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lostinthelibrary's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I don't read many memoirs and I've never before read a graphic novel so this was definitely out of my comfort zone!
I did take a bit of time to get used to the format. At first I felt like my eyes were darting all over the page and I was missing details, but once I got used to it I was able to really immerse myself in the story and reading became a lot more effortless.
This is a coming of age story focusing equally on personal identity and family relationships. It felt deeply personal and Alison did a great job at inhabiting her thoughts and feelings at various points in her childhood and young adulthood. Even though the timeline was non-linear, I never felt lost.
Of course, a lot of this was due to the illustrations. I was in awe of the perfectly struck balance between simplicity and detail and the way Alison subtly changed her characters to age them or represent a theme (e.g. her father as a greek god). It was all extremely clever and I'm sure if I thumbed through it again I would notice new details.
I will say that some of the themes went a little over my head, Alison is clearly a voracious reader and makes frequent references to literature and I think if I had read more of the books she refers to I would have had a fuller experience of this novel. Interestingly two of the references were to books I have read this month (The Wind in The Willows and The Portrait of a Lady). There is also a lot left unsaid and that lack of closure may be frustrating to some. But hey, real life is rarely neat.
Overall this was a very positive reading experience for me and I'm glad that I expanded my reading horizons.
I did take a bit of time to get used to the format. At first I felt like my eyes were darting all over the page and I was missing details, but once I got used to it I was able to really immerse myself in the story and reading became a lot more effortless.
This is a coming of age story focusing equally on personal identity and family relationships. It felt deeply personal and Alison did a great job at inhabiting her thoughts and feelings at various points in her childhood and young adulthood. Even though the timeline was non-linear, I never felt lost.
Of course, a lot of this was due to the illustrations. I was in awe of the perfectly struck balance between simplicity and detail and the way Alison subtly changed her characters to age them or represent a theme (e.g. her father as a greek god). It was all extremely clever and I'm sure if I thumbed through it again I would notice new details.
I will say that some of the themes went a little over my head, Alison is clearly a voracious reader and makes frequent references to literature and I think if I had read more of the books she refers to I would have had a fuller experience of this novel. Interestingly two of the references were to books I have read this month (The Wind in The Willows and The Portrait of a Lady). There is also a lot left unsaid and that lack of closure may be frustrating to some. But hey, real life is rarely neat.
Overall this was a very positive reading experience for me and I'm glad that I expanded my reading horizons.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Suicide and Adult/minor relationship
emmapaigereads's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
aloevera's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
I may come back and give this 5 stars, regardless it is a lovely memoir that I would recommend to any queer person. I think it’s a great memoir for everyone to read and I really enjoy the unique use of the graphic novel format, but it will hit home for every queer kid who has navigated a complex parental relationship. I don’t think this was even reflective of my excitement but it is so powerfully written, it just really kept me engaged from start to end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Suicide
kaimetcalfe's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Death, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Violence, Sexual content, Alcohol, Biphobia, Bullying, and Drug use
Minor: Pedophilia, Stalking, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism
bek_p87's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I was terrified to read this book, because my mind struggles with the concept of graphic novels (do you read the captions first? the dialogue in the drawings? or do you look at the drawings first?). Turns out I had nothing to worry about - or, at least, nothing about the form of the book! There were, however, so many words and literary references I didn't fully understand (and I consider myself quite intelligent), that I started to feel that I wasn't smart enough to read this book.
It's always difficult to rate and review memoirs, but I did enjoy this, although the story jumped around A LOT, and that did make it difficult to follow. Having said that, I would certainly recommend this to the queer community, and to anyone with a complex relationship with a parent.
It's always difficult to rate and review memoirs, but I did enjoy this, although the story jumped around A LOT, and that did make it difficult to follow. Having said that, I would certainly recommend this to the queer community, and to anyone with a complex relationship with a parent.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Suicide
Moderate: Drug use
krivas91's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
3.5 stars? I always find it weird rating an author’s autobiographical content…but there’s still things that can be said. I appreciate the author’s extreme openness with her readers, and found it just really interesting to view her experience coming out as a lesbian while becoming aware of her father’s sexual activities and advances toward young men (teenagers), and figuring herself out as a child of two parents who did not outwardly/visibly show her love and affection hardly ever.
