View source for Fun Home

{{short description|Graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel}}
{{about|the book|the musical based on the book|Fun Home (musical)}}
{{featured article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
| image = Funhomecover.jpg
| caption = Cover of the hardback edition
| author = [[Alison Bechdel]]
| cover_artist = Alison Bechdel
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre = [[Graphic novel]], memoir
| published = June 8, 2006 ([[Houghton Mifflin]], hardcover);<br />June 5, 2007 ([[Mariner Books]], paperback)
| media_type = Print (hardcover, paperback)
| pages = 240 p.
| isbn = 0-618-47794-2
| isbn_note = (hardcover);<br />{{ISBN|0-618-87171-3}} (paperback)
| dewey = 741.5/973 22
| congress = PN6727.B3757 Z46 2006
| oclc = 62127870
| preceded_by = 
| followed_by = [[Are You My Mother? (memoir)|Are You My Mother?]]
}}
'''''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic''''' is a 2006 [[Graphic novel|graphic]] memoir by the American cartoonist [[Alison Bechdel]], author of the [[comic strip]] ''[[Dykes to Watch Out For]]''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural [[Pennsylvania]], United States, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. The book addresses themes of [[sexual orientation]], [[gender role]]s, suicide, [[emotional abuse]], [[dysfunctional family]] life, and the role of literature in understanding oneself and one's family.

Writing and illustrating ''Fun Home'' took seven years, in part because of Bechdel's laborious artistic process, which includes photographing herself in poses for each human figure.<ref name="tcj36">{{Cite journal | last = Emmert | first = Lynn | date = April 2007  | title= Life Drawing | journal=[[The Comics Journal]] | location=[[Seattle]], Washington | publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]] | issue=282 | page=36 | url=http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=598&Itemid=48 | access-date=August 6, 2007}}</ref><ref name="tcj44-48">{{Cite journal | last = Emmert | first = Lynn | date = April 2007 | title= Life Drawing | journal=[[The Comics Journal]] | location=[[Seattle]], Washington | publisher=[[Fantagraphics Books]] | issue=282
 | pages=44–48}} Print edition only.</ref><ref name="7days">{{cite web|url=http://www.sevendaysvt.com/features/2006/life-drawing.html |title=Life Drawing |access-date=August 7, 2007 |last=Harrison |first=Margot |date=May 31, 2006 |work=[[Seven Days (newspaper)|Seven Days]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070811081428/http://www.sevendaysvt.com/features/2006/life-drawing.html |archive-date=August 11, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="ocd">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CBdhxVFEGc  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/_CBdhxVFEGc |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|title=OCD |access-date=August 8, 2007 |last=Bechdel |first=Alison |author-link=Alison Bechdel |date=April 18, 2006 |format=video |publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> ''Fun Home'' has been the subject of numerous academic publications in areas such as biography studies and [[cultural studies]] as part of a larger turn towards serious academic investment in the study of comics/[[sequential art]].<ref>e.g. Tolmie, Jane (2009). "Modernism, Memory and Desire: Queer Cultural Production in Alison Bechdel's ''Fun Home''." ''Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies''. 22: 77–96;<br />{{cite journal | last1 = Watson | first1 = Julia | year = 2008 | title = Autographic Disclosures and Genealogies of Desire in Alison Bechdel's ''Fun Home'' | url = http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/biography/v031/31.1.watson.html | journal = [[Biography (journal)|Biography]] | volume = 31 | issue = 1| pages = 27–58 | doi=10.1353/bio.0.0006| s2cid = 161762349 | url-access = subscription }}</ref>

''Fun Home'' has been both a popular and critical success, and spent two weeks on the [[New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' Best Seller list]].<ref name="nytbest1">{{cite news |title=Hardcover Nonfiction |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/books/bestseller/0709besthardnonfiction.html?ex=1155096000&en=aaca93d5bcae9024&ei=5070 |format=free registration required |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 9, 2006 |access-date=December 18, 2006 }}</ref><ref name="nytbest2">{{cite news |title=Hardcover Nonfiction |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/books/bestseller/0716besthardnonfiction.html?ex=1155096000&en=516fbdccced8ce0c&ei=5070 |format=free registration required |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 16, 2006 |access-date=December 18, 2006 }}</ref> In ''[[The New York Times Book Review|The New York Times Sunday Book Review]]'', [[Sean Wilsey]] called it "a pioneering work, pushing two genres (comics and memoir) in multiple new directions."<ref name="nyt1">{{cite news  |first = Sean
 |last = Wilsey |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/books/review/18wilsey.html?ex=1155009600&en=491c2ec2373a9fee&ei=5070 |format=free registration required |title = The Things They Buried |work = Sunday Book Review |publisher = The New York Times |date = June 18, 2006 |access-date = August 7, 2006}}</ref> Several publications named ''Fun Home'' as one of the best books of 2006; it was also included in several lists of the best books of the 2000s.<ref name="newsandreviews">{{cite web |url=http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/news |title=News and Reviews |access-date=December 14, 2009 |last=Bechdel |first=Alison |author-link=Alison Bechdel |work=dykestowatchoutfor.com}}</ref> It was nominated for several awards, including the [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] and three [[Eisner Award]]s (winning the [[Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work]]).<ref name="newsandreviews" /><ref name="eisnerwin">{{cite web|url=http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07win.shtml |title=The 2007 Eisner Awards: Winners List |access-date=July 31, 2007 |work=[[San Diego Comic-Con]] website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022025637/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07win.shtml |archive-date=October 22, 2007 }}</ref> A French translation of ''Fun Home'' was serialized in the newspaper ''[[Libération]]''; the book was an official selection of the [[Angoulême International Comics Festival]] and has been the subject of an academic conference in France.<ref name="franceblog">{{cite web |url=http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/tour-de-france |title=Tour de France |access-date=August 8, 2007 |last=Bechdel |first=Alison |author-link=Alison Bechdel |date=July 26, 2006 |work=Blog}}</ref><ref name="angouleme">{{cite web |url=http://www.bdangouleme.com/prixJury/index.ideal?action=nommes&annee=2007&id=10&voir=tout |title=Official 2007 Selection |access-date=August 8, 2007 |publisher=Angoulême International Comics Festival | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070715052051/http://www.bdangouleme.com/prixJury/index.ideal?action=nommes&annee=2007&id=10&voir=tout| archive-date = July 15, 2007}}</ref><ref name="conference">{{cite web|url=http://www.transatlantica.org/document1227.html |title=There's No Place like (Fun) Home |access-date=August 8, 2007 |last=Cherbuliez |first=Juliette |date=January 25, 2007 |work=Transatlantica |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070903182120/http://www.transatlantica.org/document1227.html |archive-date=September 3, 2007 }}</ref> ''Fun Home'' also generated controversy, being challenged and removed from libraries due to its contents.<ref name="ihtban">{{cite news |first=David |last=Twiddy |title=As more graphic novels appear in libraries, so do challenges |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/14/arts/NA_A-E_BKS_US_Banned_Graphic_Novels.php |agency=Associated Press |publisher=International Herald Tribune |date=November 14, 2006 |access-date=August 14, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="returned">{{cite news |first = Rachel |last = Harper |title = Library board approves new policy/Material selection policy created, controversial books returned to shelves |url = http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1193923.html |work = The [[Marshall Democrat-News]] |date = March 15, 2007 |access-date = March 15, 2007 |archive-date = December 1, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171201030442/http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1193923.html |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="ksl" /><ref name="palmetto1" />

In 2013, a [[Fun Home (musical)|musical adaptation of ''Fun Home'']] at [[The Public Theater]] enjoyed multiple extensions to its run,<ref name="playbill_opening">{{cite web|last=Gioia |first=Michael |title=Michael Cerveris, Judy Kuhn, Alexandra Socha Among Cast of Fun Home; Other Public Theater Casting Announced, Too |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/180929-Michael-Cerveris-Judy-Kuhn-Alexandra-Socha-Among-Cast-of-Fun-Home-Other-Public-Theater-Casting-Announced-Too |work=Playbill |access-date=October 18, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019122523/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/180929-Michael-Cerveris-Judy-Kuhn-Alexandra-Socha-Among-Cast-of-Fun-Home-Other-Public-Theater-Casting-Announced-Too |archive-date=October 19, 2013 }}</ref><ref name="extended5">{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/185124-Jeanine-Tesori-Lisa-Kron-Musical-Fun-Home-Given-Fourth-Extension |title=Jeanine Tesori-Lisa Kron Musical 'Fun Home' Given Fourth Extension |last1=Gioia |first1=Michael |last2=Hetrick |first2=Adam |date=December 4, 2013 |website=Playbill |access-date=December 6, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206052256/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/185124-Jeanine-Tesori-Lisa-Kron-Musical-Fun-Home-Given-Fourth-Extension |archive-date=December 6, 2013 }}</ref> with book and lyrics written by [[Obie Award]]-winning playwright [[Lisa Kron]], and score composed by [[Tony Award]]-nominated [[Jeanine Tesori]]. The production, directed by [[Sam Gold]], was called "the first mainstream musical about a young lesbian."<ref name="musical_slate">{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=June|title=Fun Home: Is America Ready for a Musical About a Butch Lesbian?|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/10/08/fun_home_is_america_ready_for_a_musical_about_a_butch_lesbian.html|work=Slate|access-date=October 18, 2013}}</ref> As a musical theatre piece, ''Fun Home'' was a finalist for the 2014 [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]], while winning the [[Lucille Lortel Award]] for Outstanding Musical, the [[New York Drama Critics' Circle]] Award for Best Musical, and the [[Obie Award]] for Musical Theater.<ref name="pulitzer" /><ref name="lortel" /><ref name="critics_circle" /><ref name="obie" /> The [[Broadway theatre|Broadway production]] opened in April 2015<ref>{{cite news |last=Healy |first=Patrick |date=August 7, 2014 |title='Fun Home' Will Reach Broadway Just Before Tonys Deadline |url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/07/fun-home-will-reach-broadway-just-before-tonys-deadline/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=August 8, 2014 }}</ref> and earned twelve nominations at the [[69th Tony Awards]], winning the [[Tony Award for Best Musical]].

