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Here is a book that elegantly shows the potential for comic book storytelling. Deep and emotionally complex, WHEN DAVID LOST HIS VOICE subtly unfolds into a gripping, lovely work.

 

David receives the grim news --- stage 3 cancer --- at the very onset of WHEN DAVID LOST HIS VOICE. Still, there’s hope. Chemotherapy and radiation offer a chance to beat this, despite his fear. With anxieties mounting, David struggles with how to tell his family --- which includes his wife, Paula, and their 9-year-old daughter, Tamar, as well as David’s adult daughter, Miriam, from a previous relationship --- the news. More to the point: How to discuss his deep anxieties and all the competing thoughts running through his head? Meanwhile, Miriam, pregnant from a brief, casual relationship, delivers a son, Louis.

 

This sets the scene for the family turmoil that comes about after David’s diagnosis. Each character deals with their fear and their sadness in different ways. Each has a different attitude toward sickness and death. Each is unique. The various perspectives are well done.

 

This is a special book. It doesn’t shy away from its topic, nor does it meander into sentimentality. With clarity and deliberate pacing, Vanistendael delivers a truly moving book.

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