Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

248 reviews

mayavd's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

3.75

I didn’t love the use of classic literature in this. I get that it was meant to tie into her love for her English teacher father but it came off as pretentious more than anything. 

The comic panels were of course stunning and thought provoking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

veronicaarose's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia and Suicide

bootrat's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

2.5

I was told by the friend that lent me this book that it was going to be really emotional, and I just didn't feel that. I think it's because I hated her Dad from the first chapter, when it intimated that he preyed on teenage boys, so I never got fully invested in him or their relationship. Beyond that it felt fairly de rigueur as far as coming out/growing up queer memoirs go, and wasn't anything particularly special imo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Suicide, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

corkadillo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

There's nothing like reading such an intensely similar account of someone else's upbringing to your own. Devoured in a sitting. Amazing. Heartwrenching. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicide

seventhswan's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

May's read for book group, 4.5 stars. I haven't read a graphic novel since I was about eleven and I'm not entirely sure the pictures added much to this for me, other than that I do love a map and the jokes were fun to spot. Regardless, I thought this book managed to be both entertaining and moving - I can't imagine it's easy to write something funny about

your father's suicide and sexual interest in teenage boys,

but I never felt Bechdel was being overly self-pitying or morose. The quality of the writing was also really excellent and I enjoyed the references to various books and plays. Some I'd read and some I hadn't but I didn't find that, for example, not having read Ulysses myself harmed my understanding of the book. I found it easy to connect with Bechdel, I think we'd get on, we seem to have a lot in common.

I thought it was a bit rogue that the narrative was almost entirely

"and my dad killed himself because he felt so much SHAME about being GAY" as if he was only struggling with attraction to other men and not, by the sounds of it, grooming teenagers.

I can understand not wanting to reckon with that too deeply, I just kept waiting for it to be addressed and it never really was. 

I was probably predisposed to like this, as I love a memoir in any form, but I still enjoyed it more than I expected. A creative and at-times relatable read that I'm excited to discuss with others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol

tdesy20's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

lindsaybethlyons's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Violence

jmarob's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

mahamsiddiqui's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Suicide

hazeln00t's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

3.75

I think I may have given this 5 stars when I first read it 7 years ago with one foot still in the closet. I still love the book and would recommend it, but it hit differently this time around. It’s pensive and measured. It captures the love-hate feelings we can feel towards family in a very matter-of-fact way. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Suicide