== Background ==
Bechdel states that her motivation for writing ''Fun Home'' was to reflect on why things turned out the way they did in her life. She reflects on her father's untimely death and whether Alison would have made different choices if she were in his position.<ref name=":022">{{Cite journal|last=Bauer|first=Heike|date=2014|title=Vital Lines Drawn From Books: Difficult Feelings in Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and Are You My Mother?|journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies|volume=18|issue=3|pages=266–281|doi=10.1080/10894160.2014.896614|pmid=24972285|s2cid=38954208|url=https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/10048/1/Bechdel.Biron.pdf}}</ref> This motivation is present throughout as she contrasts Bruce's artifice in hiding things with Alison's free and open self. The process of writing ''Fun Home'' required many references to literary works and archives to both accurately write and draw the scenes. As Bechdel wrote the book, she would reread the sources of her literary references, and this attention to detail in her references led to the development of each chapter having a different literary focus.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chute|first1=Hillary L.|last2=Bechdel|first2=Alison|date=2006|title=An Interview with Alison Bechdel|journal=MFS Modern Fiction Studies|language=en|volume=52|issue=4|pages=1004–1013|doi=10.1353/mfs.2007.0003|s2cid=161730250|issn=1080-658X}}</ref> On the process of writing the book, Bechdel says, "It was such a huge project: six or seven years of drawing and excavating. It was sort of like living in a trance."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/05/alison-bechdel-interview-cartoonist-fun-home|title=Fun Home creator Alison Bechdel on turning a tragic childhood into a hit musical|last=Cooke|first=Rachel|date=November 5, 2017|work=The Guardian|access-date=November 26, 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

''Fun Home'' is drawn in black [[line art]] with a gray-blue ink [[wash (visual arts)|wash]].<ref name="tcj44-48" /> Sean Wilsey wrote that ''Fun Home''{{'}}s [[panel (comics)|panels]] "combine the detail and technical proficiency of [[Robert Crumb|R. Crumb]] with a seriousness, emotional complexity and innovation completely its own."<ref name="nyt1" /> Writing in the ''Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide'', Diane Ellen Hamer contrasted "Bechdel's habit of drawing her characters very simply and yet distinctly" with "the attention to detail that she devotes to the background, those TV shows and posters on the wall, not to mention the intricacies of the funeral home as a recurring backdrop."<ref name="glrw" /> Bechdel told an interviewer for ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' that the richness of each panel of ''Fun Home'' was very deliberate:{{blockquote|It's very important for me that people be able to read the images in the same kind of gradually unfolding way as they're reading the text. I don't like pictures that don't have information in them. I want pictures that you have to read, that you have to decode, that take time, that you can get lost in. Otherwise what's the point?<ref>Emmert, p. 46. Print edition only.</ref>}}

[[File:Fun Home photoreference.jpg|right|thumb|Alison Bechdel took photographs of herself posing as each character, to use as reference in her drawing. Here, she poses for a drawing of her father.]]
Bechdel wrote and illustrated ''Fun Home'' over a seven-year period.<ref name="tcj36" /> Her meticulous artistic process made the task of illustration slow. She began each page by creating a framework in [[Adobe Illustrator]], on which she placed the text and drew rough figures.<ref name="tcj44-48" /><ref name="7days" /> She used extensive [[Photo-referencing|photo reference]] and, for many panels, posed for each human figure herself, using a [[digital camera]] to record her poses.<ref name="tcj44-48" /><ref name="7days" /><ref name="ocd"/><ref name="velvetpark" /> Bechdel also used photo reference for background elements. For example, to illustrate a panel depicting fireworks seen from a [[Greenwich Village]] rooftop on July 4, 1976, she used [[Google Images]] to find a photograph of the New York skyline taken from that particular building in that period.<ref name="7days" /><ref name="afterellen">{{cite web|url=http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/Print/2006/5/bechdel.html |title=Alison Bechdel's Life in the Fun Home |access-date=August 7, 2007 |last=Swartz |first=Shauna |date=May 8, 2006 |work=[[AfterEllen.com]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809164841/http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/Print/2006/5/bechdel.html |archive-date=August 9, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="tyee">{{cite web |url=https://thetyee.ca/Books/2006/08/23/FunHome/ |title=A Dyke to Watch Out For |access-date=August 7, 2007 |last=Brooks |first=Carellin |date=August 23, 2006 |work=[[The Tyee]]}}</ref> She also painstakingly copied by hand many family photographs, letters, local maps and excerpts from her own childhood journal, incorporating these images into her narrative.<ref name="afterellen" /> After using the reference material to draw a tight framework for the page, Bechdel copied the line art illustration onto plate finish [[Bristol board]] for the final inked page, which she then scanned into her computer.<ref name="tcj44-48" /><ref name="7days" /> The gray-blue ink wash for each page was drawn on a separate page of watercolor paper, and combined with the inked image using [[Photoshop]].<ref name="tcj44-48" /><ref name="7days" /><ref name="velvetpark" /> Bechdel chose the bluish wash color for its flexibility, and because it had "a bleak, elegiac quality" which suited the subject matter.<ref>Emmert, pp. 47–48. Print edition only.</ref> Bechdel attributes this detailed creative process to her "barely controlled obsessive-compulsive disorder".<ref name="afterellen" /><ref>Emmert, p. 45. Print edition only.</ref>

==Plot summary==
[[Image:Fun-home-barrette.jpg|left|thumb|A panel from ''Fun Home'' depicting <br /> Bruce (left) and Alison Bechdel (right).]]
The narrative of ''Fun Home'' is [[nonlinear (arts)|non-linear]] and recursive.<ref name="villagevoice">{{cite news |first=Hillary  |last=Chute  |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0628,chute,73800,10.html 
 |title=Gothic Revival  |publisher=[[The Village Voice]]  |date=July 11, 2006 |access-date=August 7, 2006 |url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719065125/http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0628%2Cchute%2C73800%2C10.html  |archive-date=July 19, 2006}}</ref> Incidents are told and re-told in the light of new information or themes.<ref>{{cite web | last =Deppey | first =Dirk | date = January 17, 2007 | title = 12 Days | edition = Web Extras | work = [[The Comics Journal]] | url = http://tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=510&Itemid=70 | access-date = August 16, 2007}}</ref> Bechdel describes the structure of ''Fun Home'' as a [[labyrinth]], "going over the same material, but starting from the outside and spiraling in to the center of the story."<ref name="rutgers">{{cite video|people=Bechdel, Alison (Interviewee), Seidel, Dena (Editor) |date=2008 |title=Alison Bechdel's Graphic Narrative |url=http://wh.rutgers.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140:alison-bechdels-graphic-narrative&catid=52:warVideos&Itemid=91 |format=[[Flash video]] |medium=Web video |publisher=[[Rutgers University]] Writers House |location=[[New Brunswick, New Jersey|New Brunswick]], New Jersey |access-date=April 16, 2008 |time=04:57 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411200603/http://wh.rutgers.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=140%3Aalison-bechdels-graphic-narrative&catid=52%3AwarVideos&Itemid=91 |archive-date=April 11, 2008 }}</ref> In an essay on memoirs and truth in the [[academic journal]] ''[[Modern Language Association|PMLA]]'', [[Nancy K. Miller]] explains that as Bechdel revisits scenes and themes "she re-creates memories in which the force of attachment generates the structure of the memoir itself."<ref name="pmla">{{cite journal | last = Miller | first = Nancy K. |date=March 2007 | title = The Entangled Self: Genre Bondage in the Age of the Memoir | journal = [[Modern Language Association|PMLA]] | volume = 122 | issue = 2 | pages = 543–544 | issn = 0030-8129 | doi = 10.1632/pmla.2007.122.2.537 | s2cid = 163034462 }}</ref> Additionally, the memoir derives its structure from [[allusion]]s to various works of literature, [[Greek mythology|Greek myth]] and visual arts; the events of Bechdel's family life during her childhood and adolescence are presented through this allusive lens.<ref name="villagevoice" /> Miller notes that the narratives of the referenced literary texts "provide clues, both true and false, to the mysteries of family relations."<ref name="pmla" />

The memoir focuses on Bechdel's family, and is centered on her relationship with her father, Bruce. Bruce was a [[funeral director]] and high school [[English studies|English]] teacher in [[Beech Creek, Pennsylvania|Beech Creek]], where Alison and her siblings grew up. The book's title comes from the family nickname for the [[funeral home]], the family business in which Bruce grew up and later worked; the phrase also refers ironically to Bruce's tyrannical domestic rule.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bechdel |first=Alison |author-link=Alison Bechdel |title=Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic |year=2006 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |location=New York |isbn=0-618-47794-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/funhomefamilytra00bech_0/page/36 36] |url=https://archive.org/details/funhomefamilytra00bech_0/page/36 }}</ref>  Bruce's two occupations are reflected in ''Fun Home''{{'}}s focus on death and literature.<ref name="nyt2">{{cite news  |first = George Gene
 |last = Gustines |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/books/26gust.html?ex=1155009600&en=88647dc021a0b412&ei=5070 |format=free registration required  |title = 'Fun Home': A Bittersweet Tale of Father and Daughter |work = The New York Times |date = June 26, 2006 |access-date = August 7, 2006}}</ref>

In the beginning of the book, the memoir exhibits Bruce's obsession with restoring the family's [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] home.<ref name="nyt2" /> His obsessive need to restore the house is connected to his emotional distance from his family, which he expressed in coldness and occasional bouts of abusive rage.<ref name="nyt2" /><ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 11, 18, 21, 68–69, 71.</ref> This emotional distance, in turn, is connected with his being a [[the closet|closeted]] homosexual.<ref name="glrw">{{cite journal |last=Hamer  |first=Diane Ellen  |date=May 2006  |title=My Father, My Self 
 |journal=Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide  |volume=13  |issue=3  |page=37  |issn=1532-1118  |url=http://www.glreview.com/issues/13.3/13.3-hamer.php  |access-date=August 16, 2007 |url-status=dead  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070718235030/http://glreview.com/issues/13.3/13.3-hamer.php |archive-date=July 18, 2007}}</ref> Bruce had homosexual relationships in the military and with his high school students; some of those students were also family friends and babysitters.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 58–59, 61, 71, 79, 94–95, 120.</ref> At the age of 44, two weeks after his wife requested a divorce, he stepped into the path of an oncoming [[Sunbeam Bread]] truck and was killed.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 27–30, 59, 85.</ref> Although the evidence is equivocal, Alison concludes that her father died by suicide.<ref name="nyt2" /><ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 23, 27–29, 89, 116–117, 125, 232.</ref><ref name="velvetpark">{{cite interview|last=Bechdel |first=Alison |subject-link=Alison Bechdel |interviewer=[[Michelle Paradise]] |title=Alison Bechdel: Comic Con 2007 |url=http://www.velvetparkmagazine.com/blogit/ |format=[[Flash Video]] |work=[[Velvetpark]] |access-date=August 24, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822053331/http://www.velvetparkmagazine.com/blogit/ |archive-date=August 22, 2007 }}</ref>

