I was dead wrong about that 'literary' graphic novel my book club pushed

Our book club in Austin voted on 'Fun Home' by Alison Bechdel last month, and I rolled my eyes hard when I saw it was a graphic novel. I figured it was just a gimmick and not real reading, you know? After the first 20 pages I almost put it down, but by page 80 I was texting my friend about how the drawings added this whole other layer to the story. Has anyone else had a book format totally flip your opinion like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

williamhenderson9d ago

Actually Fun Home is a memoir not a novel, but yeah the format works.

young.michael9d ago

The truck scene lands harder because Bechdel's dad actually died, not because it's a true story.

johnson.river9d ago

Read it in a book club where half of us forgot it was a memoir and kept questioning the "plot" until someone finally looked it up. That's honestly what made it click for me, the fact that it's true makes the scene with the dad and the truck hit harder. The comic format really drives home the visual of her trying to piece together his secrets through old photos and letters. I remember finishing it and just sitting there thinking about how much we don't know about our own parents. Bechard's stuff got me interested in graphic memoirs in general, had to go back and reread some of the other ones she mentioned.