This is a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel that focuses on her relationship with her late father. Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and also director of the town funeral home (which the family referred to as the Fun Home). After college, Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay.
I was familiar with Alison Bechdel's long-running comic, Dykes to Watch Out For, but I didn't know much about her. In this graphic novel, it was interesting to learn about Alison's family, especially her relationship with her father. And, it is an interesting read, although I found it kind of depressing. Her father was a complex person, and his relationship with her wasn't at all warm. Her parents seem at odds with each other, and not that interested in their children, either. But, this memoir is about the author putting together the pieces of what she has learned about her father, and the book actually ends in a way that makes it seem that she is not finished.
I enjoy her writing style and her art, so I think I enjoyed this graphic memoir more because it was graphic. I'm not sure if it would have been as interesting if it had been a memoir with no pictures, and no art. Combining her writing with her drawings really brought the story to life with a great deal of emotion that I think would be hard to portray in any other way.
This book was made into a Broadway musical, so if this book sounds like your kind of read, there's now a musical adaptation.
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