Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award and finalist for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards: the prize-winning children’s author depic...
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Oct 11, 2011
Amber ~Geektastic~
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If it were up to me, all biographies and memoirs would be written in graphic novel form. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, The Complete Maus, The Complete Persepolis, Blankets ; these are all near-perfect expressions of personal and familial experience. The power of imagery saves the subject matter from being bogged down by the excessively wordy, self-justifying tendencies of some, and the oblique, pseudo-poetic drivel of others. The best graphic novel memoirs and biographies seem to combat these
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Aug 15, 2009
Jennifer
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This evocative graphic novel, replete with themes of loss, anger, pain and hope, is bound to resonate with readers in much the same way that
Craig Thompson’s Blankets does. Small’s memoir mirrors the helplessness children and adolescents often feel as pawns in world ruled by adults with their own dysfunctional baggage, and beautifully illustrates the truism that everyone eventually grows up and is rewarded with the chance to develop their own identity separate from the people who raised the More...
Craig Thompson’s Blankets does. Small’s memoir mirrors the helplessness children and adolescents often feel as pawns in world ruled by adults with their own dysfunctional baggage, and beautifully illustrates the truism that everyone eventually grows up and is rewarded with the chance to develop their own identity separate from the people who raised the More...
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Dec 07, 2011
Lee
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Such strange compressions of time: 24 years of the most significant moments in the author's life laid out in comparatively spare, sane, elegant, mature, b&w drawings (compared to the work of many other leading graphic artists) over 329 pages that surely took years to complete, read in an "enjoyable" hour, immersed in that sort of cinematic bookishness that comes from turning pages so much more quickly than those covered in text. A great passage of pages where the kid-aged author dives through a
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Jul 27, 2009
UConnCo-op
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Imogene's Antlers by David Small has always been one of my favorite childrens books so I was eager to read his graphic memoir Stitches, but not prepared for the intensity of it. With drawings and spare words, he relives his troubled childhood with his frighteningly unhappy mother and physician father. After X-Ray treatments from his father, he develops cancer at the age of 14 but no one tells him. He awakes from surgery scarred, mute, and confused about what happened and why. At 16 he leaves hom
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Feb 09, 2012
James
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In Stitches, David Small, the award-winning children's illustrator and author, recreates his dark and secretive life story in this almost eerily silent graphic novel. His impeccable writing hands us the key to his nightmarish childhood as he explains how he went from an innocent child, to an etiolated teen. After learning about a certain one of his medical problems and deciding to take the unpredictable road of a life out of home at 16, Small suddenly realizes that art is the light that w More...
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May 03, 2011
Kelly
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Woo wee, this memoir had some bite to it, to be sure. Picking this one up, I was not sure if it would consitute as 'creepy' as everyone has said it is. It's worse. Stitches is creepy and affecting. The story of David Small's childhood kept me up at night, with me pondering over him being mentally scarred or not. The pictures are 'simplistic' yet arresting. Check this one out.
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Jul 12, 2009
Bob
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The story: a boy suffers from the worst kind of neglect, in a truly screwed up family situation. It probably won't spoil the story to say that he loses his voice through an operation (hence the title). It's a memoir.
The background: the author would eventually become a renowned illustrator of children's books.
My notes: the book is goregously illustrated in black inks and watercolors. The prose is spare, and the story minimal. Amist the flood of memoirs published in rec More...
The background: the author would eventually become a renowned illustrator of children's books.
My notes: the book is goregously illustrated in black inks and watercolors. The prose is spare, and the story minimal. Amist the flood of memoirs published in rec More...
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Oct 30, 2009
Nicole
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heart wrenching and so well done.
my review from work:
"In harsh gray tones and unforgiving imagery, David Small captures his childhood growing up with distant, unloving parents in 1950s Detroit. His father, a radiologist, often treated David’s minor ailments with x-rays that caused a small growth on his neck that his parents left untreated for years. Surgery revealed it to be cancer and David lost part of his vocal cord and, at first, his voice. The anger and hurt, even More...
my review from work:
"In harsh gray tones and unforgiving imagery, David Small captures his childhood growing up with distant, unloving parents in 1950s Detroit. His father, a radiologist, often treated David’s minor ailments with x-rays that caused a small growth on his neck that his parents left untreated for years. Surgery revealed it to be cancer and David lost part of his vocal cord and, at first, his voice. The anger and hurt, even More...
