As many of you know, I have been exploring graphic novels
recently and have been making my way through Flavorwire’s list of 25 EssentialGraphic Novels. Most that I have read I have enjoyed but not been bowled over
by. I just finished reading Fun Home
by Alison Bechdel, a graphic memoir of her childhood and her relationship with
her father, and I absolutely loved it. It was moving, engrossing, insightful,
and I never wanted it to end.
Alison grew up in a small town in the mountains of Pennsylvania
with her mother, father, and two brothers. In some ways, she had a typical
childhood – going to school, playing pretend with her friends, exploring the
local woods and streams with her brothers – but much of her childhood, and
especially her Dad, was quite unusual. Her father was completely obsessed with
antiques and restoring their old home, so Alison’s childhood was filled with
decorative woodwork, vintage curtains and wallpaper, and lots and lots of
dusting.
That wasn’t her father’s only eccentricity, though. He
worked full-time as a high school English teacher but also served as their
town’s mortician in his family’s funeral parlor (which they had nicknamed Fun
Home). Oh, and her father was gay, a fact that Alison didn’t know until she
was in college and came out to her parents as a lesbian. So, yes, Alison’s
childhood was more than a bit unusual.
The focus of her memoir is on her relationship with her
father. In fact, at times, it feels like an intimate, personal journaling by
Alison, trying to make sense of their relationship and of his death and
working through those complicated feelings by telling their stories. She
details moments they shared, ranging from working on the house together (or
rather, she following his orders), sharing his love of literature, and even the
odd, sometimes unsettling times when he was working at the funeral home. Since
her father was an English teacher and lover of literature, she also fills the
memoir with literary references that provide the glue that held their
relationship together and hints as to what was going on in his mind.
The memoir is an exploration of Alison and her dad’s
unusual relationship, but it is also a coming-of-age story, as Alison grows up
and realizes she’s different from other girls and struggles to find her
identity and become comfortable with herself. It is a very candid, honest analysis
of her life and her father’s life and how the two are intertwined.
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| A sample page from Fun Home (click to enlarge) |
Being a graphic memoir, this complicated story is told
through pictures, and Alison’s illustrations are absolutely compelling, filled
with fascinating details. They are almost photographic in their complexity (and
sometimes, like on the cover, she even recreates old family photos), and she
incorporates all kinds of interesting pieces, like pages from books,
handwritten excerpts of letters, and even dictionary entries. In an effort to
piece together her own story, she has mined her memory for the tiniest details,
and brings them to the page to share with the reader.
Fun Home is an
extraordinary memoir. In some ways, it is even more personal and in-depth than
a purely textual memoir because the reader picks up so many minute details from
her realistic illustrations. The author shares not only her story but her emotions
and her personal pain…and joy, too. This book opened my eyes to how much depth
a graphic novel/memoir can provide, and I highly recommend it.
232 pages, Mariner (Houghton Mifflin Company)
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