A graphic memoir in the same vein as
Persepolis, Bechdel's
Fun Home is at turns hysterical, moving, and incredibly heavy. In it, Bechdel tells of the troubled relationship with her father, a high school english teacher who relentlessly restores their large house with period antiques while alienating his family. AS Bechdel discovers in college that she is a lesbian, her coming out leads to her discovery of her father's own closeted proclivities; his death--perhaps by suicide--only makes her feelings toward her father more confused.
All in all, this is a really beautiful book--well illustrated and well written. Bechdel's framing of her personal story by the works of literature she encounters throughout the story creates an intertext that imbues the story with more depth then the average retelling of a family story. The character of her father that emerges is conflicted, passionate, cruel, detached, and enigmatic, and the story is touching--painfully, beautifully so.