Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. Print. ISBN 978-0-618-47794-4. Hardback. $19.95 USD.

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

Annotation:

Alison's father has passed away. Along with his body, his secrets are buried as well, until Alison tries to dig them up.

Book Review:

“I wanted the muscles and tweed like my father wanted the velvet and pearls.”  

Alison Bechdel is a young woman re-telling the story of her life, which includes her father’s sudden death, his hidden secrets, and her coming out as a lesbian. Bechdel’s graphic novel displays detailed pictures of how and where she grew up and what surrounded her. She had a strange relationship with her father, who was detail oriented, had a meticulous house, perfect garden, expensive hair products, and worked as a funeral director and school teacher. Bechdel described her father as a closet homosexual and researched his life closely after his death to figure out if he really was a gay man, one who enjoyed picking out wallpaper, crown molding, and chandeliers. Most of the pictures of Bechdel’s father included him reading a book or sitting in his home library. The books, such as The Great Gatsby and pieces written by Camus and Fitzgerald, were an important part of the novel and they played a large role in her memory of him. Bechdel also breaks down her father’s death piece by piece to figure out if it was a suicide or an accident.

This non-fiction biography was a first for me. I have never read a graphic novel and it took me awhile to slowly read it while looking at the pictures. I thoroughly enjoyed it and believe that it should be in high school and public libraries. Since the book contains sexual pictures and a strong story line, I believe the age group should be 13 and up. Bechdel comes out as a lesbian and eventually figures out that her father was gay and the topic would be great for students who can relate to this situation and would like to read a coming out story. I think that the book is inappropriate for students younger than 13. I found myself smiling throughout the book as if I was a part of Bechdel’s family. She did a great job recreating her life through a graphic novel. 


View sketches and drawings while Bechdel explains how she created her book:

Watch Bechdel read an excerpt from her book:

Alison Bechdel's Facebook page!