A captivating storyline with complementary illustrations only skims the surface of what Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic really conveys. The graphic novel, written by Alison Bechdel, gives insight into the author’s dark and detached childhood. Bechdel’s autobiography is far from normal as she exploits her father’s closeted homosexuality as well as her personal struggle with her own sexuality.
The title of the novel refers to her family’s funeral home in Pennsylvania. The setting of the “fun home” seems to perfectly capture the uniquely twisted, yet slightly humorous plot of the novel.
Bechdel takes readers into her life as she grows up with a father who tries to conceal his sexual identity while remaining in an unloving marriage with his wife. Bechdel’s father, both a high school English teacher and a funeral home director, has a penchant for gothicism as well as easy access to teenage boys. Whether it be putting make up on corpses, constantly restoring the family’s dark Victorian house, or trying to satisfy his sexual frustration by preying upon young boys, Bechdel’s father remains an objective and repressed character.
Shadowed by her father’s struggle with his homosexuality, Bechdel waits to come out to her family until she is in college. Shortly after, her father is killed by a truck while crossing the street. Accidental or suicidal, her father’s death coincides with the overall tragic theme of the novel. Regardless, such tragedies in Bechdel’s life are counteracted with a resilience that lessens the depressiveness.
Her recollection of hard-felt memories strengthens the understanding of her past and draws readers in as she redefines her obscured childhood through illustrations and text. And unlike most graphic novels, which are stereotyped as being uninformative and lacking educational substance, Bechdel’s book uses several dictionary excerpts throughout the novel and has words spilling off the page.
The story of Bechdel’s childhood is like nothing else. Her unflinching honesty in relating her memories allows readers the chance to fully immerse themselves in her world. Both informative and visually alluring, there doesn’t seem to be a more deep and gripping graphic novel than that of Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.