However, there were so many times that the text was just so heavy (in the emotional sense, but also the literal-literature sense), and I found myself asking if we were even intended to read the images when she would picture mostly illegible letters by her father.
Also, one review here noted the “references to classic literature that are carefully, artfully implemented and never daunting,” but I’d have to disagree; I understand that she connected to her father through literature and that’s why she included so much of it in her recollection, but I do think I felt like I was really missing something when I didn’t understand references or a few high-vocabulary words. I don’t think she could have written her way totally around that (or that she should have), but I do fear that some readers who could really use exposure to the coming out + family relationships content might be turned off of this book earlier on because of the dense presence of classic literature references.
However, there were so many times that the text was just so heavy (in the emotional sense, but also the literal-literature sense), and I found myself asking if we were even intended to read the images when she would picture mostly illegible letters by her father.
Also, one review here noted the “references to classic literature that are carefully, artfully implemented and never daunting,” but I’d have to disagree; I understand that she connected to her father through literature and that’s why she included so much of it in her recollection, but I do think I felt like I was really missing something when I didn’t understand references or a few high-vocabulary words. I don’t think she could have written her way totally around that (or that she should have), but I do fear that some readers who could really use exposure to the coming out + family relationships content might be turned off of this book earlier on because of the dense presence of classic literature references.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Car accident, Suicide, Lesbophobia, and Death
jaywithwhiskey's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
2.0
It was fine. I think this book was much more hyped up than I enjoyed it. I read this after someone told me this is where the Bechdel test started - sadly I thought it was this book particularly - so I was waiting for when it came around. It never did. I was bored through most of the story sadly, I couldn't relate this this story but I appreciate it for what it is. Just not for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Death, Infidelity, Rape, and Grief
maggiegirouard's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Car accident, Medical content, Infidelity, Violence, Mental illness, and Cursing
steveatwaywords's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
When Bechdel's graphic memoir tips its hand around its major secret in the first chapter, I wondered how she would spend the next six. She does not disappoint.
As she reflects on memories uncertain, limited omniscience, her own growing identity and how it biases her narrative agenda, challenges nostalgia and resolves/fails-to-resolve relationships (including with herself), and entangles all of it in thick and layered parallels to the literature she knows and will know, we find that Fun Home is about something far richer and more important than its mere family plot.
This is worth the read to settle in to: I appreciated the genre which comes from her own growing artistic skill, her takes on her readings, and how polarizing ideologies somehow might fuse in unlikely places. The only reason I do not give it 5 stars is that once met, I wishes to stay there longer, that references to other complications and nuance might have been explored still more. She is certainly capable of doing it.
As she reflects on memories uncertain, limited omniscience, her own growing identity and how it biases her narrative agenda, challenges nostalgia and resolves/fails-to-resolve relationships (including with herself), and entangles all of it in thick and layered parallels to the literature she knows and will know, we find that Fun Home is about something far richer and more important than its mere family plot.
This is worth the read to settle in to: I appreciated the genre which comes from her own growing artistic skill, her takes on her readings, and how polarizing ideologies somehow might fuse in unlikely places. The only reason I do not give it 5 stars is that once met, I wishes to stay there longer, that references to other complications and nuance might have been explored still more. She is certainly capable of doing it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual content
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, and Infidelity
Illustrations of sexual situations are at times fairly graphic. Otherwise, the content warnings are verbal reckonings in memory; nearly all propel the major plot of the memoir.skudiklier's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I read this much more quickly and easily than I thought I would; I read Are You My Mother? a few years ago, and though I liked it a lot, I think it was denser, or slower, for me at least. Maybe I'll reread it now that I have the context of this book too.
I don't really have a lot to say about this book, except that I liked it and would recommend it.
I don't really have a lot to say about this book, except that I liked it and would recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Homophobia, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual content and Pedophilia