• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 16, age appropriate for kids over 18; suggested age 16.

• Is it any good?

  4.0

• Common Sense says

  Powerful look at abusive childhood for mature readers only.

Why We Rated This for Ages 16–18

The good stuff

• Educational value:

  Not an issue.
• Messages:

  The author has a revelation about not succumbing to anger and madness like his mother and grandmother; he is determined to break the cycle of abuse.
• Role models:

  David endures a painful childhood, expressing his pain through art. The first supportive adult he finds is the shrink he is required to see after stealing his parents' car and being kicked out of school. He leaves home at 16 and finishes school, becomes a successful artist, and marries, but this memoir focuses more on the hell he lived through than on the resiliency required to survive it.

What to watch out for

• Violence:

  The emotional abuse by David's parents is just as horrific as the verbal abuse. But other violence abounds, as when David's grandmother goes insane and locks his grandfather in the basement before setting the house on fire. The stark visual images reinforce the horror David faces as a child and in his nightmares; a shot of a fetus suspended in a glass jar outside a lab is frequently in his nightmares. David is barely able to speak after cancer surgery -- a surgery his parents put off for years.
• Sex:

  David and his brother look at their father's medical books when they are young and point out breasts and penises. One of his mother's friends is very sexy and he is attracted to her; when he is 15 he finds this friend in bed with his mother. He later states that her repressed lesbianism caused many of her emotional problems. David is taunted for acting "gay" while young because he was sensitive and imaginative. His grandmother is drawn dancing naked outside when she goes insane.
• Language:

  "T-t" and "hell."
• Consumerism:

  Not an issue.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  The adults are shown smoking cigarettes and drinking cocktails or wine in many if not most of the illustrations. David's father, a doctor, always gives his son health advice (on posture) or bad news (that he has cancer) while puffing incessantly on cigarettes.

What Parents Need to Know

About Stitches: A Memoir

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