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A review by betweentheshelves
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
So I definitely get why this is an important work of literature, given that it was published at a time when graphic novels weren't nearly as popular as they are now. You can tell that a lot of work went into the writing and the illustrating. The writing gets quite literary at times, with references that honestly probably went over my head. But, it helped to set the context of the overall story.
We talked about this at book club tonight, but this story is a lot, emotionally. There isn't ever really a climax or a relief from the tense, difficult nature of the emotions threading their way through the story. Everything about the format, the writing, the colors, the format, adds to this kind of sense of dread. Which almost makes the story itself difficult to read.
While this isn't the kind of book that you read for enjoyment, I do think it's an important piece of influential literature. And probably inspired many other graphic novelests that came later.
We talked about this at book club tonight, but this story is a lot, emotionally. There isn't ever really a climax or a relief from the tense, difficult nature of the emotions threading their way through the story. Everything about the format, the writing, the colors, the format, adds to this kind of sense of dread. Which almost makes the story itself difficult to read.
While this isn't the kind of book that you read for enjoyment, I do think it's an important piece of influential literature. And probably inspired many other graphic novelests that came later.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, and Pedophilia