The story also deals with Alison's own struggle with her sexual identity, reaching a catharsis in the realization that she is a lesbian and her [[coming out]] to her parents.<ref name="nyt2" /><ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 58, 74–81,</ref> The memoir frankly examines her sexual development, including transcripts from her childhood diary, anecdotes about [[masturbation]], and tales of her first sexual experiences with her girlfriend, Joan.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 76, 80–81, 140–143, 148–149, 153, 157–159, 162, 168–174, 180–181, 183–186, 207, 214–215, 224.</ref> In addition to their common homosexuality, Alison and Bruce share [[obsessive-compulsive]] tendencies and artistic leanings, albeit with opposing aesthetic senses: "I was [[Sparta]]n to my father's [[History of Athens#Classical Athens|Athenian]]. [[Modernism|Modern]] to his Victorian. [[Butch and femme|Butch]] to his nelly. Utilitarian to his [[aestheticism|aesthete]]."<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 15.</ref> This opposition was a source of tension in their relationship, as both tried to express their dissatisfaction with their given [[gender role]]s: "Not only were we [[sexual inversion (sexology)|inverts]], we were inversions of each other. While I was trying to compensate for something unmanly in him, he was attempting to express something feminine through me. It was a war of cross-purposes, and so doomed to perpetual escalation."<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 98.</ref> However, shortly before Bruce's death, he and his daughter have a conversation in which Bruce confesses some of his sexual history; this is presented as a partial resolution to the conflict between father and daughter.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 220–221.</ref>

At several points in the book, Bechdel questions whether her decision to come out as a lesbian was one of the triggers for her father's suicide.<ref name="pmla" /><ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 57–59, 86, 117, 230–232.</ref> This question is never answered definitively, but Bechdel closely examines the connection between her father's closeted sexuality and her own open lesbianism, revealing her debt to her father in both positive and negative lights.<ref name="pmla" /><ref name="nyt2" /><ref name="velvetpark" />

== Themes ==
Bechdel describes her journey of discovering her own sexuality: "My realization at nineteen that I was a lesbian came about in a manner consistent with my bookish upbringing."<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 74.</ref> Yet, hints of her sexual orientation arose early in her childhood; she wished "for the right to exchange [her] tank suit for a pair of shorts" in Cannes<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 73.</ref> and for her brothers to call her Albert instead of Alison on one camping trip.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 113</ref> Her father also exhibited homosexual behaviors, but the revelation of this made Bechdel feel uneasy. "I'd been upstaged, demoted from protagonist in my own drama to comic relief in my parents' tragedy".<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 58.</ref> Father and daughter handled their issues differently. Bechdel chose to accept the fact, before she had a lesbian relationship, but her father hid his sexuality.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 76–81.</ref> He was afraid of coming out, as illustrated by "the fear in his eyes" when the conversation topic comes dangerously close to homosexuality.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 219.</ref>

In addition to sexual orientation, the memoir touches on the theme of gender identity. Bechdel had viewed her father as "a big sissy"<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 97</ref> while her father constantly tried to change his daughter into a more feminine person throughout her childhood.

The underlying theme of death is also portrayed. Unlike most young people, the Bechdel children have a tangible relationship with death because of the family mortuary business. Alison ponders whether her father's death was an accident or suicide, and finds it more likely that he killed himself purposefully.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 27–29.</ref>

==Allusions==
The allusive literary references used in ''Fun Home'' are not merely structural or stylistic: Bechdel writes, "I employ these allusions ... not only as descriptive devices, but because my parents are most real to me in fictional terms. And perhaps my cool aesthetic distance itself does more to convey the Arctic climate of our family than any particular literary comparison."<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', p. 67</ref> Bechdel, as the narrator, considers her relationship to her father through the myth of [[Daedalus]] and [[Icarus]].<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 3–4, 231–232.</ref> As a child, she confused her family and their [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] home with [[the Addams Family]] seen in the cartoons of [[Charles Addams]].<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 34–35.</ref> Bruce Bechdel's suicide is discussed with reference to [[Albert Camus]]' novel ''[[A Happy Death]]'' and essay ''[[The Myth of Sisyphus]]''.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 27–28, 47–49.</ref> His careful construction of an aesthetic and intellectual world is compared to ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' by [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], and the narrator suggests that Bruce Bechdel modeled elements of his life after Fitzgerald's, as portrayed in the biography ''[[The Far Side of Paradise]]''.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 61–66, 84–86.</ref> His wife Helen is compared with the protagonists of the [[Henry James]] novels ''[[Washington Square (novel)|Washington Square]]'' and ''[[The Portrait of a Lady]]''.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 66–67, 70–71.</ref> Helen Bechdel was an amateur actress, and plays in which she acted are also used to illuminate aspects of her marriage. She met Bruce Bechdel when the two were appearing in a college production of ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'', and Alison Bechdel intimates that this was "a harbinger of my parents' later marriage".<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 69–70.</ref> Helen Bechdel's role as Lady Bracknell in a local production of ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'' is shown in some detail; Bruce Bechdel is compared with [[Oscar Wilde]].<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 154–155, 157–158, 163–168, 175, 180, 186.</ref> His homosexuality is also examined with allusion to [[Marcel Proust]]'s ''[[In Search of Lost Time]]''.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 92–97, 102, 105, 108–109, 113, 119–120.</ref> The father and daughter's artistic and obsessive-compulsive tendencies are discussed with reference to [[E. H. Shepard]]'s illustrations for ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]''.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 130–131, 146–147, 150.</ref> Bruce and Alison Bechdel exchange hints about their sexualities by exchanging memoirs: the father gives the daughter ''Earthly Paradise'', an autobiographical collection of the writings of [[Colette]]; shortly afterwards, in what Alison Bechdel describes as "an eloquent unconscious gesture", she leaves a library copy of [[Kate Millett]]'s memoir ''Flying'' for him.<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 205, 207–208, 217–220, 224, 229.</ref> Finally, returning to the Daedalus myth, Alison Bechdel casts herself as [[Stephen Dedalus]] and her father as [[Leopold Bloom]] in [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'', with parallel references to the myth of [[Telemachus]] and [[Odysseus]].<ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 201–216, 221–223, 226, 228–231.</ref>

The chapter headings, too, are all literary allusions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chute |first=Hillary L. |date=2010 |title=Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics |location=New York |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=9780231150637 }}</ref> The first chapter, "Old Father, Old Artificer", refers to a line in [[James Joyce|Joyce's]] ''[[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]]'', and the second, "A Happy Death", invokes the Camus novel. "That Old Catastrophe" is a line from [[Wallace Stevens]]'s "[[Sunday Morning (poem)|Sunday Morning]]", and "In the Shadow of the Young Girls in Flower" is the literal translation of the title of one of the volumes of [[Marcel Proust]]'s ''In Search of Lost Time'', which is usually given in English as ''[[Within a Budding Grove]]''.

In addition to the literary allusions which are explicitly acknowledged in the text, Bechdel incorporates visual allusions to television programs and other items of [[popular culture|pop culture]] into her artwork, often as images on a television in the background of a panel.<ref name="glrw" /> These visual references include the film ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'', [[Bert and Ernie]] of ''[[Sesame Street]]'', the [[Smiley]] Face, [[Yogi Bear]],  ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'', the [[Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner|Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote]], the resignation of [[Richard Nixon]] and ''[[The Flying Nun]]''.<ref name="glrw" /><ref>Bechdel, ''Fun Home'', pp. 10–11 (''It's a Wonderful Life''), 14 (''Sesame Street''), 15 (Smiley Face), 92 (Yogi Bear), 130 (''Batman''), 174–175 (Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote), 181 (Nixon), 131, 193 (''The Flying Nun'').</ref>

== Analysis ==
Heike Bauer, a professor at the University of London, categorizes ''Fun Home'' as part of the queer transnational archive for its contribution towards the "felt experiences" of the LGBTQ community.<ref name=":022"/> Bauer argues that books provide a relatable source, or a felt experience, as Alison uses literature to understand her own feelings in a homophobic society.<ref name=":022" /> Bauer notes that as Alison finds relatable literature for her experiences, ''Fun Home'' itself becomes a similar outlet for its readers by increasing representation of LGBTQ literature.<ref name=":022" />

Valerie Rohy, an English professor at the University of Vermont, questions the authenticity of Alison's archives in the book.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal|last=Rohy|first=Valerie|date=2010|title=In the Queer Archive: Fun Home|journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies|volume=16|issue=3|pages= iv-361|doi=10.1215/10642684-2009-034|s2cid=145624992|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/382220|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Rohy explores how Alison uses her diary in her childhood and readings in her young adulthood to both document her life and learn about herself through written works. On the uncertainty relating to Bruce's cause of death, Rohy says Alison concludes it to be a suicide to fill in her knowledge gap of the situation, similar to her use of books to fill in gaps in her own understanding of her childhood.<ref name=":03" />

Judith Kegan Gardiner, a professor of English and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago, views ''Fun Home'' as queer literature that bends the literary norms of the graphic novel genre,<ref>Judith Kegan Gardiner, Queering Genre: Alison Bechdel's ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' and ''The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For'', ''Contemporary Women's Writing'', Volume 5, Issue 3, November 2011, Pages 188–207, {{doi|10.1093/cww/vpr015}}</ref> arguing Bechdel combines both tragedy, normally associated with men, and humor, normally associated with women, by discussing her father's death using a comic book style and dark humor. Gardiner argues Bechdel takes control of creating an open culture for lesbian feminist work through ''Fun Home'' by focusing less on Bruce's wrongdoings regarding minors, and more on the tragedy faced by Alison and the guilt towards his subsequent death after her coming out. She also says that by breaking the gender norms of the genre, particularly within lesbian and gay literature, ''Fun Home'' has dramatically affected representation.

