Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - Alison Bechdel

In this graphic memoir, Alison Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father.

Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve. (link)

Review: 4/5

I’ll start off with saying that I have not read a graphic novel since I was probably in middle school and it was called Smile, you know that one about puberty and braces, and it was really popular in like 2012, which is when I was in middle school. So anyways, this is my first introduction to an adult style of graphic novel and I was not disappointed. However, I also wasn't super into it. I felt like I expected more of an emotional connection to myself while reading a book about being queer and the idea of a family going through tragedy while also finding out who they really are.

I found this book at the Sigmund Freud museum in Vienna when my friend and I went there while I was on an exchange (she came to visit me all the way from Colorado)! I think I found a lot of really really interesting European (mainly British) reads while I was living over there. For that, I’m especially thankful because I think it expanded my tastes and really deepened my fore- and after-thought of literature. I think that getting off of TikTok and traveling really deepened my appreciation for real literature and not just smut - even though I can obviously enjoy that from time to time - I think I gained a real appreciation for literature that really takes the cogs in your mind to work.

Back to this book: I was set on reading something with a synopsis like ‘take a look through the authors retelling of her realizing that her father was a gay man before he passed away while she was in the midst of realizing that she was also queer’ tell me you don’t wanna read that book! Does that not entice you? Does that not bring you in? Does that not make you want to devote multiple hours to that story and premise?

While reading this book, I don’t know if I just didn’t feel the connection that I normally feel to a traditional book because there wasn’t really a lot of worldbuilding or description and it was also felt very short. I felt like maybe if I did some research into the author and her life before I read this, maybe I would've liked it more. I wouldn’t reread it and it's not the type of book that I would necessarily recommend everyone; if you’re queer, and I am aware of that, I might have this book as a pointed suggestion. But that is just my two cents, so why take it super seriously?

Another part of this book that I found really fascinating, was the time jumping from college to when she was a kid. Her kind of realization and piecing those thoughts of “am I attracted to someone of the same sex?” together. I thought that was really interesting because as someone who is also queer, I can empathize and resonate with that. I also found it really interesting that she pieced together the pieces of her father‘s queer story while she was in college and very close to when he passed away. It was like a babysitter or nanny that her father had relationships with; something in that classic archetype of poolboy.

I do remember that shame that the mother and children had, that seemingly skipped over the father. It seems obvious to me, the shame the father should have felt at this time in history when being gay wasn’t as accepted as he lived his life in secret. He had affairs, he had crushes on old boys and young men. The mother just put up with it because that’s what you did back then when you wanted the perfect family, even though you knew that you didn’t have it. I think we are really used to seeing men not act on their desires unless it’s shrouded in secrecy or shame.

I think there is a really important cultural context of men not being open with what they want and not being able to be fully happy, because they simply won’t recognize what they want or what they want to do. I think that’s why when it comes to affairs or affairs in general it’s easier for a man to act on it because typically things that make men happy or feel fulfilled are shrouded in shame anyways. The idea of “if you’re gonna do something to make you happy, you might as well keep it a secret anyways so you might as well do something really bad” instead of something that can provide enjoyment or happiness for others as well. But that’s just my psychological and philanthropic hyper-analyzation of men and the patriarchy and shame.

There's not a lot to say about this book because there’s not a huge plot. It really is mostly the character study of the author taking time to realize her dad‘s queer story and the moments that she might’ve known about it, but didn’t really acknowledge it. I believe there is a specific bravery in reopening that kind of wound and, I say kudos to the writer.

Anyways, I do recommend this book to people who want to get their reading count up quickly, and also to people who are fascinated by queer stories. I don’t know why it landed kind of flat for me, but I think it can land a lot fuller for others.

If I remember correctly, the author set this story in the 70s (her childhood) and 90s (her time in University). So we’re gonna take some queer icons from the 70s through 90s, and we’re gonna give them a voice with this playlist. As if they didn’t already have a voice in the cultural and worldwide phenomenon anyway. I hope it finds you well and I hope it finds you gay. Spotify: LINK