Stitches

Artist/Writer: David Small
Published by W.W. Norton & Company

Stitches is easily the best graphic novel I’ve read this year. A memoir from long time artist David Small, who has illustrated quite a few picture books over the years, it covers key points from his childhood to his early adulthood. It deals with Small’s recovery from throat cancer, and the shaky relationship Small had with his family, particularly his oppressive mother. It’s a fascinating story about a young man’s struggles to find himself and break free from his restrictive family.

First off, the artwork is gorgeous. It’s weird, ink is such a major part of comics in general, but I’ve only really seen a few artists use the ink wash method, and never in this way. It brings about certain softness to it that I’m not sure I’ve seen in a comic before. I love the rushed look of certain panels, where background details are done with light brush strokes rather than detailed outlines, and I can’t help but feel like the greyscale colour palette is pretty much perfect for the mood of the story Small is trying to tell.



Small’s work in picture books has paid off in a big way; he’s a natural story teller and he knows how to work within the medium. His panel layouts are erratic and sometimes ill defined, but it’s never hard to follow them. It’s also nice that he’s able to work some pretty imaginative ideas into an otherwise straightforward story. Small uses dream sequences to help showcase his desire to break free or frustration towards his family. But Small doesn’t make the story one sided; he happily portrays his childhood self as a rude, grumpy kid who is prone to misbehave, or his teenage self as needlessly smug. It’s obvious that Small, at least at this stage of his life, no longer feels anger towards his family. He’s moved on, and it feels like this book is a big part of taking that step.



Stitches is the kind of book I’d show to someone who dismisses comics and graphic novels out of hand. In many ways it makes me feel like I did when I read Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis or Craig Thompson’s Blankets; I’m watching an artist explore their childhood and young adulthood through pictures and words, and I’m fascinated by how they stitch it all together. The reason why I’d probably give someone Stitches before either of those books is because it doesn’t feel like it takes as much work to read. Both Persepolis and Blankets are rather wordy, whereas I think Stitches is a little more interested in letting the artwork tell the story. In this case, I think that’s something that works strongly in its favour.

If you ever see this on shelves, I implore you to at least give it a flick through. It really is worth it.