Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Bechdel, Allison.  Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.  0780618871711; paperback; $13.95 USD.

Awards/Honors:

• ALA Notable Books - Nonfiction: 2007
• Eisner Awards: Best Reality-Based Work
• Lambda Literary Awards: Biography / Autobiography
• New York Times Notable Books - Nonfiction: 2006
• Publishing Triangle Award for Lesbian Nonfiction: 2007
• Rainbow Lists - Young Adult Nonfiction: 2008
• Stonewall Book Awards: Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a memoir written in the form of a graphic novel.  The memoir focuses on Bechdel's young life and relationship with her father, a high school English teacher, funeral home director, home restoration enthusiast, and closeted homosexual.  Shortly after Bechdel comes out as a lesbian to her parents, her father commits suicide by walking in front of a truck.  It was not until after she comes out that she learns her father is a homosexual, and she explores the possibility of her coming out being related to her father's death.  Knowing now that her father was a homosexual, Bechdel looks back at her young relationship with him in a new light.  

An interesting aspect of this graphic novel is the way in which Bechdel looks back at her old diary entries and analyzes them with her more adult understanding of her young self.  The book is heavy on references to classic literature, and without having read many of the works referenced in the book, some metaphors can be difficult to grasp.  Some of the themes and the graphic drawings of Bechdel's sexual explorations makes this book more appropriate for older teens.

Read more about Alison Bechdel on her website: http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/