Reviewed by John Glover, Reference Librarian for the Humanities
Fun Home is an autobiographical comic written in a nuanced, literary style, intermingling the stories of the author's coming to grips with her sexual identity and her closeted father's untimely death. Bechdel, author of Dykes to Watch Out For, draws in a style that meshes comfortably with her narrative, neither outshining nor underwhelming it. To consider this comic simple autobiography, however, would be a disservice. Through its pages one sees the trials and tribulations suffered by generations of queer America, both in the cities and in the small towns of America.
Fun Home will appeal to all readers who enjoy thoughtful literature. Bechdel's work is clever, emotionally gripping in a way that moves beyond simple feelings such as joy or anger and into the strange sensations (or lack thereof) that arise at life's crossroads. She includes many snippets of other authors' works when the characters are reading, using their texts to replicate their various epiphanies, from Camus to Colette.