== Publication and reception ==
''Fun Home'' was first printed in hardcover by [[Houghton Mifflin]] ([[Boston]], New York City) on June 8, 2006.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/funhomefamilytra00bech_0 |title=Fun Home |isbn=0-618-47794-2 |access-date=August 14, 2007 |work=[[Houghton Mifflin]] website |last1=Bechdel |first1=Alison |year=2006 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt }}</ref> This edition appeared on the ''New York Times''{{'}} Hardcover Nonfiction bestseller list for two weeks, covering the period from June 18 to July 1, 2006.<ref name="nytbest1" /><ref name="nytbest2" /> It continued to sell well, and by February 2007 there were 55,000 copies in print.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://publishersweekly.com/article/CA6413947.html |title=Comics Bestsellers: February 2007 |date =February 6, 2007 |access-date=August 14, 2007 |work=[[Publishers Weekly]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080107133124/http://publishersweekly.com/article/CA6413947.html |archive-date = January 7, 2008}}</ref> A [[Paperback#Trade paperback|trade paperback]] edition was published in the United Kingdom by [[Random House]] under the [[Jonathan Cape]] imprint on September 14, 2006; Houghton Mifflin published a paperback edition under the [[Mariner Books]] imprint on June 5, 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224080512 |title=Book Details for Fun Home |access-date=August 14, 2007 |work=[[Random House]] UK website |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519184300/http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0224080512 |archive-date=May 19, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?textType=reviews&titleNumber=694163 |title=Fun Home |isbn=978-0-618-87171-1 |access-date=August 14, 2007 |work=[[Houghton Mifflin]] website |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302042844/http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?textType=reviews&titleNumber=694163 |archive-date=March 2, 2009 |url-status=dead  |last1=Bechdel |first1=Alison |year=2007 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt }}</ref>

[[File:Fun Home French cover.jpg|thumb|left|The French edition of ''Fun Home'', published by [[Éditions Denoël]]]]
In the summer of 2006, a French translation of ''Fun Home'' was serialized in the Paris newspaper ''[[Libération]]'' (which had previously serialized ''[[Persepolis (comic)|Persepolis]]'' by [[Marjane Satrapi]]).<ref name="franceblog" /> This translation, by Corinne Julve and Lili Sztajn, was subsequently published by [[:fr:Éditions Denoël|Éditions Denoël]] on October 26, 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.denoel.fr/Denoel/Control.go?action=rech&prod_code=B25894 |title=Fun Home |access-date=August 8, 2007 |work=Éditions Denoël website |language=fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927204428/http://www.denoel.fr/Denoel/Control.go?action=rech&prod_code=B25894 |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref> In January 2007, ''Fun Home'' was an official selection of the [[Angoulême International Comics Festival]].<ref name="angouleme" /> In the same month, the [[English language|Anglophone]] Studies department of the [[University of Tours|Université François Rabelais, Tours]] sponsored an academic conference on Bechdel's work, with presentations in Paris and [[Tours]].<ref name="conference" /> At this conference, papers were presented examining ''Fun Home'' from several perspectives: as containing "trajectories" filled with [[paradox]]ical tension; as a text interacting with images as a [[paratext]]; and as a search for meaning using [[drag (clothing)|drag]] as a metaphor.<ref>{{Cite journal
 | last=Chabani
 | first=Karim
 | date=March 2007
 | title=Double Trajectories: Crossing Lines in ''Fun Home''
 | journal=GRAAT
 | location=[[Tours]]
 | publisher=[[University of Tours|Université François Rabelais]]
 | volume=on-line edition
 | issue=1
 | url=http://www.graat.fr/bechdel001aaaa.pdf
 | access-date=August 8, 2007
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
 | last=Muller
 | first=Agnés
 | date=March 2007
 | title=Image as Paratext in Alison Bechdel's Fun Home
 | journal=GRAAT
 | location=[[Tours]]
 | publisher=[[University of Tours|Université François Rabelais]]
 | volume=on-line edition
 | issue=1
 | url=http://www.graat.fr/bechdel002aaaa.pdf
 | access-date=August 8, 2007
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal
 | last=Tison
 | first=Hélène
 | date=March 2007
 | title=Drag as metaphor and the quest for meaning in Alison Bechdel's ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic''
 | journal=GRAAT
 | location=[[Tours]]
 | publisher=[[University of Tours|Université François Rabelais]]
 | volume=on-line edition
 | issue=1
 | url=http://www.graat.fr/bechdel003aaaa.pdf
 | access-date=August 8, 2007
}}</ref> These papers and others on Bechdel and her work were later published in the peer-reviewed journal ''GRAAT'' (''Groupe de Recherches Anglo-Américaines de Tours'', or Tours Anglo-American Research Group).<ref>{{Cite journal
 | editor-last=Tison |editor-first=Hélène
 | date=March 2007
 | title=Reading Alison Bechdel
 | journal=GRAAT
 | location=[[Tours]]
 | publisher=[[University of Tours|Université François Rabelais]]
 | volume=on-line edition
 | issue=1
 | url=http://www.graat.fr/backissueabechdel.htm
 | access-date=October 14, 2008
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.univ-tours.fr/graat/ |title=Groupe de Recherches Anglo-Américaines de Tours |access-date=August 21, 2007 |language=fr |work=[[University of Tours|Université François Rabelais, Tours]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908013917/http://www.univ-tours.fr/graat/ |archive-date=September 8, 2007 }}</ref>

An Italian translation was published by [[:it:Rizzoli Editore|Rizzoli]] in January 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rizzoli.rcslibri.corriere.it/rizzoli/libro/1608_fun_home_bechdel.html |title=Fun Home |work=Rizzoli |publisher=[[RCS MediaGroup]] |language=it |access-date=August 14, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Libro Fun Home |url=http://rizzoli.rcslibri.corriere.it/libro/1608_fun_home_bechdel.html |work=Libraria Rizzoli |publisher=[[RCS MediaGroup]] |language=it |access-date=August 14, 2009}}</ref> In Brazil, [[Conrad Editora]] published a Portuguese translation in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cubo3.com.br/?p=1661 |title=Fun Home: Uma Tragicomédia Em Família |last=Magnani |first=Deborah |date=March 20, 2010 |work=cubo<sup>3</sup> |access-date=May 21, 2010 |language=pt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117025819/http://cubo3.com.br/?p=1661 |archive-date=January 17, 2016 }}</ref> A German translation was published by [[Kiepenheuer & Witsch]] in January 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kiwi-verlag.de/36-0-buch.htm?isbn=9783462039221 |title=Fun Home |access-date=April 16, 2008 |date=January 2008 |publisher=Kiepenheuer & Witsch |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416023934/http://www.kiwi-verlag.de/36-0-buch.htm?isbn=9783462039221 |archive-date=April 16, 2008 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> The book has also been translated into Hungarian, Korean, and Polish,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abiekt.pl/ksiazki/funhome |title=Fun Home. Tragikomiks rodzinny |access-date=October 9, 2008 |last=Abiekt.pl |date=October 9, 2008 |work=abiekt.pl |language=pl |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005051907/http://www.abiekt.pl/ksiazki/funhome |archive-date=October 5, 2008 }}</ref> and a Chinese translation has been scheduled for publication.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/china-translated |title=china, translated |access-date=August 14, 2008 |last=Bechdel |first=Alison |date=August 14, 2008 |work=dykestowatchoutfor.com}}</ref>

In Spring 2012, Bechdel and literary scholar [[Hillary Chute]] co-taught a course at the [[University of Chicago]] titled "Lines of Transmission: Comics and Autobiography".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://graycenter.uchicago.edu/experiments/lines-of-transmission-comics-and-autobiography |title=Lines of Transmission: Comics and Autobiography |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |year=2012 |website=Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry |publisher=[[University of Chicago]] |access-date=July 28, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826184810/https://graycenter.uchicago.edu/experiments/lines-of-transmission-comics-and-autobiography |archive-date=August 26, 2014 }}</ref>

===Reviews and awards===
''[[The Times]]'' of London described ''Fun Home'' as "a profound and important book;" [[Salon.com]] called it "a beautiful, assured piece of work;" and ''[[The New York Times]]'' ran two separate reviews and a feature on the memoir.<ref name="nyt1" /><ref name="nyt2" /><ref>{{cite news
 |first=Douglas 
 |last=Wolk 
 |url=http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/06/05/bechdel/index.html 
 |title=Fun Home 
 |work=[[Salon.com]] 
 |date=June 5, 2006 |access-date=August 12, 2006 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418182635/http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/06/05/bechdel/index.html 
 |archive-date=April 18, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Margaret |last=Reynolds |title=Images of the fragile self |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article639274.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517052125/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article639274.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 17, 2011 |work=[[The Times]] |date=September 16, 2006 |access-date=August 7, 2007 | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news 
 |first = Ginia
 |last = Bellafante
 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/garden/03bechdel.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=garden&adxnnlx=1154913282-+1SNH8sRkuz5azY4XDISuQ
 |format=paid archive
 |title = Twenty Years Later, the Walls Still Talk
 |work = The New York Times
 |date = August 3, 2006
|access-date = August 7, 2006
}}</ref> In one ''New York Times'' review, [[Sean Wilsey]] called ''Fun Home'' "a pioneering work, pushing two genres (comics and memoir) in multiple new directions" and "a comic book for lovers of words".<ref name="nyt1" /> [[Jill Soloway]], writing in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', praised the work overall but commented that Bechdel's reference-heavy prose is at times "a little opaque".<ref name="latimes">{{cite news |first=Jill |last=Soloway |author-link=Jill Soloway |title=Skeletons in the closet |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1047943011.html?dids=1047943011:1047943011&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+4%2C+2006&author=Jill+Soloway&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=SPECIAL+ISSUE+%7C+THE+OTHER+SIDE+OF+SUMMER |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723111057/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1047943011.html?dids=1047943011:1047943011&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+4,+2006&author=Jill+Soloway&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=SPECIAL+ISSUE+%7C+THE+OTHER+SIDE+OF+SUMMER |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 23, 2012 |format=paid archive |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=R. 12 |date=June 4, 2006 |access-date=August 1, 2007}}</ref> Similarly, a reviewer in  ''[[The Tyee]]'' felt that "the narrator's insistence on linking her story to those of various [[Greek mythology|Greek myths]], [[American literature|American novels]] and classic plays" was "forced" and "heavy-handed".<ref name="tyee" /> By contrast, the ''[[Seattle Times]]''{{'}} reviewer wrote positively of the book's use of literary reference, calling it "staggeringly literate".<ref>{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Pachter |title="Fun Home": Sketches of a family circus |url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=funhome18&date=20060616&query=%22Fun+Home%22+Alison+Bechdel |work=[[Seattle Times]] |date=June 16, 2006 |access-date=August 9, 2007 |archive-date=January 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115161817/http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=funhome18&date=20060616&query=%22Fun+Home%22+Alison+Bechdel |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''[[The Village Voice]]'' said that ''Fun Home'' "shows how powerfully—and economically—the medium can portray autobiographical narrative. With two-part visual and verbal narration that isn't simply synchronous, comics presents a distinctive narrative idiom in which a wealth of information may be expressed in a highly condensed fashion."<ref name="villagevoice"/>

[[File:Alison Bechdel in London.jpg|right|thumb|Alison Bechdel at a London signing for ''Fun Home'']]
Several publications listed ''Fun Home'' as one of the best books of 2006, including ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Amazon.com]], ''[[The Times]]'' of London, ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine and ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'', which ranked it as the best comic book of 2006.<ref>{{cite news |title=100 Notable Books of the Year |url=https://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/review/20061203notable-books.html?ref=books |work=Sunday Book Review |format=free registration required |publisher=The New York Times |date=December 3, 2006 |access-date=December 12, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ref%5F=amb%5Flink%5F3914172%5F1&docId=1000024441&plpage=2 |title=Best Books of 2006: Editors' Top 50 |access-date=December 18, 2006 |work=[[amazon.com]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/1000020751/ |title=Best of 2006 Top 10 Editors' Picks: Memoirs |access-date=December 18, 2006 |work=[[amazon.com]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Gatti |title=The 10 best books of 2006: number 10 — Fun Home |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2504697,00.html |work=[[The Times]] |date=December 16, 2006 |access-date=December 18, 2006 | location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news 
 | first1 = Christopher
 | last1 = Bonanos
 | last2=Hill. |first2=Logan |last3=Holt |first3=Jim
 | title = The Year in Books
 | url = https://nymag.com/arts/cultureawards/2006/25308/
 | work = [[New York (magazine)|New York]]
 | date = December 18, 2006
| access-date = December 12, 2006
|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The First Annual PW Comics Week Critic's Poll |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6401289.html?nid=2789 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070123003531/http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6401289.html?nid=2789 |archive-date=January 23, 2007 |work=Publishers Weekly Online |publisher=[[Publishers Weekly]] |date=December 19, 2006 |access-date=December 19, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Salon.com]] named ''Fun Home'' the best nonfiction debut of 2006, admitting that they were fudging the definition of "debut" and saying, "''Fun Home'' shimmers with regret, compassion, annoyance, frustration, pity and love—usually all at the same time and never without a pervasive, deeply literary irony about the near-impossible task of staying true to yourself, and to the people who made you who you are."<ref>{{cite news
 |first       = Laura
 |last        = Miller
 |author2     = Hillary Frey
 |title       = Best debuts of 2006
 |url         = http://www.salon.com/books/awards/2006/12/12/debut/
 |work        = [[salon.com]]
 |date        = December 12, 2006
|access-date  = December 12, 2006
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080512125029/http://www.salon.com/books/awards/2006/12/12/debut/
 |archive-date = May 12, 2008
}}</ref> ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' called it the best nonfiction book of the year, and ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' named ''Fun Home'' the best book of 2006, describing it as "the unlikeliest literary success of 2006" and "a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other."<ref>{{Cite magazine
 | last=Reese
 | first=Jennifer
 | date=December 29, 2006
 | title=Literature of the Year
 | magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]
 | issue=913–914
 | url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20006513_3,00.html
 | access-date=August 6, 2007
 | archive-date=September 8, 2007
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908023917/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20006513_3,00.html
 | url-status=dead
 }}</ref><ref name="time1">{{cite news |first=Lev |last=Grossman |author-link=Lev Grossman |author2=Richard Lacayo |title=10 Best Books |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1570801,00.html |magazine= [[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=December 17, 2006 |access-date=February 13, 2021 }}</ref>

''Fun Home'' was a finalist for the 2006 [[National Book Critics Circle Award]], in the memoir/autobiography category.<ref>{{cite news |first=Josh |last=Getlin |title=Book Critics Circle nominees declared |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1198215671.html?dids=1198215671:1198215671&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+21%2C+2007&author=Josh+Getlin&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.17&desc=THE+NATION |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |format=free abstract of paid archive |date=January 21, 2007 |access-date=January 22, 2007 |archive-date=October 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001030143/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1198215671.html?dids=1198215671:1198215671&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+21,+2007&author=Josh+Getlin&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.17&desc=THE+NATION |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bookcritics.org/?go=finalists |title=NBCC Awards Finalists |access-date=January 22, 2007 |work=[[National Book Critics Circle]] website | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061002082415/http://www.bookcritics.org/?go=finalists| archive-date = October 2, 2006}}</ref> In 2007, ''Fun Home'' won the [[GLAAD Media Awards|GLAAD Media Award]] for Outstanding Comic Book, the [[Stonewall Book Award]] for non-fiction, the [[Judy Grahn#Awards|Publishing Triangle-Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award]], and the [[Lambda Literary Award]] in the "Lesbian Memoir and Biography" category.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glaad.org/publications/archive_detail.php?id=4010& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926151119/http://www.glaad.org/publications/archive_detail.php?id=4010& |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 26, 2012 |title=18th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco |access-date=April 15, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=archive&template=/contentmanagement/contentdisplay.cfm&ContentID=148186 |title=Holleran, Bechdel win 2007 Stonewall Book Awards |date=January 22, 2007 |access-date=January 24, 2007 |publisher=[[American Library Association]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003582214 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070512115804/http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003582214 |archive-date=May 12, 2007 |title=Alison Bechdel Among Triangle Award Winners |date=May 8, 2007 |access-date=May 9, 2007 |publisher=The Book Standard |page=1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/current_winners.html |title=Lambda Literary Awards Announce Winners |access-date=June 5, 2007 |publisher=Lambda Literary Foundation | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070610142337/http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/current_winners.html| archive-date = June 10, 2007}}</ref> ''Fun Home'' was nominated for the 2007 [[Eisner Award]]s in two categories, Best Reality-Based Work and Best Graphic Album, and Bechdel was nominated as Best Writer/Artist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07nom.shtml#nomlist |title=The 2007 Eisner Awards: 2007 Master Nominations List |access-date=July 31, 2007 |work=[[San Diego Comic-Con]] website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808201201/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07nom.shtml |archive-date=August 8, 2007 }}</ref> ''Fun Home'' won the Eisner for Best Reality-Based Work.<ref name="eisnerwin" /> In 2008, ''Entertainment Weekly'' placed ''Fun Home'' at No. 68 in its list of "New Classics" (defined as "the 100 best books from 1983 to 2008").<ref>{{Cite magazine
 | date = June 27, 2008
 | title = The New Classics: Books
 | magazine = [[Entertainment Weekly]]
 | issue = 999–1000
 | url = https://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20207076_20207079_20210735_7,00.html
 | access-date = June 22, 2008
 | archive-date = August 31, 2008
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080831204557/http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20207076_20207079_20210735_7,00.html
 | url-status = dead
 }}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]'' included ''Fun Home'' in its series "1000 novels everyone must read", noting its "beautifully rendered" details.<ref>{{cite news |first=Craig |last=Taylor |author-link=Craig Taylor (writer) |title=1000 novels everyone must read: The best graphic novels |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/20/1000-novels-graphic-comics |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=January 20, 2009 |access-date=January 20, 2009 |location=London}}</ref>

In 2009, ''Fun Home'' was listed as one of the best books of the previous decade by ''The Times'' of London, ''Entertainment Weekly'' and Salon.com, and as one of the best comic books of the decade by ''[[The Onion]]''{{'}}s [[The A.V. Club|A.V. Club]].<ref name="newsandreviews" /><ref>{{cite news |title=The 100 Best Books of the Decade |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=November 14, 2009 |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/article6914181.ece?token=null&offset=108&page=10 |access-date=December 14, 2009 |location=London |first=Lindsay |last=McIntosh }} Listed as No. 42 of 100.<br />{{cite news |title=Books: The 10 Best of the Decade |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |date=December 3, 2009 |url=https://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20321301_20324272_4,00.html |access-date=December 14, 2009 |archive-date=December 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091207085100/http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20321301_20324272_4,00.html |url-status=dead }} Listed as No. 7 of 10.<br />{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/entertainment/best_of_the_decade_20002009/index.html?story=/books/laura_miller/2009/12/09/best_books_decade |title=The best books of the decade |last=Miller |first=Laura |date=December 9, 2009 |work=[[Salon.com]] |access-date=December 14, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213114200/http://www.salon.com/entertainment/best_of_the_decade_20002009/index.html?story=%2Fbooks%2Flaura_miller%2F2009%2F12%2F09%2Fbest_books_decade |archive-date=December 13, 2009 }} Listed chronologically in a list of 10 non-fiction works.<br />{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-best-comics-of-the-00s-1798220915 |title=The best comics of the '00s |last1=Handlen |first1=Zack |first2=Jason |last2=Heller |first3=Noel |last3=Murray |date=November 24, 2009 |work=[[The A.V. Club]] |publisher=[[The Onion]] |access-date=December 14, 2009 |display-authors=etal }} Listed alphabetically in a list of 25.</ref>

In 2010, the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' literary blog "Jacket Copy" named ''Fun Home'' as one of "20 classic works of gay literature".<ref>{{cite news |title=20 classic works of gay literature |first1=Carolyn |last1=Kellogg |first2=Owchar |last2=Nick |first3=David L. |last3=Ulin |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 4, 2010 |access-date=August 5, 2010 |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/08/20-classic-works-of-gay-literature.html }}</ref> In 2019, the graphic novel was ranked 33rd on ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 100 best books of the 21st century |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century |website=The Guardian |date=September 21, 2019 |access-date=September 22, 2019}}</ref>

