Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Summary
A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books.
This breakout book by Alison Bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Bechdel's sweetly gothic drawings. Like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, it's a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form.
Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and fiercely funny, we are drawn into a daughter's complex yearning for her father. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," as Alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescense, the denouement is swift, graphic -- and redemptive.
This breakout book by Alison Bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Bechdel's sweetly gothic drawings. Like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, it's a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form.
Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and fiercely funny, we are drawn into a daughter's complex yearning for her father. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," as Alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescense, the denouement is swift, graphic -- and redemptive.
Details
- Title Fun home
- Author Alison Bechdel
- Binding Trade Cloth
- Edition First Edition
- Pages 240
- Language EN
- Publisher Houghton Mifflin, Boston
- Date 2006
- ISBN 9780618477944
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2005030304
- Dewey Decimal Code 741.5/973
Media reviews
"[Alison Bechdel] hits notes that resemble Jeanette Winterson at her best...She's made a story that's quiet [and] dignified." Publishers Weekly, Starred
"[With] uncommon richness [and] depth...[Fun Home] shares as much in spirit with...other contemporary memoirists of considerable literary accomplishment." Kirkus Reviews, Starred
Alison Bechdel she’s one of the best, one to watch out for." --Harvey Pekar
"If David Sedaris could draw, and if Bleak House had been a little funnier, you'd have Alison Bechdel's Fun Home." --Amy Bloom, author of A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You
"Brave and forthright and insightful--exactly what Alison Bechdel does best." --Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina
"Stupendous...mesmerizing...The details...are devastatingly captured by an artist in total control of her craft." --Chip Kidd, author of The Cheese Monkeys
"One of the very best graphic novels ever." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
"Fun Home must be the most ingeniously compact, hyper-verbose example of autobiography to have been produced. . . . pioneering." --Sean Wilsey The New York Times Book Review
"[With] uncommon richness [and] depth...[Fun Home] shares as much in spirit with...other contemporary memoirists of considerable literary accomplishment." Kirkus Reviews, Starred
Alison Bechdel she’s one of the best, one to watch out for." --Harvey Pekar
"If David Sedaris could draw, and if Bleak House had been a little funnier, you'd have Alison Bechdel's Fun Home." --Amy Bloom, author of A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You
"Brave and forthright and insightful--exactly what Alison Bechdel does best." --Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina
"Stupendous...mesmerizing...The details...are devastatingly captured by an artist in total control of her craft." --Chip Kidd, author of The Cheese Monkeys
"One of the very best graphic novels ever." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
"Fun Home must be the most ingeniously compact, hyper-verbose example of autobiography to have been produced. . . . pioneering." --Sean Wilsey The New York Times Book Review
More Copies for Sale
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- UsedVeryGood
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Skokie, Illinois, United States
- Item Price
-
A$5.13A$6.19 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
UsedVeryGood. Pages are clean! The dust jacket shows normal wear and tear. This is a hardcover copy Fast Shipping - Each order powers our free bookstore in Chicago and sending books to Africa!
Item Price
A$5.13
A$6.19
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Frederick, Maryland, United States
- Item Price
-
A$8.51A$6.19 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Used - Very Good. Very Good condition. No Dust Jacket
Item Price
A$8.51
A$6.19
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Eugene , Oregon, United States
- Item Price
-
A$10.07A$6.19 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Used - Good. DUST JACKET HAS SOME MINOR SHELF WEAR BUT BOOK REMAINS IN GOOD READABLE CONDITION. hardcover 100% of proceeds go to charity! Good condition with all pages in tact. Item shows signs of use and may have cosmetic defects.
Item Price
A$10.07
A$6.19
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used: Good
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
- Item Price
-
A$16.04FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Mariner Books, 2006-06-08. First Edition. hardcover. Used: Good.
Item Price
A$16.04
FREE shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
- Item Price
-
A$16.53FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Used - Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Item Price
A$16.53
FREE shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Reno, Nevada, United States
- Item Price
-
A$16.53FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Used - Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.
Item Price
A$16.53
FREE shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
- Item Price
-
A$16.53FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Used - Very Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.
Item Price
A$16.53
FREE shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Reno, Nevada, United States
- Item Price
-
A$16.53FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Used - Very Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.
Item Price
A$16.53
FREE shipping to USA
More Photos
FUN HOME: A Family Tracicomic
by Alison Bechdel
- Used
- Fine
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used - Fine
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Sherman Oaks, California, United States
- Item Price
-
A$27.90A$6.19 shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
NOT the book - a LIMITED EDITION promo DVD package. FINE.
Item Price
A$27.90
A$6.19
shipping to USA
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Bechdel, Alison
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used:Good
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780618477944 / 0618477942
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
- Item Price
-
A$29.28FREE shipping to USA
Show Details
Description:
Mariner Books, 2006-06-08. First Edition. hardcover. Used:Good.
Item Price
A$29.28
FREE shipping to USA