Autobiography

Bechdel, Allison.  Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.  0780618871711; paperback; $13.95 USD.  

Awards  

• Time, 12/25/06, #1 Best Book of the Year
• New York Times, 12/3/06, 100 Notable Books of 2006
• Entertainment Weekly, 12/22/06, Best Books of the Year, #1 Nonfiction
• People, 12/25/06, Top 10 Books of the Year
• USA Today, 12/21/06, Best Graphic Title of 2006
• Los Angeles Times, 12/10/06, Favorite Books of 2006, Fiction and Poetry
• San Francisco Chronicle, 12/17/06, The Year’s Best Books
• New York Magazine, 12/18/06, Best Books of the Year, #7
• Time Out New York, 12/06, Favorite Books of the Year
• Minneapolis Star Tribune, 11/24/06, Best Books of 2006
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/3/06, Best Books of 2006
• The Plain Dealer, 12/10/06, Outstanding Books of 2006
• Salon, 12/12/06, Best Debuts of 2006, Nonfiction
• The Capital Times, 12/12/06, 2006 Favorites
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/15/06, Best of Year
• Out, 12/2006, 100 Most Intriguing People of 2006
• Amazon.com, Editor’s Choice, Top 50 Books of 2006, Top 10 Memoirs of 2006
• Oregonian, 12/31/06, Best Books of 2006, #2
• The Advocate, 1/07, Best Book of the Year
• The Guardian (UK), 11/26/06, Pick of 2006
• New York Blade, 12/29/06, Literary Stand Outs of 2006
• PW Comics Week, Critic’s Poll, Best Comic Book of 2006
• Publishers Weekly, Best Books of the Year 2006
• Times (UK), 12/16/06, Best Books of 2006, #10
• Newsday, 1/2/07, Favorite Books of 2006
• The Village Voice, 25 Favorite Books of 2006

Annotation

Alison Bechdel portrays her childhood in comic strip form. Her honoree relationship with her father and her homosexuality are covered in this intriguing darkly humorous autobiography.

Book Review

 Fun Home A Family Tragicomic is a deeply honest and darkly comical autobiography  of the cartoonist Alison Bechdel known for her comic strip Dykes to Watch out For. It chronicles her life from a young child to adulthood.  The book focuses on her tumultuous and somewhat honoree relationship with her father. A high school English teacher, elusive parent, closeted homosexual, funeral home director, and house preservationist are words used to describe Bechdel’s father.  His misdoings and flaws are cleverly told in addition to Bechdel’s self discovery of her own sexuality as a lesbian. Bechdel’s graphic novel is written with truth, dark humor, and riveting graphic depictions. The autobiography was written from her personal journal as a child but has the added depth and perception of her adult years and understanding of the truth about her father, family, and herself. Bechdel has married humor with her family’s sadness and truth.  Readers will be filled with sarcastic laughter and in the same moment a somber sadness. The controversial topics such as suicide and homosexuality in addition to graphic pictures would make this book more suitable for upper high school students and beyond. Recommended. 

The author, Alison Bechdel, reads excerpts from her book...