===Challenges and attempted banning===
==== 2006: Marshall, Missouri ====
In October 2006, a resident of [[Marshall, Missouri]], attempted to have ''Fun Home'' and [[Craig Thompson]]'s ''[[Blankets (graphic novel)|Blankets]]'', both graphic novels, [[List of banned books|removed]] from the city's public library.<ref name="ban1">{{cite news
 |first = Zach
 |last = Sims
 |title = Library trustees to hold hearing on novels
 |url = http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1171005.html
 |work = The [[Marshall Democrat-News]]
 |date = October 3, 2006
 |access-date = October 8, 2006
 |archive-date = September 13, 2016
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160913053338/http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1171005.html
 |url-status = dead
 }}</ref> Supporters of the books' removal characterized them as "pornography" and expressed concern that they would be read by children.<ref name="ihtban" /><ref name="ban2">{{cite news
 |first = Zach
 |last = Sims
 |title = Library board hears complaints about books/Decision scheduled for Oct. 11 meeting
 |url = http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1171432.html
 |work = The [[Marshall Democrat-News]]
 |date = October 5, 2006
 |access-date = October 8, 2006
 |archive-date = September 12, 2016
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160912232301/http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1171432.html
 |url-status = dead
 }}</ref> Marshall Public Library Director Amy Crump defended the books as having been well-reviewed in "reputable, professional book review journals", and characterized the removal attempt as a step towards "the slippery slope of censorship".<ref name="ban1" /><ref name="ban2" /> On October 11, 2006, the library's board appointed a committee to create a materials selection policy, and removed ''Fun Home'' and ''Blankets'' from circulation until the new policy was approved.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=87365 |title=Marshall Library Board Votes to Adopt Materials Selection Policy |access-date=October 12, 2006 |last=Brady |first=Matt |date=October 12, 2006 |work=[[Newsarama]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061119203935/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=87365 |archive-date=November 19, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news
 |first = Zach
 |last = Sims
 |title = Library board votes to remove 2 books while policy for acquisitions developed
 |url = http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1172698.html
 |work = The [[Marshall Democrat-News]]
 |date = October 12, 2006
 |access-date = October 12, 2006
 |archive-date = March 9, 2016
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160309172740/http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1172698.html
 |url-status = dead
 }}</ref> The committee "decided not to assign a prejudicial label or segregate [the books] by a prejudicial system", and presented a materials selection policy to the board.<ref name="new policy">{{cite news
 |first = Rachel
 |last = Harper
 |title = Library board ready to approve new materials selection policy
 |url = http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1186860.html
 |work = The [[Marshall Democrat-News]]
 |date = January 25, 2007
 |access-date = January 26, 2007
 |archive-date = March 9, 2016
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160309164152/http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1186860.html
 |url-status = dead
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news
 |first = Rachel
 |last = Harper
 |title = Library policy has first reading
 |url = http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1188755.html
 |work = The [[Marshall Democrat-News]]
 |date = February 8, 2007
 |access-date = March 5, 2007
 |archive-date = March 11, 2016
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160311045230/http://www.marshallnews.com/story/1188755.html
 |url-status = dead
 }}</ref> On March 14, 2007, the Marshall Public Library Board of Trustees voted to return both ''Fun Home'' and ''Blankets'' to the library's shelves.<ref name="returned" /> Bechdel described the attempted banning as "a great honor", and described the incident as "part of the whole evolution of the graphic-novel form."<ref name="tcj39">[https://www.tcj.com/the-alison-bechdel-interview/ Emmert], p. 39. Retrieved on August 6, 2007.</ref>

==== 2008: University of Utah ====
In 2008, an instructor at the [[University of Utah]] placed ''Fun Home'' on the syllabus of a mid-level English course, "Critical Introduction to English Literary Forms".<ref name="qsaltlake">{{cite news |first=JoSelle |last=Vanderhooft |title=Anti-Porn Group Challenges Gay Graphic Novel |url=http://gaysaltlake.com/news/2008/04/07/anti-porn-group-challenges-gay-graphic-novel/ |work=[[QSaltLake]] |date=April 7, 2008 |access-date=July 28, 2013 }}</ref> One student objected to the assignment, and was given an alternate reading in accordance with the university's religious accommodation policy.<ref name="qsaltlake" /> The student subsequently contacted a local organization called "No More Pornography", which started an online petition calling for the book to be removed from the syllabus.<ref name="ksl">{{cite news |first=Sarah |last=Dallof |title=Students protesting book used in English class |url=https://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2952660 |publisher=[[KSL-TV]] |date=March 27, 2008 |access-date=April 16, 2008 }}</ref> Vincent Pecora, the chair of the university's English department, defended ''Fun Home'' and the instructor.<ref name="ksl" /> The university said that it had no plans to remove the book.<ref name="ksl" />

==== 2013: Palmetto Family ====
In 2013, [[Palmetto Family Council]], a conservative South Carolina group affiliated with [[Focus on the Family]] and the [[Family Research Council]], challenged the inclusion of ''Fun Home'' as a reading selection for incoming freshmen at the [[College of Charleston]].<ref name="palmetto1">{{cite news |title=Palmetto Family conservative group concerned about College of Charleston's freshman book selection |first=Diane |last=Knich |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20130725%2FPC16%2F130729588%2F1177%2Fpalmetto-family-conservative-group-concerned-about-college-of-charlestons-freshman-book-selection |newspaper=[[The Post and Courier]] |date=July 25, 2013 |access-date=July 28, 2013}}</ref><ref name="palmetto2">{{cite news |title=College of Charleston freshman book questioned |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=http://www.abcnews4.com/story/22939060/college-of-charleston-freshman-book-questioned |newspaper=[[WCIV]] |date=July 26, 2013 |access-date=July 28, 2013}}</ref><ref name="palmetto3">{{cite news |title=CofC freshman book ruffles conservative group's feathers |first=Paul |last=Bowers |url=http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/cofc-freshman-book-ruffles-conservative-groups-feathers/Content?oid=4686269 |newspaper=[[Charleston City Paper]] |date=July 26, 2013 |access-date=July 28, 2013}}</ref> Palmetto Family president Oran Smith called the book "pornographic".<ref name="palmetto2" /> Bechdel disputed this, saying that pornography is designed to cause sexual arousal, which is not the purpose of her book.<ref name="palmetto1" /> The controversy made its way to the Senate and House of Representatives. In the Senate they were voting on whether or not to make budget cuts to the summer reading program for incoming freshmen. Senator Brad Hutto used a four-hour filibuster to delay the voting process and felt that this was "a challenge to academic freedom and an act that would shame our state."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url=https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/story/flawed-compromise-emerges-in-fun-home-controversy?oid=4918036 |title=Flawed compromise emerges in Fun Home controversy |last=Piepmeier |first=Alison |date=May 12, 2014 |newspaper=Charleston City Paper |access-date=August 11, 2021}}</ref> There was an alternative for students who find that the selection of reading chosen by their institution is offensive: they are offered a College Reads! as the alternative. The past president of College of Charleston, Glenn McConnell, had contradicting opinions on ''Fun Home''. When asked about the reading he stated that professors have academic freedom when it comes to what they teach in the classroom, but they should also ask themselves if it is worth it and "it certainly wouldn't be my book of choice."<ref name=":0" /> The punishment given to the college was a cut to funding to prevent the institution from exploring identity and sexuality. Many tried to fight this because it was seen as a restriction and became a "battlefield in a full-blown culture war."<ref>{{Cite web|first=Paul |last=Bowers|title=In Banned Books class at College of Charleston, Salman Rushdie meets Captain Underpants|url=https://www.postandcourier.com/news/in-banned-books-class-at-college-of-charleston-salman-rushdie-meets-captain-underpants/article_400dd6c8-c1a3-11e8-b5d3-03689d2ad744.html|access-date=August 8, 2021|website=Post and Courier|date=September 26, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

