Not So Fun Home

In her "family tragicomic," Alison Bechdel uses a comic strip type style to put the reader into the plot. At first I really did not like this style or the book in general. Not until the last 100 pages did I begin to get into the story and enjoy comparing Alison's narration with the images and dialougue of the characters. Though I am not the biggest fan of this style, it is clear that Alison's autobiography would be much less entertaining and informative without the images of the family interacting. In the following excerpt the effect of the narration would have much less impact without the image. She tells us that the family lived separate lives, which we already inferred based on the previous events, but the image solidifies the disjunctive nature of the family. The small images characterize each member of the family.

Bechdel also uses the images to give the reader details that would be omitted if the book were purely textual. In the following image, Alison explicitly says that she hates ornamentation, but the images display more than just disliking a chore. She says the embellishments "obscured function" and "they were lies." She juxtaposes her contempt for these lies with a scene involving her father and his "dark secret." The image of her father using a "bronzing stick" alludes to the nature of the secret. The juxtaposition of the lying embellishments with her father's secret creates a dark feeling of contempt and obscurity about her father's life.

Alison Bechdel's autobiography is entertaining and convincing in its honest comic form. In order to obtain the full effect of the story, one must study the pictures against the narration to uncover the meaning behind Bechdel's words. Fun Home is a comical, yet tragic story about a dysfunctional family who uses their picturesque mansion and family business to hide their darkest secrets. Full of irony, humor, and heartache, it is a good depiction of the reality of homosexuality and familial bonds.