A pioneering work, pushing two genres (comics and memoir) in multiple new directions, with panels that combine the detail and technical proficiency of R. Crumb with a seriousness, emotional complexity and innovation completely its own ... Bechdel's rich language and precise images combine to create a lush piece of work — a memoir where concision and detail are melded for maximum, obsessive density ... Fun Home is at its heart a story about a daughter trying to understand her father through the common and unspoken bond of their homosexuality.
Bechdel's graphic memoir is a witty, melancholic and endearing insight into grief, sexuality and a search for happiness ... Despite their particularity, Bechdel's struggles have a resonance for anyone dealing with family life, which makes Fun Home both comforting and startling in its honesty ... Bechdel's coming-of-age in both an artistic and a sexual sense is closely personal and as a reader I feel almost privileged to be privy to her tale. At the same time, the heartrending humanity of the novel is a comforting reminder that life is horrible, hard but often beautiful.
Grabs you from the first page and never lets go ... The book's meshing of text and art is so smooth and organic you don't even notice it unless you notice how well it's done ... Layering her family's tale with shades of Proust, Camus and Icarus, Bechdel gives her story depth while avoiding pretentiousness.
