Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

49 reviews

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, Death of parent, and Suicide

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

Minor: Alcohol

jmarob's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

rhubarbpi3's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.5

I quite liked this! I thought it would be way more sad like the play (which I haven't seen but have listened to and heard a ton about) but I didn't find this very sad at all? She talks a lot about her longing for a relationship with her father, but not that she's sad she didn't have a good one... very interesting and I loved all the literary references/extended metaphors all the way through, this is the first graphic novel I've ever read to have done that. The word choice was interesting? I didn't dislike it, but there were more words I had to google than any other book I've read this year, which was interesting to pair with the perceived reading level of a story in pictures and words. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Child abuse

grem_ler's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Child abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, and Sexual content

pandorasirens's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Infidelity, Homophobia, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Pedophilia

blackberryjambaby's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Infidelity, Outing, Suicide, Car accident, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Gore

jamieruwen's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

I mean, you don't need to tell me you that Fun Home is an outstanding piece of literature. It's a remarkable comic-memoir, a coming of age as much as it is a grief novel as much as it is a reconciliation with the father Alison Bechdel knew as a child and the man he turned out to be, as it is a reconciliation of her self with her father's self. Some panels nearly moved me to tears because they were so brilliantly composed (Alison and her father standing in front of the mirror before the wedding!). This might become one of those books that I'll reread every year, it's probably  one of those where you find something new in it every time you read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Infidelity, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Graphic: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Mentioned: Child Sexual Abuse. Alison's father has "relationships" with teenagers and was sexually abused himself. However none of the affected characters express any negative feelings towards those experiences.

becksusername's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Car accident, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Alcohol, Homophobia, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Suicide

avidales's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Car accident, Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Physical abuse

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

i think some topics weren’t explored enough, but the story was important and the art style was really nice

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Grief, Alcohol, Infidelity, Death, Outing, Suicide, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness