FUN HOME, by Alison Bechdel

(originally posted on October 24, 2006)

Why is the memoir so perfectly suited to graphic novel format? Maybe because, as Bechdel brilliantly demonstrates here, the blend of witty drawings and understated prose brings a truly bittersweet, honestly rendered personal history to vivid life. She doesn't invite pity or pathos, but only celebration of making the tragicomic best of a truly unusual situation. Amazing stuff, really.