you have an extra hour and a half of your time you should read this.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 28, 2009

    Page turner

    I could not put it down. It had the hair the back of neck standing up.
    I wish I could my writing could be as clear and breath taking.
    If it is ever made into a movie. I know the rating will be "R" but it will worth it. The main character in the book made me want grab him and take him to my house.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 24, 2009

    Powerful.

    One of the most dramatic books I have read. Such an easy read but very powerful. The pictures tell the story and you would even understand it even without the words. Amazing!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 28, 2009

    OhMyGosh!

    I 'read' page after page on which not a word was written, yet I was gripped by emotion. I was new to the 'graphic' concept in literature so it came as a surprise to me to feel so many feelings...sadness, outrage, puzzlement, contempt, disbelief....as the story unfolded in this graphic memoir. That a family could be so disfunctional brought sadness. That David Small rose above it all to bring us the work that he has produced brought joy. I found that the drawings and brief words used in telling this story controlled the pace with which I read. Sometimes I rushed to read the next panels. Other times I paused to reflect. The drawings did that to me. I commend the author/artist for being able to do that so well to a reader.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 16, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    this book is creepy and funny but check it out anyway!!(:

    short story about david small; stitches This book "sticthes" is really interesting. This book spoke to me as a human being because of all the graphics I thought was very cool. First it looked interesting, that it was going to be a since of weird, but when I first read it, it was pretty good tell I kept going then, it just got creepy. But it had a little mystery about davits parents. That would be the little author writing this book when he was a little boy. This book is funny to; I remember the part where David said he fell in love with Alice. David always thought because of her long blonde hair gave her magic powers to go to a magical place. Such as where plants talk, or cats can talk to, and having a potion to be very small. David Small said he also wanted to go to that magical place, so he put on a long yellow towel and ran outside. But mothers pull there kids away from him, because they thought he was crazy or something. Will the authors purpose of writing this book I would say that he wanted to let the people know what a horrible thing happen to David. David Small when he was little he didn't know his parents gave him cancer. David would tell how his parents acted and he also had a big brother. He said they all had a language of expressing themselves. Will like his mother she would smack the cabinet kitchen door all the time when it was really quite around the house. Then his dad had one to, his dad would come home from work and go down to the basement and punch his punching bag, to try to get over what he had done to his son. Then his brother also had one, his brother would beat his drums really loud. But last David had a language also; his language was getting sick all the time. His dad would give him medicine all the time when he had to stay in bed. One of the major theme in this book was when David found out he has cancer by looking at his moms letters, that she wrote, to her friend. He was in shocked he had that since 14 years old, and right now he is 16 years old. Now he got why his parents where so nice to him in the hospital he had to get surgery in, cause someone told him it was a growth but it wasn't. So David decides to move out at 16 years old and becomes a artist, painting, pictures, also drawing. He also found a motel, but it was all broken down. They had people in it living in there. They were couples and friends living together, in a old house. Another theme is he dreams about weird things, when that happens he wouldn't get to sleep, and he would get a little sick sometimes. Which he thought was weird. The author's attempt of writing this book is because he wanted to tell how you should be good to your parents. That you should listen to what they say. That the parents should also be good to there children, that you should be able to tell them anything. Also that you shouldn't leave when your teens. That you should stay in school and get good grades. You would want to have a successful life. Also you would want to have good parents, which would be there for you. That you should think before you do something. What I learned from this book is you shouldn't leave when you 16 or in your teens. That to obey your parents when they say and you shouldn't lie about anything. That you should be able to tell you kids no matter what it is, it's the best way to get through anything even though there hard. That anything could happen in this world with out you knowing. That you shouldn't give up what your really doin

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted March 16, 2010

    Gothic Novel 101

    I did not think much of Gothic Novels until I read this book and I could not put the book down and if you have not tried Gothic Novels - this is the one to read!

    Reality is sometimes more frightening than the illusions in life. This book is 'chilling' & 'troubling' with a 'dark side' of life in the midst of 'normal' reality.

    David Small has retold his story in comic theme but is no means to be taken lightly as it is a beautiful new way of telling a hard life story to others.

    It will be hard for David to top this book as I loved the ending/beginning!

    Excellent book to add to your/my library collection!

    Excellent - Thank you David Small!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 7, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

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    Posted September 11, 2010

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    Posted October 16, 2010

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    Posted September 20, 2009

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    Posted February 6, 2010

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 21, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 16, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 27, 2009

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