Book SummaryFun Home, by Alison Bechdel

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Fun Home

Fun Home is a graphic memoir by cartoonist Alison Bechdel. It follows Alison through the early years of her life as she navigates her relationship with her closeted father, discovers her own sexuality, and grapples with her father’s supposed suicide. Told in a non-linear fashion, the book touches on the themes of gender identity, sexual orientation, dysfunctional households, suicide, and literature as a way of connecting to life.

(Shortform note: because this is a graphic novel, this summary pulls from both the book’s text and illustrations.)

Life at Home

Alison Bechdel grew up in an old, Victorian home in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania with her two brothers, mother, and father. Her father, a notably distant man, put more energy into working on their home than he did focusing on his family. When they first bought the house, it was falling apart, but he was determined to restore it to its former glory. He had an affinity for restoration, and, often, forced his family to help him with his projects.

The Bechdel Funeral Home

Alison’s great-grandfather founded the Bechdel Funeral Home. Alison’s father took over the family business after his father had a heart attack. Due to the low population, the funeral home did not make enough to pay the bills, so he took on a second position at the local high school teaching English.

Alison and her brothers dubbed the funeral home the “Fun Home” because they usually had more fun in the funeral home than in their actual home. They played with the chair trolleys, the flower stands, and the smelling salts as they invented worlds of their own. Their grandmother lived in the back and the business was in the front. They would often spend the night at the “Fun Home” and have their grandmother tell them stories about their father’s childhood.

Reacting to Death

One day, Alison’s father asked her to come to the room where he embalmed the bodies. On the table was a dead, naked man with his chest cut open. She was shocked to see the man’s genitals as well as his internal organs. Her father asked for a pair of scissors that he easily could have grabbed himself. She thinks that this was likely his attempt at eliciting an emotional response to death that he no longer felt.

Later in her life, Alison related to this as she coped with her father’s death. After he died, she would tell people of his passing in a matter-of-fact way to try to elicit an emotional response from them. This was her attempt to emote vicariously through someone else because she wasn’t feeling the sadness or grief that she thought she should be feeling.

Sexuality and Marriage

Alison began to explore her sexuality in college. She checked out books from the library that discussed homosexuality and focused on the stories of lesbians. Her studies were both informational and erotic. She joined the gay union at her university and began dating her classmate, Joan.

She came out as lesbian in a letter to her family. Alison’s mother didn’t respond well and voiced her disapproval. Soon after, she revealed that her father was having affairs with men. Alison felt as if she had gone from the hero in her own story to the side character in her father’s drama. Though she hoped her coming out would allow her to distance herself from her family because of her unique identity, she was pulled back into their lives because of the realization that she and her father had an unspoken connection that linked the two together.

Her Parents’ Marriage

Alison’s parents almost never showed affection for one another and fighting was the norm in the household. Her father would take his anger out by destroying books and throwing things. Adding fuel to the fire, Alison’s father would bring some of his male students home, give them books, and offer them alcohol. He often focused on these boys more than he focused on his own family. In one instance, he forgot to pick up his own son from Cub Scouts because he was too busy drinking and chatting with a high school student he brought into his library.

Her Father’s Inner Turmoil

Alison’s father was likely a closeted homosexual or bisexual man. Though he never directly expressed his sexuality to his family, Alison recognized a few behaviors that showed her father’s more feminine side throughout her childhood (such as his use of a bronzing stick). She implies that her father’s repression was a source of self-loathing and misplaced anger. She compares her father’s desire to create the image of a perfect home despite its disrepair to his desire to create the image of the perfect man despite his inner struggle.

Her father was sensitive to failure and disorder. He punished his children at any sign of imperfection, even if they hadn’t done anything wrong. For example, he once asked the family why a vase had gotten close to the edge of the table. No one responded, so he proceeded to grab and spank Alison as she cried that she hadn’t done anything.

He was not only sensitive to the perceived failures of his children, but he was also sensitive to his own. For example, one of Alison’s brothers once commented on the peace signs on their father’s tie. It was not a critique, just an observation. Despite the fact that he was running late, Alison’s father immediately...

