73 pages 2 hours read

Alison Bechdel

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Nonfiction | Graphic Memoir | Adult | Published in 2006

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Before You Read

Roundup icon

Super Short Summary

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel is a graphic novel memoir that chronicles Bechdel's relationship with her late father, Bruce, exploring themes like queer sexuality, gender nonconformity, familial dysfunction, artifice, death, and self-exploration. Through a non-linear narrative comprised of comic panels and introspective text, Bechdel reflects on her youth, her discovery of her homosexuality, and Bruce's closeted queerness. The book includes descriptions of sex, masturbation, abuse, death, death by suicide, bias against queer people, and familial dysfunction.

Reviews & Readership

Roundup icon

Review Roundup

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel is widely praised for its insightful narrative, emotional depth, and exquisite artistry. Readers commend its honest exploration of family complexities and identity. However, some find its nonlinear storytelling challenging. Overall, it's celebrated as a pivotal work in both graphic memoir and LGBTQ literature.

Who should read this

Who Should Read Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic?

Readers of Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel will appreciate this book if they are drawn to graphic memoirs that explore complex family dynamics and personal identity. Fans of Maus by Art Spiegelman and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, which similarly blend visual art with autobiographical narrative, will find this work compelling.

RecommendedReading Age

18+years

Book Details

Topics

LGBTQ

Relationships

Love / Sexuality

Themes

Identity: Sexuality

Identity: Gender

Relationships: Family

Genre

Auto/Biographical Fiction

Biography