Stitches: A Memoir
Well, that was emotionally exhausting.
Small tells the story of his childhood in sparse black and white illustrations that make horrifying events seem even more so, which is the point. The drawings of the adults in his life make them seem like monsters, physically and emotionally. Trauma drips off these pages, but it's a fast read, maybe only because the need for there to be some sort of happy ending is so obvious. The whole thing is so well put together, crafted not with love (because that implies some sort of positivity), but with an extreme care that portrays the terrible emotional scenery more effectively than if he'd drawn everything straight. I guess you could call this a humdinger.