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Review
"[Alison Bechdel] hits notes that resemble Jeanette Winterson at her best...She's made a story that's quiet [and] dignified." Publishers Weekly, Starred
"[With] uncommon richness [and] depth...[Fun Home] shares as much in spirit with...other contemporary memoirists of considerable literary accomplishment." Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"Alison Bechdel - she's one of the best, one to watch out for." --Harvey Pekar
"If David Sedaris could draw, and if Bleak House had been a little funnier, you'd have Alison Bechdel's Fun Home." --Amy Bloom, author of A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You
"Brave and forthright and insightful--exactly what Alison Bechdel does best." --Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina
"Stupendous...mesmerizing...The details...are devastatingly captured by an artist in total control of her craft." --Chip Kidd, author of The Cheese Monkeys
"One of the very best graphic novels ever." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
"
"[With] uncommon richness [and] depth...[Fun Home] shares as much in spirit with...other contemporary memoirists of considerable literary accomplishment." Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"Alison Bechdel - she's one of the best, one to watch out for." --Harvey Pekar
"If David Sedaris could draw, and if Bleak House had been a little funnier, you'd have Alison Bechdel's Fun Home." --Amy Bloom, author of A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You
"Brave and forthright and insightful--exactly what Alison Bechdel does best." --Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina
"Stupendous...mesmerizing...The details...are devastatingly captured by an artist in total control of her craft." --Chip Kidd, author of The Cheese Monkeys
"One of the very best graphic novels ever." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
"
Margaret Reynolds, THE TIMES
"Fun Home is a profound and important book. Every home should
have one"
have one"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Alison Bechdel offers a work of rare honesty and flair. In this graphic novel autobiography, she explores the life and death of her father, and chronicles her own growing-up years within an unusual family. The Bechdels' funeral home business serves as an accidentally apt metaphor for the emotional austerity of a home where Alison's father is gay, closeted and often unhappy with himself and others; and where, seemingly unnoticed, the young Alison is growing into her own sexuality, and her identity as a lesbian.
The book interweaves incidents from family and individual lives with Alison's childhood journal entries, her father's photographs, and scenes from the books she and her father share as a form of personal communication and analysis. This scrapbook approach blends narrative and character development perfectly, and reminds us how often we are defined by, and seek to understand ourselves better through, the things we love.
I was often struck forcefully - as I rarely have been when reading autobiography - by the fact that these were real people. This immediacy seems the result of a combination of the medium and the author's decision to lay bare the most compelling and difficult questions of her own family life.
The book interweaves incidents from family and individual lives with Alison's childhood journal entries, her father's photographs, and scenes from the books she and her father share as a form of personal communication and analysis. This scrapbook approach blends narrative and character development perfectly, and reminds us how often we are defined by, and seek to understand ourselves better through, the things we love.
I was often struck forcefully - as I rarely have been when reading autobiography - by the fact that these were real people. This immediacy seems the result of a combination of the medium and the author's decision to lay bare the most compelling and difficult questions of her own family life.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book simply because it was by Alison Bechdel and I love her "Dykes To Watch Out For" strip. It is not like her usual work but is a powerfully moving autobiography in cartoons - the way she uses pictures and words to tell this complex story is amazing and meant that I read this much more slowly than I normally read and I immediately reread it. I really loved how she does not simply tell her story in a linear manner but comes back on it over and over again, so each time, I felt I was getting closer to the heart of the matter. I also liked how she linked her reading with what was going on for her and her father. Like the previous reviewer said, that this is a real story involving real people, was constant in my own mind as I read it, and raises a lot of questions about autobiography in general and how we remember things. Well worth a read - I can't think of anyone who would not be moved by this book.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite the apprehension experienced by many readers when this graphic novel was presented to the LGBT Reading Group, everybody really enjoyed it.
You discover the bones of the story early on... the Bechdel's live in the family-run funeral home in a close knit community; Alison is coming out as a lesbian; her mom wants a divorce; her father is gay.
Bruce Bechdel's life is a sham; a sensitive, creative, reserved man who, in a flash, can became cold, belligerent and driven. Shortly after he dies in mysterious circumstances Alison finds out that he's been having sex with young men and has been in trouble with the law.
The story weaves through time as Alison delves deeper and deeper into the main events of her family history to reveal a tragic yet fascinating upbringing.
Although some of the themes could be regarded as heavy, they are lifted by Alison's unique and clever style - her monochrome illustrations tell her story in a remarkable way that just words never could. It seems too simple to announce that this is a really good book, but it is!
You discover the bones of the story early on... the Bechdel's live in the family-run funeral home in a close knit community; Alison is coming out as a lesbian; her mom wants a divorce; her father is gay.
Bruce Bechdel's life is a sham; a sensitive, creative, reserved man who, in a flash, can became cold, belligerent and driven. Shortly after he dies in mysterious circumstances Alison finds out that he's been having sex with young men and has been in trouble with the law.
The story weaves through time as Alison delves deeper and deeper into the main events of her family history to reveal a tragic yet fascinating upbringing.
Although some of the themes could be regarded as heavy, they are lifted by Alison's unique and clever style - her monochrome illustrations tell her story in a remarkable way that just words never could. It seems too simple to announce that this is a really good book, but it is!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Oh my sweet Jesus!!
Quite simply, fabulous! Such a beautiful example of an adult graphic novel. A unique talent, thankfully fully expressed in this genius of a tome.
Published 2 days ago by Natalie C
Wickedly Good
So far, this is the rawest and most unforgiving graphic novel memoir I have read. While it is no great shock to discover the inevitable description of male masturbation which seems... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Anna Clare
A Jam Packed Graphic Novel
`Fun Home' is Alison Bechdel's memoirs told through a graphic novel, which was a concept that I found really intriguing. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Simon Savidge Reads
Amazeballs
This book is a true piece of art. The story curls round itself and is a joy to read, it explores Bechdel's complex feelings about her father and their claustraphobic relationship. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mini Ninja
A riposte to anyone who thinks graphic novels are trivial
Having loved Dykes to watch out for and coming to this with the expectation it would be similarly funny, I was initially disappointed that the book was so emotionally heavy. Read more
Published 4 months ago by K. Fearon
Compelling but...
This was a Christmas present which I'd finished reading by 1:30 AM on Boxing Day, and I agree with all of the positive things other reviewers have to say about it. Read more
Published 5 months ago by A Reader
A powerful contribution to the graphic novel autobiography genre
Alison's father is a funeral director in a town so small he teaches part time to supplement his income. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jo Bennie
Powerful Father Portrait
As Art Spiegelman proved with Maus, father memoirs can take graphic narrative form. Courageously original and lovingly honest, Fun Home is a coming of age story--a story of... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Andre Gerard
Magnificent and moving
Fans of Alison Bechdel have clearly been aware of her work for a few years but she was news to me and I only read Fun Home after seeing it in a 'Top 10' list in Time Magazine. Read more
Published 13 months ago by mostlysceptical
Best graphic novel
This is the best graphic novel i've ever red. Illustration and storytelling at it's best. Alison Bechdel draws inspiration from her childhood and her relationship with her father. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Vatomouron
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