Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

   A coming of age story done in the style of a graphic memoir.

   This year Santa Monica Library puts forth a book to be read and discussed by the people of the city. They have been doing this now for fifteen years. The process used is basically one of sending many submissions to the library board, suggestions submitted by the community, to be read by the library staff to winnow down to just one. Fun Home was set forth to be the 2017 read. The discussions this year will run from February 25 through March 30.

     The Santa Monica Read is something the library hosts to increase the literacy of the community.

    It is non-fiction and is done in the graphic memoir style. If a person likes comic books instead of real books written in proper syntax this style may interest them.

    It is an interesting way to tell her story. The recurring strand of her father’s influence on her life style holds the story together. A way to look it is that the past is never really past.   

   The title seems to refer to the atmosphere of the house she grew up in. Her father was also the mortician and the author would spend time as a youngster in his place of business. The funeral home played a big part in her childhood.

    If asked would I recommend this book I would say-- with care. The author is a dyke and she does illustrate some lesbian activities in the telling of her story. But that in itself would not make this gay literature. It is just part of the flow.

    Since  I received this book free to review and discuss I read it. I would not have spent money to purchase it at $14.95.