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Aug 26, 2009
Nancy
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This memoir in graphic format by children's author and illustrator David Small reveals a very dark childhood where he cowered in a house punctuated by the angry silences of his mother. Likewise, David was reduced to near silence not just in fear of unexpectedly setting off his mother, but by the loss of one of his vocal chords. Left briefly in the care of his maternal grandmother, he overheard family secrets and was exposed to incomprehensible violence, which later shed some light on his mother'
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Mar 05, 2010
Steven
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Several of his illustrated books were favorites to read to my kids when they were small. This illustrated memoir reveals a childhood so very different from theirs. Raised in a home without love, he is pulled back from the edge of madness by one caring adult. The book is beatifully done and very touching.
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Jan 26, 2011
Hom
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And I thought my average reading speed of 50 pages per hour was pretty good. But to read this 336 page book in 40 minutes in one sitting? Wow, that's and impressive 504 pages per hour! :-)
Stitches is well illustrated and flows seamlessly from frame to frame. So, it was a delight to read despited the sad recounting of the author's childhood years. I recommend it highly.
The last time I read comic books ( now more fashionably called Graphic Novels ) was during my pre-teen ye More...
Stitches is well illustrated and flows seamlessly from frame to frame. So, it was a delight to read despited the sad recounting of the author's childhood years. I recommend it highly.
The last time I read comic books ( now more fashionably called Graphic Novels ) was during my pre-teen ye More...
Mar 05, 2010
When David Small was a young boy, his radiologist father treated his sinusitis with heavy and frequent radiation therapy. It was the 1950s, and this was in keeping with current medical practice. Even so, ten years later, Small had developed a cancerous tumor on his neck. His parents told him it was a cyst, and when he awoke from what he d thought would be a simple operation, he found an enormous scar running down his neck. One of his vocal chords had been removed in the procedure, and for the n
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Dec 15, 2011
Lori
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 05, 2011
Ryandake
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now this is exactly, entirely, perfectly what a graphic novel can do that a regular novel actually can't: give you a visual point of view that matters to the story.
in this case, the point of view is of a child, a young boy growing up in rather horrid circumstances. no quantity of well-chosen words will take you back faster than the view from under a table, or what a grandma's butt looks like when viewed from 6-year-old height.
in the protagonist's world, adults are often scar More...
in this case, the point of view is of a child, a young boy growing up in rather horrid circumstances. no quantity of well-chosen words will take you back faster than the view from under a table, or what a grandma's butt looks like when viewed from 6-year-old height.
in the protagonist's world, adults are often scar More...
Oct 04, 2011
Robert
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I don't know how I came to the conclusion that this book was a good choice to request from the library. I see now that the book description here describes it as "a childhood from hell" and that is the story it tells.
I guess I was expecting "a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem", as one reviewer quoted on the back of the book says.
Instead, what I got was cruelty alternating with madness alternat More...
I guess I was expecting "a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem", as one reviewer quoted on the back of the book says.
Instead, what I got was cruelty alternating with madness alternat More...
Oct 04, 2011
Monica!
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I always feel a little nervous about reading and reviewing memoirs. There’s only so much, after all, that you can suggest to the author. It’s hard to be all, "Yeah, I would have appreciated more excitement in [insert portion of life]. Could you have made something up? Just for the sake of your readers?" Because then, we get into books like Lying, and poor Monica gets all sorts of migraines trying to figure out when the author is full of it, and... yes. It’s risky. However! There was no
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Sep 20, 2011
Ciara
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recommended by a facebook friend. i am reading a lot of books about cancer recently. i don't know why.
this is an autobiographical graphic novel about david small's experience growing up in an emotionally distant, abusive family. a growth is discovered in his neck when he is eleven years old, but rather than paying for medical care, his parents go on a shopping spree & buy a new car & furniture. he is finally diagnosed with throat cancer at age 14 (unbeknownst to him) & undergoes surger More...
this is an autobiographical graphic novel about david small's experience growing up in an emotionally distant, abusive family. a growth is discovered in his neck when he is eleven years old, but rather than paying for medical care, his parents go on a shopping spree & buy a new car & furniture. he is finally diagnosed with throat cancer at age 14 (unbeknownst to him) & undergoes surger More...
Sep 11, 2011
Matt
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Stitches is graphic novel autobiography of the artist David Small, who endured various tradgy's during his childhood, from his first discovery's of a fetus and a growth, to his his discovery of his cancer and his operation.
This is one of my favorite Graphic novels. It stars the real life american artist david small and his tradgic and dramatic experinces as a child. this goes under the section graphic novel.
i decided to read it because i had seen it on the shelf various More...
This is one of my favorite Graphic novels. It stars the real life american artist david small and his tradgic and dramatic experinces as a child. this goes under the section graphic novel.
i decided to read it because i had seen it on the shelf various More...
