Deep in the Heart

Thursday night Jen and I did something we rarely do - we went to a lesbian event. Since the event was one block away from our house, we hardly had an excuse not to go to Alison Bechdel’s reading/book signing of her new graphic novel, Fun House. Bechdel is the author of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, a series started during the 80s and continuing today. The bookstore in the strip, Madwimmin Books, is based on Amazon Bookstore, formerly located near Loring Park (near where Joe’s Garage is now), but now conveniently located a block from our house. See Bechdel’s pictures and comments on the event here: http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/the-real-amazon

Jen and I and our friend Dawn walked over to Amazon. The reading took place in the basement level of the store, which was packed to the gills with lesbians of all shapes and sizes. Physically, it was not the most pleasant thing to be scrunched into the sweaty little room, but the reading was well worth it. Bechdel read the first chapter of the book with accompanying slides of her drawings. Both the drawings and the writing were immediately captivating. In it, she writes about her father, who died when Bechdel was 20 and who she later learned had carried on a secret life of sorts while he was alive. In case you read the book - and you should - I won’t say much more.

I am about halfway through the book now, and am completely absorbed by the drawings, the writing, and the unsentimental, darkly comic, yet still somehow loving memoir of her family’s unusual existence. Fun Home, also the nickname of the family funeral home where her father worked part-time as a mortician, will hopefully not be the last book project for Alison Bechdel. During the reading, Bechdel said she’s only recently “come out” as an artist - that she formerly viewed herself as a cartoonist, drawing for the people, creating something accessible to everyone. Don’t be fooled by the cartoon aspect of this book - it is sophisticated, researched, painstakingly drawn. Truly a work of art, and hopefully a sign of what is to come.