Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Creativity confounds me. I wish I could be creative and sometimes I trick myself into believing I am, only to get bitch-slapped by reality soon after attempting anything. So this graphic novel is truly confounding to me.

I chose it because it is currently a musical on Broadway, and considering I will probably never get to see a show on Broadway, I thought this might be a way to experience it vicariously. First off, I can't imagine how anyone could possibly turn this into a musical. That right there is a creative leap I could never even dream of. But this is a graphic novel/autobiography of an incredibly creative woman and her family, so translating it to the stage is just the most recent creative leap in a long line. Obviously I'm out of my league here.

It's the story of Bechdel's childhood through her young adulthood. Her father is an English teacher and her mother an actress. Creativity permeates the entire family and, like a magnet, both binds and repulses Bechdel and her father. They eventually find that they share more than just a love of literature.

But I have to admit, I never thought I would have to use a dictionary to figure out what a graphic novelist was saying. That was a bit frustrating. And I didn't think anything could make me more averse to reading James Joyce, but if a woman as smart as Bechdel found it unreadable, I'm now convinced it's far above my intellectual pay-grade.

Now I'm off to read something stupid so my brain can heal.

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