College provost George Hynd and associate provost Lynne Ford defended the choice of ''Fun Home'', pointing out that its themes of identity are especially appropriate for college freshmen.<ref name="palmetto1" /> However, seven months later, the Republican-led [[South Carolina House of Representatives]] Ways and Means Committee cut the college's funding by $52,000, the cost of the summer reading program, to punish the college for selecting ''Fun Home''.<ref name="punish">{{cite news |last=Adcox |first=Seanna |date=February 19, 2014 |title=SC lawmakers vote to punish colleges' book choices |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SC-legislators-want-to-punish-2-colleges-in-budget-5249686.php |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=February 21, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="promotion">{{cite news |last=Borden |first=Jeremy |date=February 20, 2014 |title=Palmetto Sunrise: College of Charleston dollars cut for 'promotion of lesbians' |url=http://blog.postandcourier.com/palmetto-politics/2014/02/20/palmetto-sunrise-college-charleston-dollars-cut-promotion-lesbians/ |newspaper=[[The Post and Courier]] |location=Charleston, SC |access-date=February 21, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140221064315/http://blog.postandcourier.com/palmetto-politics/2014/02/20/palmetto-sunrise-college-charleston-dollars-cut-promotion-lesbians/ |archive-date=February 21, 2014 }}</ref> Rep. Garry Smith, who proposed the cuts, said that in choosing ''Fun Home'' the university was "promoting the gay and lesbian lifestyle".<ref name="promotion" /><ref name="trouble">{{cite news |last=Driscoll |first=Molly |date=February 28, 2014 |title=Alison Bechdel's memoir 'Fun Home' runs into trouble with the South Carolina House of Representatives |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2014/0228/Alison-Bechdel-s-memoir-Fun-Home-runs-into-trouble-with-the-South-Carolina-House-of-Representatives |newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |location=Boston |access-date=March 11, 2014 }}</ref> Rep. Stephen Goldfinch, another supporter of the cuts, said, "This book trampled on freedom of conservatives. ... Teaching with this book, and the pictures, goes too far."<ref>{{cite news |last=Shain |first=Andrew |date=March 15, 2014 |title=Lawmakers to S.C. colleges: Choose freedom or funding |url=http://www.thestate.com/2014/03/15/3328744/lesson-learned-sc-colleges-face.html |newspaper=[[The State (newspaper)|The State]] |location=Columbia, SC |publisher=[[The McClatchy Company|McClatchy]] |access-date=March 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325070342/http://www.thestate.com/2014/03/15/3328744/lesson-learned-sc-colleges-face.html |archive-date=March 25, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Bechdel called the funding cut "sad and absurd" and pointed out that ''Fun Home'' "is after all about the toll that this sort of small-mindedness takes on people's lives."<ref name="pw">{{cite news |last=Deahl |first=Rachel |date=February 26, 2014 |title=Bechdel Reacts to 'Fun Home' Controversy in So. Carolina |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/61201-bechdel-reacts-to-fun-home-controversy-in-so-carolina.html#path/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/61201-bechdel-reacts-to-fun-home-controversy-in-so-carolina.html |newspaper=[[Publishers Weekly]] |access-date=March 11, 2014 }}</ref> The full state House of Representatives subsequently voted to retain the cuts.<ref name="house_refuses">{{cite news |last=Adcox |first=Seanna |date=March 10, 2014 |title=SC House refuses to restore college cuts for books |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SC-House-refuses-to-restore-college-cuts-for-book-5303725.php |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=March 11, 2014 }}</ref> College of Charleston students and faculty reacted with dismay and protests to the proposed cuts, and the college's [[student governments in the United States|Student Government Association]] unanimously passed a resolution urging that the funding be restored.<ref>{{cite news |last=Catalano |first=Trevor |date=March 24, 2014 |title=Students and Faculty React to Budget Cuts Due to Unsupported Material |url=http://site.cisternyard.com/2014/03/24/students-and-faculty-react-to-budget-cuts-due-to-unsupported-material/ |newspaper=CisternYard Media |location=Charleston, SC |access-date=March 25, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325071702/http://site.cisternyard.com/2014/03/24/students-and-faculty-react-to-budget-cuts-due-to-unsupported-material/ |archive-date=March 25, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="aclu">{{cite news|last=Langley |first=Cuthbert |date=March 18, 2014 |title=ACLU enters "College Reads!" debate as State Rep. apologizes for harsh email |url=http://www.counton2.com/story/25012229/aclu-enters-colllege-reads-debate |newspaper=[[WCBD-TV]] |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=[[Media General]] |access-date=March 25, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325070210/http://www.counton2.com/story/25012229/aclu-enters-colllege-reads-debate |archive-date=March 25, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Elmore |first=Christina |date=March 29, 2014 |title=Protesters rally against proposed book-linked budget cuts at the College of Charleston |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140329/PC16/140329274/1006/protesters-rally-against-proposed-book-linked-budget-cuts-c-of-c |newspaper=[[The Post and Courier]] |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=[[Evening Post Industries]] |access-date=March 31, 2014 }}</ref> A coalition of ten free-speech organizations wrote a letter to the [[South Carolina Senate]] Finance Committee, urging them to restore the funds and warning them that "[p]enalising state educational institutions financially simply because members of the legislature disapprove of specific elements of the educational program is educationally unsound and constitutionally suspect".<ref name="aclu" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Armitage |first=Hugh |date=March 24, 2014 |title=South Carolina warned over "unconstitutional" Fun Home uni cuts |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/comics/news/a559805/south-carolina-warned-over-unconstitutional-fun-home-uni-cuts.html |newspaper=[[Digital Spy]] |location=London |publisher=[[Hearst Magazines UK]] |access-date=March 25, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="huffpo_firstamend">{{cite news |last=Kingkade |first=Tyler |date=March 18, 2014 |title=These College Budget Cuts Risk Violating The First Amendment, State Lawmakers Are Warned |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/south-carolina-college-budget-cuts-lgbt-books_n_4986234.html |newspaper=[[Huffington Post]] |location=New York |access-date=March 25, 2014 }}</ref> The letter was co-signed by the [[National Coalition Against Censorship]], the [[American Civil Liberties Union|ACLU]] of South Carolina, the [[American Association of University Professors]], the [[Modern Language Association]], the [[Association of College and Research Libraries]], the [[American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression]], the [[Comic Book Legal Defense Fund]], the [[Association of American Publishers]], the [[National Council of Teachers of English]] and the [[American Library Association]].<ref name="huffpo_firstamend" /><ref name="ncac_letter">{{cite web |url=http://ncac.org/incident/ncac-aclu-letter-urges-s-c-legislature-to-restore-funding-to-universities-with-lgbt-curricula/ |title=Letter Urges S.C. Legislature to Restore Funding to Universities with LGBT Curricula |last1=O'Connor |first1=Acacia |date=March 18, 2014 |publisher=[[National Coalition Against Censorship]] |access-date=March 25, 2014}}</ref> After a nearly week-long debate in which ''Fun Home'' and Bechdel were compared to slavery, [[Charles Manson]] and [[Adolf Hitler]], the state Senate voted to restore the funding, but redirect the funds towards study of the [[United States Constitution]] and ''[[The Federalist Papers]]''; the university was also required to provide alternate books to students who object to an assignment due to a "religious, moral or cultural belief".<ref name="filibuster">{{cite news |last=Borden |first=Jeremy |date=May 7, 2014 |title=Sen. Brad Hutto filibuster delays decision on College of Charleston 'Fun Home' budget cuts; GOP calls book pornography |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140507/PC1610/140509456 |newspaper=[[The Post and Courier]] |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=[[Evening Post Industries]] |access-date=May 15, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="compromise">{{cite news |last=Borden |first=Jeremy |date=May 13, 2014 |title=S.C. Senate votes to fund teaching U.S. Constitution as compromise on book cuts at College of Charleston |url=http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140513/PC1603/140519714/1005/teach-history-senate-votes-in-book-debate-fun-home-drama-brings-deal-to-use-funds-for-study-of-constitution |newspaper=[[The Post and Courier]] |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=[[Evening Post Industries]] |access-date=May 15, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="reuters_compromise">{{cite news |last=McLeod |first=Harriet |date=May 13, 2014 |title=South Carolina Senate won't cut college budgets over gay-themed books |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/r-south-carolina-senate-wont-cut-college-budgets-over-gay-themed-books-2014-13 |newspaper=[[Business Insider]] |agency=[[Reuters]] |access-date=May 15, 2014 }}</ref> Governor [[Nikki Haley]] approved the budget measure penalizing the university.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thomason |first=Andy |date=June 16, 2014 |title=S.C. Governor Upholds Penalties for Gay-Themed Books in State Budget |url=http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/s-c-governor-upholds-penalties-for-gay-themed-books-in-state-budget/79865 |newspaper=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]] |location=Washington, DC |access-date=July 2, 2014 }}</ref>

==== 2015: Duke University ====
In 2015, the book was assigned as summer reading for the incoming class of 2019 at [[Duke University]]. Several students objected to the book on moral and/or religious grounds.<ref name="dukesummerreading">{{cite news |last=Ballentine|first=Claire|date=August 21, 2015 |title=Freshmen skipping 'Fun Home' for moral reasons|url=http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2015/08/freshmen-skipping-fun-home-for-moral-reasons |newspaper=[[The Duke Chronicle]] |location=Durham, NC |access-date=August 24, 2015 }}</ref>

==== 2018: Somerset County, New Jersey ====
In 2018, parents challenged ''Fun Home'' in the [[Watchung Hills Regional High School]] curriculum. The challenge was rejected, and the book remained in the school. One year later, a lawsuit was filed in May 2019 against the administrators of the school asking for removal of the book. The lawsuit claims that if the book is not removed, "minors will suffer irreparable harm and that New Jersey statutes will be violated."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cbldf.org/2019/05/lawsuit-demands-fun-home-removed/|title=Lawsuit Demands Fun Home Removed {{!}} Comic Book Legal Defense Fund|date=May 15, 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=December 15, 2019}}</ref> After the Watchung Hills High School challenge, administrators at nearby North Hunterdon High School removed ''Fun Home'' from their libraries as well, but the book was later restored in February 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cbldf.org/2019/02/victory-fun-home-restored-in-new-jersey-high-schools/|title=Victory! Fun Home Restored in New Jersey High Schools {{!}} Comic Book Legal Defense Fund|date=February 26, 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=December 15, 2019}}</ref>

==== 2022: Wentzville, Missouri ====
In January 2022, the [[Wentzville, Missouri|Wentzille]] school board in Missouri voted 4–3 to ban ''Fun Home'', going against the review committee's 8–1 vote to retain the book in the district's libraries.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Schaub|first=Michael|date=2022-01-25|title=Missouri School District Bans Toni Morrison Book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/missouri-school-district-bans-toni-morrison-book/|access-date=2022-01-26|website=Kirkus Reviews|language=en}}</ref> The ban included three other books, as well: [[George Matthew Johnson|George M. Johnson]]'s ''[[All Boys Aren't Blue]]'', [[Toni Morrison]]'s ''[[The Bluest Eye]]'', and [[Kiese Laymon]]'s ''Heavy''.<ref name=":1"/>

==== 2022: Rapid City, South Dakota ====
In May 2022, parents challenged ''Fun Home'' in the [[Rapid City Area Schools]], claiming the book is "pornographic" and the overall picture of having books similar to ''Fun Home'' in schools is a "Marxist Revolution." Some teachers disagreed because the book represents the highly marginalized voices of the LGBTQ+ community. The school board decided to temporarily remove the book.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grossman |first=Hannah |date=2022-05-05 |title=South Dakotans flame school board meeting over 'pornographic' books: 'This is the Marxist global revolution' |url=https://www.foxnews.com/media/south-dakota-flame-school-board-meeting-over-pornographic-books-marxist-revolution |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}</ref>

==== 2023: Sheboygan, Wisconsin ====
In January 2023, [[Sheboygan South High School]] principal, Kevin Formolo, removed ''Fun Home'' from the school's library after community members expressed outrage about the book's inclusion. Supporters of the principal's decision say the sexual content of the book is inappropriate in a school setting. Others equated the removal of the book from the school's library to discrimination.

