The Hospital Suite

About this book

Poetic musings on illness and the art of getting by from a mini-comics master The Hospital Suite is a landmark work by the celebrated cartoonist and small-press legend John Porcellinoan autobiographical collection detailing his struggles with illness in the 1990s and early 2000s. In 1997 John began to have severe stomach pain. He soon found out he needed emergency surgery to remove a benign tumor from his small intestine. In the wake of the surgery he had numerous health complications that led to a flare-up of his preexisting tendencies toward anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Hospital Suite is Porcellinos response to these experiencessimply told stories drawn in the honest heart-wrenching style of his much-loved King-Cat mini-comics. His gift for spare yet eloquent candor makes The Hospital Suite an intimate portrayal of one persons experiences that is also intensely relatable. Porcellinos work is lauded for its universality and quiet clear-eyed contemplation of everyday life. The Hospital Suite is a testimony to this subtle strength making his struggles with the medical system and its consequences for his mental health accessible and engaging.