A review by astrangewind
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

dark hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.75

When I read this book for the first time, I was 18, in my second semester of college. At that time, I hadn't come out yet - not even to myself. So when I read Fun Home back then, I thought it was kind of stupid. Now, nearly 8 years later, I find Fun Home to be not only important but necessary. Bechdel, by telling her own complicated story with her father, validates the complex feelings queer people often have about themselves and their relationships with others. The moment where she sees a butch truck driver for the first time resonates with how I felt wearing jeans for the first time in years - the realization that yes, there is an option. It inspires joy in the messiness of the queer experience, joy in loving and being loved, joy in life going on, despite the complexity. The graphic format suits Bechdel's writing style, and this story, better than I had thought; the panels link together effortlessly, and contribute their own tune to the written words describing them. It reads like a diary entry, itself messy and confused and unsure, much like Bechdel's childhood entries. 
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