Book Review: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

By Sarah Schiavoni

Alison Bechdel's book, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, was just one in a long list of books required for my English 461 - Critical and Cultural Theory class. When it came time to read it as part of our discussion about feminist writing, I was a little thrown off: comic book format? Typically, when I think of comics, I think of the strips I read in the morning newspaper, the superhero comics with Spiderman and Superman, and the Japanese comics, manga, that I read in middle school. I never considered the possibility of literary comics, but this is precisely what Fun Home is—a graphic memoir about the author's life from childhood to her college days, centering on her relationship with her father.

Alison, a tomboy with no patience for frills and flowers, grows up in a beautiful Victorian home in the Pennsylvania countryside. Her father, Bruce, a high school English teacher and funeral home director, treats their home like a favorite child, spending countless hours renovating and decorating the interior and exterior before he dies. Alison comes to terms with who her father was alive and who he is in death through her recollection of her childhood. She and her father share a strained relationship due to their opposite natures: Bruce plays the feminine role and Alison plays the masculine role. While Bruce relishes in interior design, gardening, and trysts with younger men, Alison enjoys dressing in boyish clothing and playing with her brother in her father's funeral home, nicknamed the "fun home" by the two siblings. As Alison grows older and fails to live up to her father's idea of what a girl should be, she begins to understand her father and herself more. When she finally leaves home for college, she comes to realize that she loves other women and soon finds out that her father loves other men. Their shared homosexuality temporarily unites the two in a manner both bumbling and touching. Their renewed yet fragile relationship is cut short by her father’s sudden death and it is the mystery of his death and the unspoken words between Alison and her father that create tension and that "just can't put this book down" effect when reading Fun Home.

Bechdel's use of a comic book format is a unique and interesting way to tell her story that catches the readers’ eyes. Whereas a typical novel allows the reader to freely interpret the words and imagery, Bechdel's Fun Home outlines what the characters and settings look like and creates a fast-moving dialogue that is easy to get wrapped up in. Looking behind the scenes at Alison's life makes the reader want to understand why Alison's relationship with her father was so strained and highlights the juxtaposition between the two characters and their personalities. Fun Home appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list, was nominated for various awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and three Eisner Awards (one of which it won), and was praised by numerous journals and critics, including Sean Wilsey of the New York Times and Jill Soloway of the Los Angeles Times. The praise Bechdel's graphic memoir has received is well deserved, as her story and the format with which it is told are refreshing and interesting.