Episode · The Book Review · 2025-05-23
Alison Bechdel on The Book Review: books mentioned
'Fun Home' Author Alison Bechdel on Her New Graphic Novel
Gilbert Cruz discussed Fun, Are you my mother? by Alison Bechdel, Spent by Alison Bechdel, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson, Ulysses by James Joyce, Capital by Karl Marx, The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel, and The unstrung harp, or, Mr. Earbrass writes a novel by Edward Gorey. Alison Bechdel discussed The well of loneliness by Radclyffe Hall.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Fun
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is a celebrated graphic memoir exploring family dynamics, sexuality, and the complex relationship between a daughter and her closeted father.
Discussed“Put those two things together and you get a book like Funhome, one of the New York Times's 100 best books of the 21st century, or a book like its follow-up, Are You My Mother?”
Where to get it
-
Are you my mother?
Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel is an acclaimed graphic memoir that explores the complex psychological relationship between a daughter and her mother through literature, psychoanalysis, and art.
Discussed“Put those two things together and you get a book like Funhome, one of the New York Times's 100 best books of the 21st century, or a book like its follow-up, Are You My Mother?”
Where to get it
-
Spent
Discussed“Allison has a new book, Spent, a comic novel, which features several characters from that longunning comic.”
Where to get it
-
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson is a deeply moving and searingly honest memoir in which the acclaimed author explores her traumatic adoption, her fierce intellectual awakening, and the lifelong quest to heal from emotional wounds inflicted by her fiercely religious adoptive mother.
Discussed“And I'm not going to ask those questions, but I am curious because when you did our by the book feature many moons ago, you said in reference to Janette Wintererson's memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? That you were fascinated by the dividing line between fiction and memoir.”
Where to get it
-
Ulysses
James Joyce's landmark modernist novel Ulysses chronicles an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mapping human consciousness and daily existence through a revolutionary stream-of-consciousness technique.
Discussed“You in this book take your chapter titles I believe correct me if I'm wrong from Kar Marx his book das capal Ulisses is threaded throughout funhome there there are many books thread it throughout are you my mother Virginia Wolf and some other authors”
Where to get it
-
Capital
Capital by Karl Marx is a foundational critique of political economy that examines the mechanics of capitalist production, commodity fetishism, and the systemic exploitation of labor.
Discussed“You in this book take your chapter titles I believe correct me if I'm wrong from Kar Marx his book das capal Ulisses is threaded throughout funhome there there are many books thread it throughout are you my mother Virginia Wolf and some other authors”
Where to get it
-
The Secret to Superhuman Strength
The Secret to Superhuman Strength is a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel that explores the author's lifelong obsession with fitness trends, exercise culture, and her personal journey through aging and artistic creation.
Discussed“You started in black and white and then now when you did Funhome, are you my mother? And then the secret to superhuman strength that started to change”
Where to get it
-
The unstrung harp, or, Mr. Earbrass writes a novel
The unstrung harp, or, Mr.
Discussed“This book spent is an extended riff on Gory's first illustrated novel, The Unrung Harp.”
Where to get it
-
The well of loneliness
Discussed“It's especially funny because Funh Home is about my own like search for queer history and queer literature and finding the well of loneliness, this super depressing book.”
Where to get it