Two other books were also removed from the library by the principal, [[Alison Bechdel]]'s ''[[Are You My Mother? (memoir)|Are You My Mother?]]'' and [[Maia Kobabe]]'s ''[[Gender Queer]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldbeck |first=Madison |date=2023-01-24 |title=Sheboygan school pulls 3 books from library after outrage over sexual content
 |url=https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/sheboygan-school-pulls-3-books-from-library-after-outrage-over-sexual-content |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=WTMJ4 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Adaptations==
===Stage musical===
{{main article|Fun Home (musical)}}
''Fun Home'' has been adapted into a [[musical theatre|stage musical]], with a book by [[Lisa Kron]] and music by [[Jeanine Tesori]]. The musical was developed through a 2009 workshop at the [[Ojai Playwrights Conference]] and workshopped in 2012 at the [[Sundance Institute#Sundance Theatre Program|Sundance Theatre Lab]] and [[The Public Theater]]'s Public Lab.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hetrick |first=Adam |date=August 4, 2009 |title=Ojai Playwrights Conference Begins in CA; Kron and Tesori Pen New Musical |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/131641-Ojai-Playwrights-Conference-Begins-in-CA-Kron-and-Tesori-Pen-New-Musical |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131104104324/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/131641-Ojai-Playwrights-Conference-Begins-in-CA-Kron-and-Tesori-Pen-New-Musical |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2013 |newspaper=[[Playbill]] |access-date=November 3, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Boehm |first=Mike |date=July 10, 2012 |title=Cherry Jones, Raul Esparza give Sundance Theatre Lab star power |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-xpm-2012-jul-10-la-et-cm-cherry-jones-raul-esparza-give-sundance-theatre-lab-star-power-20120709-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=November 3, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Hetrick |first=Adam |date=September 11, 2012 |title=Jeanine Tesori-Lisa Kron Musical ''Fun Home'' Will Debut at the Public; Judy Kuhn to Star |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/169893-Jeanine-Tesori-Lisa-Kron-Musical-Fun-Home-Will-Debut-at-the-Public-Judy-Kuhn-to-Star |newspaper=[[Playbill]] |access-date=November 4, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020013915/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/169893-Jeanine-Tesori-Lisa-Kron-Musical-Fun-Home-Will-Debut-at-the-Public-Judy-Kuhn-to-Star |archive-date=October 20, 2013}}</ref> Bechdel did not participate in the musical's creation. She expected her story to seem artificial and distant on stage, but she came to feel that the musical had the opposite effect, bringing the "emotional heart" of the story closer than even her book did.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bechdel |first1=Alison |title=Alison Bechdel Draws a Fun Home Coda |url=https://www.vulture.com/2015/04/alison-bechdel-fun-home/slideshow |website=Vulture |access-date=January 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126221012/https://www.vulture.com/2015/04/alison-bechdel-fun-home/slideshow/ |archive-date=January 26, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The musical debuted [[Off-Broadway]] at The Public Theater on September 30, 2013.<ref name="playbill_opening" /> The production was directed by [[Sam Gold]] and starred [[Michael Cerveris]] and [[Judy Kuhn]] as Bruce and Helen Bechdel. The role of Alison was played by three actors: Beth Malone played the adult Alison, reviewing and narrating her life, [[Alexandra Socha]] played "Medium Alison" as a student at Oberlin, discovering her sexuality, and Sydney Lucas played Small Alison, at age 10. It received largely positive reviews,<ref>{{cite news|last=Brantley|first=Ben|title=Family as a Hall of Mirrors| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/theater/reviews/fun-home-a-new-musical-at-the-public-theater.html|access-date=October 23, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 23, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Dziemianowicz|first=Joe|title="Fun Home," theater review. Public Theater musical about a small-town family is dark but magnificent|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/fun-home-theater-review-article-1.1492941|access-date=October 23, 2013|newspaper=New York Daily News|date=October 22, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=McNulty|first=Charles|title=Awkwardness adds to 'Fun Home' charm Muddled beginning, smudgy staging and distracting songs in this musical ultimately add up to a tender honesty.|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-fun-home-review,0,2137887.story#axzz2iaWFTM87|access-date=October 23, 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 23, 2013}}</ref> and its limited run was extended several times until January 12, 2014.<ref name="extended5" /> The musical was a finalist for the 2014 [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]]; it also won the [[Lucille Lortel Award]] for Outstanding Musical, the [[New York Drama Critics' Circle]] Award for Best Musical, and the [[Obie Award]] for Musical Theater.<ref name="pulitzer">{{cite web |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Drama |title=Drama |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=April 14, 2014 |website=The Pulitzer Prizes |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |access-date=May 16, 2014}}</ref><ref name="lortel">{{cite web |url=http://lortelaward.com/2014nominees.htm |title=2014 Nominations |date=May 4, 2014 |website=The Lucille Lortel Awards |access-date=May 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508081340/http://www.lortelaward.com/2014nominees.htm |archive-date=May 8, 2014 |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref name="critics_circle">{{cite news |last=Healy |first=Patrick |date=May 5, 2014 |title=Critics' Circle Names 'Fun Home' Best Musical |url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/05/critics-circle-names-fun-home-best-musical/ |newspaper=New York Times |access-date=May 16, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="obie">{{cite news |last=Lucchesi |first=Nick |date=May 19, 2014 |title=Village Voice Announces Winners of 59th Annual Obie Awards, Names Tom Sellar Lead Theater Critic |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/05/village_voice_announces_winners_of_59th_annual_obie_awards_names_tom_sellar_lead_theater_critic.php |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |location=New York |access-date=May 21, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521035950/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/05/village_voice_announces_winners_of_59th_annual_obie_awards_names_tom_sellar_lead_theater_critic.php |archive-date=May 21, 2014 }}</ref> Alison Bechdel drew a one-page comic about the musical adaptation for the newspaper ''[[Seven Days (newspaper)|Seven Days]]''.<ref name="7days_strip">{{cite news |last=Bechdel |first=Alison |author-link=Alison Bechdel |date=July 2, 2014 |title=Fun Home! The Musical! |url=http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/fun-home-the-musical/Content?oid=2393463 |newspaper=[[Seven Days (newspaper)|Seven Days]] |location=Burlington, Vermont |publisher=Da Capo Publishing |access-date=July 23, 2014 }}</ref>

A [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production opened at [[Circle in the Square Theatre]] in April 2015. The production won five [[2015 Tony Awards]], including [[Tony Award for Best Musical|Best Musical]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Sims|first=David|title=Fun Home's Success Defines the 2015 Tony Awards|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/06/fun-home-caps-a-triumphantly-diverse-tony-awards/395153/|access-date=June 8, 2015|newspaper=[[The Atlantic]]|date=June 8, 2015}}</ref> and ran for 26 previews and 582 regular performances until September 10, 2016, with a national tour that began in October 2016.<ref>Gordon, Jessica Fallon. [http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Coverage-FUN-HOME-Closes-on-Broadway-with-Emotional-Final-Curtain-Call-20160911 "Photo Coverage: ''Fun Home'' Closes on Broadway with Emotional Final Curtain Call"], BroadwayWorld.com, September 11, 2016</ref> Kalle Oskari Mattila, in ''[[The Atlantic]]'', argued that the musical's marketing campaign "obfuscates rather than clarifies" the queer narrative of the original novel.<ref>Mattila, Kalle Oskari. [https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/04/branding-queerness-the-curious-case-of-fun-home/479532 "Selling Queerness: The Curious Case of ''Fun Home''"], ''The Atlantic'', April 25, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2017</ref>

===Potential musical film===
In January 2020, [[Jake Gyllenhaal]] and a partner secured the rights to produce a film version of the musical, planning to star Gyllenhaal as Bruce Bechdel with [[Sam Gold]] directing and [[Amazon MGM Studios]] distributing.<ref>Lefkowitz, Andy. [https://www.broadway.com/buzz/198003/jake-gyllenhaal-to-produce-star-in-movie-musical-adaptation-of-fun-home "Jake Gyllenhaal to Produce & Star in Movie Musical Adaptation of ''Fun Home''"], Broadway.com, January 3, 2020</ref> In 2023, according to Alison Bechdel, she will not have direct involvement on the project and Gyllenhaal was no longer involved in any upcoming film adaptation. She did, however, say "They're still trying to make this movie happen, but it will have a different star."<ref>Lickteig, Mary Ann. [https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/cartoonist-alison-bechdel-headlines-the-green-mountain-book-festival/Content?oid=39188274 "Cartoonist Alison Bechdel Headlines the Green Mountain Book Festival"], ''[[Seven Days (newspaper)|Seven Days]]'', September 27, 2023</ref> However, on April 2, 2024, Gyllenhaal was confirmed to remain involved on the film as a producer when he and his [[Nine Stories Productions]] banner signed a [[first-look deal]] with Amazon MGM.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/jake-gyllenhaal-movies-amaozon-mgm-1235864460/ | title=Jake Gyllenhaal's Nine Stories Signs First-Look Deal with Amazon MGM | website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] | date=April 2, 2024 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Comics|Feminism}}
*[[List of feminist comic books]]
*''[[Dykes to Watch Out For]]''
*[[Portrayal of women in comics]]

==References==
{{reflist | colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/bechdel/ Houghton Mifflin's ''Fun Home'' press release], with excerpts from the book and video of Bechdel's artistic process
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070715222036/http://www.dykestowatchoutfor.com/index.php dykestowatchoutfor.com], author Alison Bechdel's blog and official website
*[http://www.slate.com/id/2162410/ What the Little Old Ladies Feel: How I told my mother about my memoir.] ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' article by Bechdel

{{GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book}}

[[Category:2000s LGBTQ literature]]
[[Category:2006 graphic novels]]
[[Category:2006 comics debuts]]
[[Category:American memoirs]]
[[Category:Autobiographical graphic novels]]
[[Category:Biographical graphic novels]]
[[Category:Graphic novels about women]]
[[Category:Eisner Award winners]]
[[Category:Houghton Mifflin books]]
[[Category:Lambda Literary Award–winning works]]
[[Category:Lesbian-related comics]]
[[Category:Lesbian non-fiction books]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related graphic novels]]
[[Category:LGBTQ autobiographies]]
[[Category:LGBTQ literature in the United States]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in comics]]
[[Category:Stonewall Book Award–winning works]]
[[Category:Works about dysfunctional families]]
[[Category:Censored books]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related controversies in literature]]
[[Category:2006 LGBTQ-related literary works]]
[[Category:Graphic novels set in the United States]]
[[Category:Graphic novels set in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Graphic novels set in the 1980s]]
[[Category:Graphic novels set in the 1990s]]
[[Category:Graphic novels set in the 2000s]]