As children, we may have had a favorite book full of illustrations that captured another world — transporting us into that given adventure. Now having the opportunity to find a book of a similar nature, only this time as an adult, is something not far from genius. David Small, author of the memoir “Stitches” is a writer that may surprise you.
There are many aspects that can make one writer different from another, but in his newest work, Small reverts back to our own childhood memories by writing about his in quite an unorthodox way.
The memoir follows Small’s life, starting from the time he was six to his maturation as an adult. Details are strewn throughout the book about Small’s birth and his bouts with sickness, as he gives an account about living in Detroit with his parents and brother.
The drawings throughout the memoir could have been inspired by “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. After all, the book is mentioned as a way for young Small to seek another life in order to ignore not only the cruel silence around him but also the lack of familial love.
The narration alongside graphic illustrations become more intense when Small, at 14 years old, has simple surgery to remove a benign cyst that turns out to be actually cancer. His parents keep the secret from him until he finds a letter divulging the full details a short while later.
While the book title connects to the literal scar on his neck from the surgery on his vocal cord, readers understand there is also a symbolic meaning. It is not until Small sees a psychiatrist after the surgery that he understands he was not the problem, his family was, and more specifically, that while part of his vocal cord may have been severed, his family had been, too.
In speaking with his psychiatrist who resembles the White Rabbit in his favorite childhood book, Small says: “We talked. After life in a house where silence reigned and free speech was forbidden, that office, three times a week, became a haven for me. There, things began to make sense.”
At the age of 16, Small leaves his home for the city to pursue art. His first attempts seem in vain, but over time he realizes how it becomes part of his recovery.
“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.”
After the conclusion of Small’s memoir, he leaves photographic evidence and a brief section about his family. Though readers may not necessarily be content in knowing how complicated and horrific Small’s life was, there is resolution in the end. Small, just as Alice, finds a way out of the rabbit hole.
Rating: W W W W 1/2
