There are many tales out in literary and graphic novels about uncaring or abusive parents. It’s almost required that, if the parents are actually around they are abusive in some way or another. With David Small’s Stitches
David Small’s parents are outwardly successful. His mother is a typical stay at home mom and his dad is a radiologist in the new field of x-rays. X-rays are seen as another magical medical miracle that abounded in the early 50s. Everything that science touched caused the medical industry to save more lives and cure more diseases. David’s father is a firm believer in this power and uses x-rays to help cure various ailments that David and his brothers have. For vacations, David would go with his Mom to her family. Grandmother has never liked by her in-laws, especially after her husband died. She’s since re-married, but David sees a different side of her and Mom snaps at him when he says grandma is crazy.
As David starts hitting his pre-teen years, a lump starts growing on his neck. The parents don’t have a lot of money, so it sits for a little while. Then when they get some money, it gets spent on cars and furniture. Finally, several years later, the lump has grown and his parents finally get him surgery. David goes to sleep and wakes up disoriented and in pain. The doctor and his family mention that they are going to have to go back in for another surgery. David wakes up from the second surgery with a large scar a only half of his vocal cords. There a few answers and almost no voice. The rest of the book deals with David’s growing realization about what has been done to him and his feelings for his family.
The book starts slowly and gathers momentum as it goes along. The growing horror at David’s family’s casual cruelty and the issues that have gone from generation to generation. We learn about the problems with his grandmother as well as the hidden side of his mother. It does not lead to knowledge, but there is some level of understanding. The emotions David starts feeling as the realization of what happened to him are raw and we see how much it affected him. He eventually reaches the point where he can’t deal with them anymore and has to leave to find his way.
Small does a wonderful job conveying his emotions as he starts wondering what happened to him and the realization slow sets in. The book is full of subtly simple art that conveys the emotions and the excitement of a small boy who has his life radically altered. His father’s casual announcement that he believes the abundance of x-rays might have caused him to have cancer is heartbreaking. As well as the way no one mentions that he had cancer until he stumbles upon a letter from his Mom. This is an exciting and well done graphic novel. Highly recommended.