Bechdel, A. (2006). Fun home: A
family tragicomic. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
ISBN: 9780618477944 (Hardcover)
$19.95
Other Formats: Paperback and eBook
Other Formats: Paperback and eBook
Recommended for ages 16 and up
 |
| Image Courtesy of Wikipedia |
AWARDS:
Fun Home won the 2006 Publishing Triangle’s Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award, a Lambda Book Award, an Eisner award, and the Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award from the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table. It was also nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. (Retrieved from the Author's Website).
Fun Home won the 2006 Publishing Triangle’s Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award, a Lambda Book Award, an Eisner award, and the Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award from the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table. It was also nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. (Retrieved from the Author's Website).
Annotation: Growing up in Allison' house in not exactly fun because of her emotionally-distant father, Bruce.
Fun Home is a detailed account of the complex, and at times abusive, relationship author Allison Bechdel’s had with her father Bruce during her formative years in the 1960s and 1970s. In this coming-of-age story, Allison learns that Bruce is harboring a deep secret that threatens to tear his family and career apart; and ultimately this suppression leads to his alleged suicide. In the autobiographical story, Bruce is a high school English teacher who also moonlights as a funeral director at the family’s owned and operated funeral parlor, which has been run by the Bechdel family for generations. However, Bruce’s true passion is the meticulous restoration of the family’s Victorian house and waxing poetic about literature. The latter hobby is one that he shares with Allison. The house appears idyllic from the outside, but family life inside the home is not exactly peaceful. According to Allison, Bruce is an aloof father who often exhibits feministic qualities, which Allison instantly relates to since her mannerisms are masculine in nature. While away at college, Allison finally announces that she is a lesbian, much to her mother’s dismay. Surprisingly, it is detached Bruce who is there to console Allison, and he finally confides in her the secret he has been harboring for a great number of years.
Fun Home is a detailed account of the complex, and at times abusive, relationship author Allison Bechdel’s had with her father Bruce during her formative years in the 1960s and 1970s. In this coming-of-age story, Allison learns that Bruce is harboring a deep secret that threatens to tear his family and career apart; and ultimately this suppression leads to his alleged suicide. In the autobiographical story, Bruce is a high school English teacher who also moonlights as a funeral director at the family’s owned and operated funeral parlor, which has been run by the Bechdel family for generations. However, Bruce’s true passion is the meticulous restoration of the family’s Victorian house and waxing poetic about literature. The latter hobby is one that he shares with Allison. The house appears idyllic from the outside, but family life inside the home is not exactly peaceful. According to Allison, Bruce is an aloof father who often exhibits feministic qualities, which Allison instantly relates to since her mannerisms are masculine in nature. While away at college, Allison finally announces that she is a lesbian, much to her mother’s dismay. Surprisingly, it is detached Bruce who is there to console Allison, and he finally confides in her the secret he has been harboring for a great number of years.
Because the book is in graphic novel format, the reader
actually has a chance to connect with the characters on a deeper level. Readers
actually tour the house and visually experience Allison’s trials and
tribulation. Because of its pictorial quality, the story’s theme is more
haunting and agonizing than it would have been if only text was used. However,
there were several instances in the story that were just a bit too sexually
suggestive for my personal tastes; therefore, I believe this book is for young
adults over the age of sixteen. Overall, I appreciate the author’s candor about
her family life, which takes much self-reflection and strength, but I felt as
though some of the book’s elements were too advanced for young adults,
especially her insistence on using elaborate literary terms. I believe that teens will find it difficult to
relate to a number of Allison’s accounts because of her mature writing
technique. Lastly, I did enjoy reading this book, but I only recommend it for
advanced readers.
