In Episode 93, Gen and Jette kick off their graphic novel book club with Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. This graphic novel memoirs chronicles Bechdel’s complex relationship with her father, and she does it with nuance, honesty, and humour. It’s a fantastic read and we nerd out a lot on literature, as well as the graphic novel form.
Show Notes
Fun Home was adapted as a musical and won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015.
After finishing Fun Home, we both immediately wanted to read Are You My Mother?, Bechdel’s second graphic novel memoir that chronicles, you guessed it, her relationship with her mother.
We go off on a few literary tangents (as you do) and ponder James Joyce, the Fitzgeralds, the Alcotts, and Thoreau, among others.
You may recognize Bechdel’s name from the famous Bechdel test, wherein a movie will pass the test so long as two female characters speak to each other about something other than a man.
For more graphic novel content, check out Episode 44: Genre Breakdown — Graphic Novels
Our next episode is a book club episode and we’ll be discussing Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo.
Other Books, Authors, and Media Mentioned
Alison Bechdel’s long-running comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For”
Paper Houses by Dominique Fortier
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Colette
Zelda & F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ulysses by James Joyce
Henry David Thoreau
The Wire
Six Feet Under
Albert Camus
