This was a book selection last month for another group I'm a part of, but I was unable to find it in my entire library consortium. (Rather disappointing, since it's an award winner.) I finally decided to purchase it for myself and read it in one sitting. I give it a solid ****.
This is my second graphic novel, also done as a memoir, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the graphics conveyed the sense of darkness and emotional upheaval better than any words could describe. The drawings were chilling and haunting. Small's mother and grandmother were terrifying as he pictured them. If I were seeing them through the eyes of a child as was Small, it would have been difficult to put into words the sinister feelings they evoked. That's why I find this graphic novel so effective. You get the sense that these people are very disturbed, but it's not at first spelled out for you. You can only imagine the things you can't understand.
Towards the end of the novel, when Small's father confesses his guilt about David's cancer, there is a picture of David with a big black blotch running down the center of his face. The blotch appeared to me to look like a Rorschach inkblot, which I thought was clever, because I felt David was saying, "Try to interpret how I was feeling when my father finally told me the truth." Having his ability to speak removed during surgery has not kept Small's from being able to communicate. This graphic novel was well done!
This was a book selection last month for another group I'm a part of, but I was unable to find it in my entire library consortium. (Rather disappointing, since it's an award winner.) I finally decided to purchase it for myself and read it in one sitting. I give it a solid ****.
This is my second graphic novel, also done as a memoir, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the graphics conveyed the sense of darkness and emotional upheaval better than any words could describe. The drawings were chilling and haunting. Small's mother and grandmother were terrifying as he pictured them. If I were seeing them through the eyes of a child as was Small, it would have been difficult to put into words the sinister feelings they evoked. That's why I find this graphic novel so effective. You get the sense that these people are very disturbed, but it's not at first spelled out for you. You can only imagine the things you can't understand.
Towards the end of the novel, when Small's father confesses his guilt about David's cancer, there is a picture of David with a big black blotch running down the center of his face. The blotch appeared to me to look like a Rorschach inkblot, which I thought was clever, because I felt David was saying, "Try to interpret how I was feeling when my father finally told me the truth." Having his ability to speak removed during surgery has not kept Small's from being able to communicate. This graphic novel was well done!