Find all the books, read about the author, and more. It was not until college that alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A cult favorite in the comics world, alison bechdel has chronicled the lives of fictionalized characters in her dykes to watch out for comic strip since 1993. Alison bechdel has 49 books on goodreads with 331993 ratings.
Fun home delivers the tragedy in bechdel s life with comedic aplomb, illustrating key scenes from her childhood and adolescence in a cartoon style that harks back to the comics that came before. A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. Alison bechdel s cult following for her early comic strip dykes to watch out for expanded wildly for her family memoirs, the bestselling graphic memoir fun home, adapted into a tony awardwinning musical, and are you my mother. Bechdels rich language and precise images combine to create a lush piece of work a memoir where concision and detail are melded for maximum, obsessive density. A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual. Cartoonist and author alison bechdel reads from her new, critically acclaimed graphic memoir fun home with a slide presentation as. This breakout book by alison bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdels sweetly gothic drawings. This afternoon, i spent a couple of hours reading the last 150 pages of fun home. The test was popularized by alison bechdels comic dykes to watch out for, in a 1985 strip called the rule. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family. Fun home, subtitled a family tragicomic, is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american writer alison bechdel, author of the comic strip dykes to watch out for. The book follows alison from her early childhood and through to the beginning of.
Bechdels memoir offers a graphic narrative of uncommon richness, depth, literary resonance and psychological complexity. Its a very personal, moving, story, interwoven with literary references and wry. Fun home by alison bechdel, 9780618871711, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. It may be that the problems with the opening mythic allusion of the icarusdaedalus relationship coloured the remainder of my reading of bechdels graphic memoir. It is the final chapter in the autobiographical, awardwinning graphic novel that focuses on alisons earlier stages of life and her relationship with her father. She is also the author of the autobiographical graphic novel fun home, which was adapted into the tony. Though bechdel known for her syndicated dykes to watch out for strip and collections takes her formal cues from comic books, she receives more inspiration from the likes of proust and joyce as she attempts to unravel the knots of her familys twisted emotional. Like marjane satrapis persepolis, its a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form. A family tragicomic ebook written by alison bechdel.
The first edition of the novel was published in june 8th 2006, and was written by alison bechdel. Fun home is the history, memoir and biography book which shares the story of a woman who grew up in difficult circumstances. A family tragicomic and the comic strip dykes to watch out for. Called one of the preeminent oeuvres of the comics genre, period by ms, dykes is syndicated in fifty alternative newspapers and is collected into a book with a quarter million copies in print. An unusual memoir done in the form of a graphic novel by a cult favorite comic artist offers a darkly funny family portrait that details her relationship with her father, a historic preservation expert dedicated to restoring the familys victorian home, funeral home director, highschool english teacher, and closeted homosexual.
Alison bechdel has been a careful archivist of her own life and kept a journal since she was ten. One of the most eagerly anticipated graphic memoirs of recent years, fun home is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with alison bechdels sweetly gothic drawings. A family tragicomic book is telling about in this graphic memoir, alison bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father. In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail. Its like reading someones diary, because essentially it is someones diary, but this has to.
Burlington book festival 2006 september 15, 2006 cartoonist and author alison bechdel reads from her new, critically acclaimed graphic memoir fun home with a. In this groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 232 pages and is available in paperback format. In this groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir, alison bechdel charts her. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read fun home. A family tragicomic grabs you from the first page and never lets go. Divergent by veronica roth, catching fire by suzanne collins, mockingjay by suzanne collins, the hunger games by su. This breakout book by alison bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitchperfectly illustrated with bechdel s sweetly gothic drawings. Originally best known for the longrunning comic strip dykes to watch out for, she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir fun home, which was subsequently adapted as a musical and won a tony award for best musical.
A family tragicomic, the graphic memoir published by alison bechdel in 2006, can be considered to be at the level of the acclaimed maus 1993 by art spiegelman and marjane satrapi. Alison bechdel hoped that fun home, her very personal graphic memoir, would heal her familys wounds. Queer crossings and inversions in alison bechdels fun. Fun home a family tragicomic is the latest work from the highly skilled, insightful, neurotic and wryhumored pen of alison bechdel, best known for her dykes to watch out for comic strip.
Putting the fun back in funeral and spicing it with tenderness, grit and regret, alison bechdels memoir fun home. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one. Fun home is a hard book, butfilled with love and hate and glory and discontent and tragedy and hopeits also a powerful one. Particularly revealing is a snapshot of a certain letter from father to daughter, because his indecipherable handwriting means all the reader has is. You can read fun home in a sitting, or get lost in the pictures within the pictures on its pages.
Alison bechdels cult following for her early comic strip dykes to watch out for expanded wildly for her family memoirs, the bestselling graphic memoir fun home, adapted into a tony awardwinning musical, and are you my mother. Alison bechdel is the author of the bestselling memoir fun home. A family tragicomic, an awesome graphic novel by american cartoonist alison bechdel. The fun home quotes below are all either spoken by alison bechdel or refer to alison bechdel. Fun home refers both to the funeral parlor, where he put makeup on the corpses and arranged the flowers, and the familys meticulously restored gothic. A family tragicomic by alison bechdel and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The character of alison bechdel in fun home from litcharts. Fun home is the biography, memoir and history book which tells the story of a woman who grew up in difficult circumstances. Read fun home a family tragicomic by alison bechdel available from rakuten kobo. It chronicles the authors childhood and youth in rural pennsylvania, united states, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. I also mentioned maus by art spiegelman as being awesome. She has obviously spent years getting this memoir right, and it shows. Bechdel has been named a macarthur fellow and cartoonist laureate of vermont, among many other honors. Fun home is alison bechdel s graphic memoir of her life growing up.
Fun home ebook by alison bechdel 9780547347004 rakuten. Instead it led to terrible upset, she tells emma brockes. Alison bechdel this book takes its place alongside the unnerving, memorable, darkly funny family. Bechdel doesnt even hint about how ironic she and her brothers meant to be, because she is a narrative artist, not a moralist or comedian, in this book and because she has. Fun home delivers the tragedy in bechdels life with comedic aplomb, illustrating key scenes from her childhood and adolescence in a cartoon style that harks back to the comics that came before. The character of helen bechdel in fun home from litcharts. Distant and exacting, bruce bechdel was an english teacher and director of the town funeral home, which alison and her family referred to as the fun home.
Download fun home by alison bechdel pdf ebook free. The bechdel test, sometimes called the mo movie measure or bechdel rule is a simple test which names the following three criteria. A family tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the american cartoonist alison bechdel, author of the comic strip dykes to watch out for. The fun home quotes below are all either spoken by helen bechdel or refer to helen bechdel. With less than a month of the 2017 reading challenge to go, i have to read ten books before the end of the year to reach my target if we are playing a purely numbers game. One of the longestrunning queer comic strips, dykes to watch out for is over 20 years old, has. Particularly revealing is a snapshot of a certain letter from father to daughter, because his. Fun home by alison bechdel pdf download ebookscart. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional. This memoir, in graphic novel format, tells the story of growing up with her eccentric father, around a funeral home the fun home of the title and the effect his sudden death had on her family.