Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Bibliographic Information: Bechdel, A. (2006). Fun home: A family tragicomic. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Plot Summary: Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic tells the story of her childhood, her complex relationship with her father, and her realization of her homosexuality.  As a young girl, Bechdel didn’t like girly things.  She wanted short hair, to wear boyish clothes, and to never bother with a barrette as long as she lived!  She grew up in a home elaborately decorated by her father.  He loved beautiful things, which, in Bechdel’s eyes, made up for her lack of interest in such trivialties.  At times her father’s temper sent him into fits of rage, at the expense of his wife and children.  

As she grew up, Bechdel began a journey of self-exploration through novels where she was enlightened to her homosexuality.  After experiencing such a discovery, Bechdel eventually made the decision to tell her parents through letter (she was in college at the time).  Her mother was a bit disappointed, and her father merely avoided any sort of conversation about it by saying that it’s healthy for people to experiment.  It is during a phone conversation with her mother after she came out that Bechdel learned her father had been having affairs with men!  Sadly, Bechdel’s father doesn’t live long for he and Alison to talk about their homosexuality, for he is tragically killed while crossing the street by a bread truck.  

Critical Evaluation:  Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel exposes the complex father-daughter relationship between Bechdel and her father.  Although they are both homosexuals, they deal with their sexual orientation in different ways.  Bechdel’s father, Bruce, hid his homosexuality while Alison embraced it.  Bruce, despite having a wife and children, acted on his homosexuality and had many secretive affairs with other men (some of whom were his high school students).  On the other hand, Alison accepted her sexuality, and openly had a relationship with another women and attended gay union meetings.  Growing up, Bechdel recalls her father trying to make her more feminine by making her wear dresses and barrettes.  In contrast, Bechdel often thought of her father as a sissy because of his obsession with restoring their family home.  Both Alison and Bruce are dissatisfied with their gender roles, which adds more strain to their relationship.  After her father’s sudden death, Bechdel has a hard time deciding if it was an accident, or if it was in reaction to her coming out to her parents a few years prior.  Bechdel will never know for sure if her father’s death was intentional or by accident, but she still looks back on her life with him and sees his positive and negative influence.

Reader’s Annotation:  He wanted to be a girl.  She wanted to be a boy.  Growing up in the same house, as father and daughter, was no easy journey.  

Information about the author: Alison Bechdel first comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For has been published in over fifty LGBT publications in North America and the UK.  Her recognition grew when Fun Home was published in 2006, and in 2012 she published another graphic memoir, Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama.  

Bechdel has been an avid journaler since age ten; entries from which can be seen in Fun Home.  Four of her books have won Lambda Literary Awards for humor, and The Indelible Alison Bechdel won a Lambda Literary Award for autobiography/biography (Bechdel, n.d.).  

Genre: Graphic Memoir

Curriculum Ties: History (women’s and gay rights)

Booktalking ideas (one or two):

1. News report of Bruce Bechdel’s death.

2. A journal entry from Alison.

Reading level/Interest age: 17+

Challenge Issues: This novel contains homosexuality, sex, nudity, strong language, and suicide.

To defend challenged material I would:

1.    Read/watch/listen to the material to become familiar with the content.

2.    Familiarize myself with the Arizona Common Core curriculum standards http://www.azed.gov/azcommoncore/teacher/ to defend how the material can support the learning of these standards.

3.    Refer to the Library Bill of Rights: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

4.    Refer to the collection policy of my library.

5. Collect reviews from staff/students/patrons who have used the material

Why I chose this book: This graphic novel is a wonderful addition to my collection because it appeals to readers who enjoy graphic novels.  It is considered a graphic memoir- a story about the author's life in comic strip format.  The story runs deeper than the pictures on the page.  It is full of emotion, depth, and meaning.
 

References:

Bechdel, A. (n.d.) About. Dykes To Watch Out For. Website. Retrieved 1 May 2013 from

http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/about