Fun Home

Bechdel, Alison.  Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2006.  Hardback.  ISBN: 978-0-618-47794-4.  $19.95.
 

Annotation: 

        This graphic novel explores the at times dysfunctional relationship of Bechdel and her father from her childhood until his possible suicide years later.  Due to graphic sexual content this book is recommended for ages 17+.


Book cover courtesy of Amazon.com

Book Review:

            Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel, is a graphic novel memoir which explores the author’s dysfunctional relationship with her father, an English teacher and funeral home director in rural Pennsylvania who also happened to be in the closet.   Throughout the book Bechdel, who also is gay, questions the idea of nature vs. nurture and whether her coming out to her family played a part in her father’s possible suicide.  The illustrations are heavy in feeling being entirely drawn in shades of black, white, grays, and blues which enhances the overall somber, bittersweet tone of the author’s relationship with her father. 

The novel is rife with literary works which played a big part in the lives of both father and daughter.  Although Bechdel does a decent job of explaining the correlation and importance of the literary works and authors she mentions in Fun Home, the parallels she draws between the works and her life would not be fully understood by anyone unfamiliar with the works.  Between some of the more mature illustrations and the plethora of college level literary references this book would be more appropriate for teens 17+ and adults interested in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered literature.   In that respect this graphic novel memoir would be more suited to a public library than a school library.

Awards:
       2006- National Book Critics Circle Award finalist
       2007- GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book
                 Stonewall Book Award for non-fiction
                 Publishing Triangle-Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award
                 Lambda Award in the "Lesbian Memoir and Biography" category
                 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work

Interested in finding out more about this book or author? Check these out:

 Author site: http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/

Author Interviews:

           June 2006 Bechdel podcast at the Free Library of Philadelphia

November 30, 2008 interview in "The Guardian"

Clip of Bechdel explaining her drawing process for Fun Home