Fun Home Summary Chapters 1-2: Life at Home

Fun Home is a graphic memoir by cartoonist Alison Bechdel. It follows Alison through the early years of her life as she navigates her relationship with her closeted father, discovers her own sexuality, and grapples with her father’s supposed suicide. Told in a non-linear fashion, the book touches on the themes of gender identity, sexual orientation, dysfunctional households, suicide, and literature as a way of connecting to life.

(Shortform note: The author includes many references to literature. For the sake of clarity, this summary includes brief descriptions of the stories and authors referenced. Also, because this is a graphic novel, the summary pulls from both the book’s text and its illustrations.)

Alison Bechdel grew up in an old, Victorian home in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania with her two brothers, mother, and father. Her father, a notably distant man, put more energy into working on their home than he did focusing on his family. When they first bought the house, it was falling apart, but he was determined to restore it to its former glory. He had an affinity for restoration and, often, forced his family to help him with his projects.

Her Father’s...

Fun Home Summary Chapter 3-4: Sexuality and Marriage

Alison began to explore her sexuality in college. She checked out books from the library that discussed homosexuality and focused on the stories of lesbians. Her studies were both informational and erotic. She joined the gay union at her university and began dating her classmate, Joan.

She came out as lesbian in a letter to her family. Alison’s mother didn’t respond well. She sent back letters explaining her disapproval and why she thought Alison was making a dangerous choice. Though she said that she could live with Alison’s sexuality, her disappointment was clear, and Alison was shattered by the disapproval.

Soon after coming out, Alison’s mother revealed that her father was having affairs with men. Alison felt as if she had gone from the hero in her own story to the side character in her father’s drama. Though she hoped her coming out would allow her to distance herself from her family because of her unique identity, she was pulled back into their lives because of the realization that she and her father had an unspoken connection that linked them.

Her Parents’ Marriage

**Alison’s parents met during a collegiate production of The Taming of the Shrew....

Fun Home Summary Chapter 5-6: Isolation and Disorder

The town of Beech Creek had a strange hold over Alison’s father’s family. In fact, in the small town of only 800 residents, there were 26 families that shared the last name of Bechdel. Alison later suggested that her father may have killed himself in part because of his perceived inability to escape the small-minded town.

Similar to the isolation of Beech Creek from other communities, Alison experienced isolation within her own home. Her parents were both artistic. Her father had the house to fix. Her mother played piano and rehearsed for her productions. When she tried to interact with either of them, they would often ignore her to focus on their work. She describes her home as an artist's colony in which each member of the family became consumed by their passion, but in isolation.

OCD

In addition to the disorder she felt within her household, Alison also developed an actual disorder at the age of 10. Initially, her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) involved counting the drips in the bathtub. She couldn’t turn off the faucet until the final drip count was an even number and not a multiple of 13. Soon, her behaviors intensified:

• She couldn’t cross...

Fun Home Summary Chapter 7: New York City and School

While on a trip to NYC in 1976, a 15-year old Alison saw the city in a new light. She was traveling with her father and brothers to take part in the bicentennial celebrations. They stayed with a family friend who lived in Greenwich Village, a well-known LGBT community. During her time there, she began to notice the well-groomed, homosexual men walking on the street, not trying to hide their more feminine behaviors. Her family went to the ballet, had drinks with a gay couple, and saw A Chorus Line. These activities introduced her to members of the LGBT community and exposed her to LGBT stories.

However, the trip was not without its problems, and Alison’s father wasn’t always an attentive parent. At one point on the trip, one of Alison’s younger brothers, John, wandered off. He walked through a known cruising area and was approached by a man who asked if he “wanted to see his boat.” At the first opportunity, John ran back to the apartment. In addition to John’s close call, Alison’s father would leave his kids to go out and “have a drink” late at night. **Alison implies that he was likely meeting up with men and leaving his children to fulfill his sexual...

Shortform Exercise: How Have Your Relationships Changed?

Throughout the course of her life, Alison and her father’s relationship changed. Though it began as a cold and distanced relationship, it eventually evolved into one of connection and empathy.

List the ways that Alison’s relationship with her father changed from childhood to adulthood. Think about their connection through literature and their sexuality.

Shortform Exercise: Do You Live a Double Life?

Alison’s father lived a double life: one in which he pretended to be the perfect family man, and another in which he embraced his sexuality.

Reflect a personal trait or attribute that you feel comfortable sharing with the people around you. Describe it and explain why you're willing to share it.