2.nocrop.w1260.h865.2x.jpg
  • Alison Bechdel

Before she was the reluctant namesake of the ubiquitous Bechdel Test, Alison Bechdel wrote the great "family tragicomic," Fun Home, about her father's suicide and her family's repression. In 2012, she published a follow-up graphic novel, Are You My Mother?, pairing her complicated relationship with her mother with D.W. Winnicott's idea of "the good-enough mother." It was a worthy sequel, further complicated by the fact that Bechdel wrote it while her mother was still living. Bechdel's mother has since died, and a new musical adaption of Fun Home has just debuted in New York. So Bechdel wrote a coda to Fun Home—and, I'd argue, Are You My Mother?—that considers what it's like to write two highly personal memoirs about your parents, and to see your family repression performed onstage. Vulture's got the whole thing, and if you've read Fun Home, it delivers a similar punch of strong emotion tempered by Bechdel's smart analysis. In just a few frames, she provides a satisfying ending to two searching books.

Do yourself a favor. You might also want this.