Monday, July 30, 2018

Rec. #612: Fun Home



What: Fun Home, the musical, is a highly deserving Tony Award-winner, and it also had stellar source material. The full title of Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir is Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, and subtitle does not lie. 

The "Fun Home" of the title is the funeral home run by her family, and that alone should be sufficient to fill a couple of books --- but within her family Bechdel also reckons with sexuality identity struggles, depression, secrets, ... and a bunch of what-ifs. 

Representative quote: "Sometimes, when things were going well, I think my father actually enjoyed having a family."

Bechdel's response to the musical adaptation: "If you can get some brilliant artists to make a musical about your childhood, I highly recommend it. It's very cathartic."

Connection to previous Wreckage: Tig Notaro uses a song from Fun Home to great effect in One Mississippi (Rec. #489).

How to get it: Fun Home, the book, is in print and readily available. It mainly focuses on Bechdel's relationship with her father, but continue on with Are You My Mother? for a deeper dive on the other parent.


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