Memoir Mondays with Stitches by David Small... A Graphic Novel, A Memoir and A Review

A Memoir in Black & White...

Stitches, written and illustrated by David Small, is his coming-of-age story told in graphic novel form. It's David Small's memoir of growing up in a family where his mother "had her little cough", sobbed quietly "out of sight", and slammed the kitchen cabinets to communicate. His father took his frustrations out on a punching bag, and his brother on the drums... and it's the story of the operation that would remove a vocal cord and leave David practically a mute...

There aren't a lot of words in Stitches. There really isn't a lot of need for lengthy prose- David Small's black & white ink drawings tell his story perfectly... I could almost feel his grandmother dragging me up the stairs to bed without supper.. I could feel the terror as he is put through shots, enema's and radiation to cure his boyhood illnesses. His drawings are so expressive and the bird's eye views he chooses to show certain scenes in, make the story a visually treat. They are not pretty pictures, but they are meaningful.

From "sock-skating" on a freshly waxed floor in the hospital his father "the radiologist" worked to finally having the operation to remove that cyst on his neck (which he'd find out later was really cancer caused by all the radiation his father gave him), Stitches takes you on a visual adventure of emotions. You'll get to know his often times cruel & dysfunctional family and feel the pains of growing up. I was surprised how haunted I was after I finished reading Stitches. I felt such pain for David growing up virtually unloved and isolated. A sensitive child trying to find his place in the world, trying desperately to have a relationship with his mother, but being let down each time the door to that relationship cracks open a bit, except for one final moment . This was definitely not my usual read, but part of my "reading outside the box" with The Graphic Novel Reading Challenge 2010. I chose this because it had gotten so much buzz and was nominated for The National Book Award in 2009 under the young peoples literature category . Only one other graphic novel has been nominated for the The National Book Award, and that was American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang in 2006. Stitches was a moving read, and one I am glad I stepped outside of my box to read! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to step into a graphic novel for the first time. And as far as the seasoned graphic novel readers are concerned... I bet you all read this already!

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Memoir Mondays... The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, a Review

The Glass Castle

An Amazing Story of Joy & Survival

To see Jeanette Walls today, you would never suspect her upbringing. She graduated from Columbia University's Barnard College with honors and went on to become a reporter for New York magazine, Esquire, USA Today and MSNBC.com. To say her beginnings were humble would be an understatement- to see what she overcame to become the intelligent successful woman that she is today is almost unbelievable and would have been a great work of fiction if it wasn't all true.

Living like nomads, moving between towns and sometimes living out in the desert, Jeanette Walls and her 3 siblings learned to take care of themselves. Her mother was a free spirit and an artist, who would rather paint than take care of her children, her father was a charismatic drunk who always had plans for the next big invention. Her family was dysfunctional, and as we learn later on her father came from worse. Food was scare at times with butter sandwiches, popcorn, or crab apples stolen from a neighbors tree for dinner sometimes. They didn't accept food stamps because Jeanette's mother didn't want them to "feel like charity cases". And their education for the most part was learned on the road. But Jeanette doesn't speak with bitterness about her childhood. At times her childhood was a wonderful adventure, with her father teaching them about the sky above them as they sat out in the dessert late at night learning the constellations and how to navigate by the North Star. As her father said, " Rich city folks lived in fancy apartments, but their air was so polluted they couldn't even see the stars. We'd have to be out of our minds to want to trade places with any of them." And so they grew to feel privileged in their own way.

You are immediately drawn into Jeanette's life from the opening scene in the book where she describes a taxi ride where she is on her way to a party and spots her mother dressed in rags and picking through the trash on the side of the road. She was mortified, but not for her mother, but for herself- she was afraid someone would know they were connected. She had tried numerous times to get her mother 'help', but her mother didn't think she needed it. "You want to help me change my life?", her mother said. "I'm fine. You're the one who needs help. Your values are all confused." And that was the beginning of a change in Jeanette. The beginnings of Jeanette accepting her parents for who they were.

And what am I supposed to tell people about my parents?

Just tell the truth, her mother said, That's simple enough

From there we are transported to Jeanette's earliest memories when she was 3 and where the adventure of a lifetime start. Compelling, honest and shocking at times, The Glass Castle will have you turning the pages and wondering how Jeanette came out of all that "life experience" normal. I felt anger, joy and empathy as I leafed through the pages. It's a wonderfully written story, where we see first hand the ability of people to overcome the obstacles thrown in their way, the great power of forgiveness, and how leading your own life can mean different things to different people.

In Jeanette's words in an interview with Cindy Bokma of Conversations With Famous Writers...

"I’m just a scrawny girl who grew up without indoor plumbing, and here I am wearing my fancy designer clothes asking Nicole Kidman questions. Life is so strange."

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!