Fun Home
Every now and then you come across a perfect book. Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir, which has since been turned into a Tony-winning musical, is one of those times. It's a close examination of her relationship with her father, jumping back and forth through time to examine it from multiple angles, always revealing a new layer. Bechdel does a great job of capturing an immensely complicated relationship, one that has left its mark long after its conclusion.
Bechdel's father gave up a glamorous overseas life to run the family funeral parlor when his own father died, shortly before Alison was born. He was strict and eccentric, clearly filled with regrets but bound to his family and hometown by duty. He died when Alison was twenty, and though the circumstances are blurry, she concludes it was suicide. It came on the heels of her decision to come out as a lesbian to her family, which was overshadowed by the revelation that her father was also gay.
Her reflections on her childhood are colored by knowledge that came later. Knowing that her father was carrying on a relationship with her baby-sitter. That he had an affinity for the boys who took his high school English class. That they had far more in common than she'd ever suspected.
But even before that revelation, he was a difficult man. Alison's attempts to connect with him through literature, followed almost immediately by her backing away from the bond they're forming, are fraught. Their relationship is not a simple one. And even when she reduces his death to a suicide, that doesn't quite seem to tell the whole story.
The point is that it's complicated. And this amazingly short book does a fantastic job of illuminating all those complications. I read it in a matter of hours, but I'm still thinking about it weeks later. I'm half-tempted to get tickets to the Broadway show when I'm in NYC next month, even though I already have tickets to see Hamilton. I'll definitely at least need to get my hands on the soundtrack. And if you're having doubts about this book or this story, I can only plead with you to track it down. It's fantastic. I'll leave you with this song, which is what finally convinced me to pick up the book. It's the performance from last year's Tonys
Bechdel's father gave up a glamorous overseas life to run the family funeral parlor when his own father died, shortly before Alison was born. He was strict and eccentric, clearly filled with regrets but bound to his family and hometown by duty. He died when Alison was twenty, and though the circumstances are blurry, she concludes it was suicide. It came on the heels of her decision to come out as a lesbian to her family, which was overshadowed by the revelation that her father was also gay.
Her reflections on her childhood are colored by knowledge that came later. Knowing that her father was carrying on a relationship with her baby-sitter. That he had an affinity for the boys who took his high school English class. That they had far more in common than she'd ever suspected.
But even before that revelation, he was a difficult man. Alison's attempts to connect with him through literature, followed almost immediately by her backing away from the bond they're forming, are fraught. Their relationship is not a simple one. And even when she reduces his death to a suicide, that doesn't quite seem to tell the whole story.
The point is that it's complicated. And this amazingly short book does a fantastic job of illuminating all those complications. I read it in a matter of hours, but I'm still thinking about it weeks later. I'm half-tempted to get tickets to the Broadway show when I'm in NYC next month, even though I already have tickets to see Hamilton. I'll definitely at least need to get my hands on the soundtrack. And if you're having doubts about this book or this story, I can only plead with you to track it down. It's fantastic. I'll leave you with this song, which is what finally convinced me to pick up the book. It's the performance from last year's Tonys
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