Reviews

Hautuukoti – Tragikoominen perheeni by Alison Bechdel

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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.

Content Warnings

ketchashum's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

mnmille1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

2.5

lizzycatslibrary's review against another edition

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5.0

I am new to the entire graphic novel scene, and so the leap into this graphic memoir was quite pleasant. The way that Bechdel presents her story is really a work of art. It is one of those reads that you will have to read over again just to start to grasp the many complex issues that are addressed within this book. Not a light-hearted, happy go lucky read, but deeply emotional, personal, and honest. I plan to read it again when I get the time.