Rapid Review: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Fun Home 

by Alison Bechdel

Finished reading: 11/1/21

My rating: 3/5 stars.

Fun Home is a graphic novel/memoir by Alison Bechdel (inventor of the Bechdel Test, a measure of representation of women in fiction). The memoir explores Alison’s relationship with her late father, Bruce Bechdel, an English teacher and director of the family-owned funeral home or “fun home”. Alison draws on her experience with her sexuality and compares and differentiates this to her father’s experience with his sexuality.

This book is for all the English teachers out there, or rather, to all with a deep understanding of literary references. I’d like to claim I am intelligent and well read enough to “get” this book, but to be so would simply be a lie! Alison very intricately provides a literary metaphor to explain each of the parts of her and her fathers lives. I can only interpret the emphasis on literature to reflect how Alison has attempted to understand her father since his death. It seems that literature has provided Alison comfort in that it has allowed her to make sense of his life in a way that she never could as a child. These comparisons make sense to her and likely sparked the recollection of the memories she explores in this book. These references are supposed to provide clarity on what Alison is attempting to describe. However, they very much did the opposite in my case! I cannot tell you how many things I had to google whilst reading this book and somehow was left none the wiser. Without context, it’s challenging to take away any significant meaning from this work. I’m sure to any well-educated literature professors this book is a gold mine of emotional depth and intellectual discussion. But unfortunately for the rest of us we are left to ponder only at the surface of the pages.

This graphic novel was unusual in that it was very dense when it came to narration. This isn’t necessarily a negative thing, but it is the first graphic novel I’ve read where the illustration and dialogue don’t necessarily mirror the narration. This made for an interesting read, but not one that made me eager to turn the pages. I found it difficult to keep up with the two lines of narrative simultaneously. As well as this, the plot was arranged thematically as opposed to chronologically. This made sense as a memoir considering that our memories aren’t necessarily recollected chronologically but rather, we link memories with similar emotion. However, I found it incredibly difficult to follow how these memories were linked. It wasn’t messy, it just felt incredibly personal to Alison.

I thought some of the themes that were covered were really interesting. For example, I liked how Alison described her relationship with her gender and sexuality as well as her experience with obsessive compulsive disorder as a child and her experience grieving her father. I’m sure many can empathise and find comfort within these pages knowing they are not alone in having these feelings. Alison handles these topics with honesty and sensitivity.

I was also very surprised to discover that this book was adapted into a Broadway musical! It's not the first story that comes to my mind when I think of stories that would make amazing musicals, but there you are! I'm actually so intrigued to know what the musical is like so may have to check that out one day. Perhaps seeing the story acted out could provide more insight into the depth of the story.

Overall, I think this is an incredibly personal piece of work that must have been amazingly cathartic for Alison to write and illustrate. However, I have to say that I don’t believe it has universal appeal. Too many of the references went over my head to come to any deep, philosophical understanding. I’m sure literature students and lecturers alike would have a great time understanding every element, but without this the book simply lacks enough meaning for me. Therefore, I would definitely recommend to anyone with substantial academic literary knowledge, but if not, perhaps give it a miss.