Aug 22, 2011
Amy Wilder
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I bought this because my nephew has shown an inclination towards graphic novels. But then I happened to be waiting for a plane to arrive so I started to read. What unfolded was an unusual but true story of an unhappy childhood, vividly depicted in the imaginative drawings and spartan words of the man who survived it. Think of it as David Sedaris with drawing taking the place of the dry, biting wit - it's the means to escape from the pain of childhood that becomes the genius of the adult. You
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Jul 17, 2011
Micki
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Stitches: A Memoir by David Smalls
I was online one day perusing my Facebook account and came across a link that sounded interesting and timely, as I was about to start a class centered around YAL: a list of twenty “must read” YA novels. I was familiar with a number of the books on the list and I had even read a few. One sounded particularly interesting (Stitches: A Memoir by David Smalls), so I got my hands on a copy.
I was super excited about reading this book, but when More...
I was online one day perusing my Facebook account and came across a link that sounded interesting and timely, as I was about to start a class centered around YAL: a list of twenty “must read” YA novels. I was familiar with a number of the books on the list and I had even read a few. One sounded particularly interesting (Stitches: A Memoir by David Smalls), so I got my hands on a copy.
I was super excited about reading this book, but when More...
Mar 22, 2011
Kathy
rated it:
My sixteen year old son asked for this graphic novel and I acquiesced quite easily because he tends to buy/ask for superheroes or anime which tends to be harmless. The book came and DJ disappeared to his room as he tends to do only to come down two hours later book in hand and deeply disturbed. He quietly handed me the book and said read this under his breathe. Well my son never requests me to read anything he gets as we have two different styles so it must have been important. I sat down and be
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Mar 19, 2011
Christina
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This graphic novel is both terrifying and poetic. A memoir detailing a young boy's journey out of silence and anger at his dysfunctional parents and, most especially, his mother's angry silence. Diagnosed with a "cyst" on his neck, he must wait years for treatment as his parents try to fill their own emptiness with the right furniture. The surgery that finally removes a cancerous tumor from his neck leaves him without the power of speech-- not that anyone was listening, anyway. No
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Mar 10, 2011
Thuy
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First, the images in this novel are amazing, simply blew me over. There was a nice contrast of black and white ink and watercolor. They definitely were profound and stronger than any words could say. I mean I finished this book in like an hour, which says something about this book. The one thing that really gets me is that the author was able to write out his tragic experiences and express them through pictures. Most people wouldn’t dare to think about the past if it was miserable and scary, yet
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Feb 23, 2011
Christina
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This well drawn graphic novel is David Small's autobigraphy starting from when he was six years old. His home life was very tense, his father went out drinking with friends while his mom slammed cabinets and dishes and his brother banged on his drum. David instead escaped with his drawings. One day David's family was out with some friends, who are all doctors, as his father is one, and they notice a growth on David's neck. His mother does not think it is necessary to get it treated; in her mi
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Feb 03, 2011
Lindsey
rated it:
Graded
Wow. How to summarize this book?
I expected this to be an interesting tale of a boy who dealt with childhood illness, who suffered, but ultimately triumphed. I guess I was partially correct, but that seems to be the side-story here. This story is a memoir of author/illustrator David Small, and is told in graphic novel format. The story begins when David is 6. What we can see right away is that David's mother is an angry woman who is dealing with hardships that we d More...
Wow. How to summarize this book?
I expected this to be an interesting tale of a boy who dealt with childhood illness, who suffered, but ultimately triumphed. I guess I was partially correct, but that seems to be the side-story here. This story is a memoir of author/illustrator David Small, and is told in graphic novel format. The story begins when David is 6. What we can see right away is that David's mother is an angry woman who is dealing with hardships that we d More...
Jan 25, 2011
Paula
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 07, 2011
Johnny
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Stitches... I didn't think much of this book by looking at the cover... but i was wrong to judge a book by its cover. It was a really melancholy book. It is about the author's life since it was a memoir. It starts off with David and his family living in Detroit. His dad was a Radiologist, people who give x-rays and analyzes them. David had gotten many x rays since back then x rays were thought to cure sinus problems. His parents didn't care much for him because everyone in the family did their o
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Oct 22, 2010
Beth F.
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I’d never read a graphic novel until this month. Now this is the third I’ve completed and frankly, I’m hooked! Like a lot of non-fans of comics I’d been erroneously operating under the assumption that all graphic novels were about superheroes or contained subject matter that I would find boring.
This book is a perfect example of a graphic novel that breaks that mold. It is a memoir and based on the author’s true boyhood experience with going in for what he’d been led to believe w More...
This book is a perfect example of a graphic novel that breaks that mold. It is a memoir and based on the author’s true boyhood experience with going in for what he’d been led to believe w More...
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Oct 09, 2010
Carol
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