Some may know Alison Bechdel for her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For or maybe for the Bechdel Test, which one should always apply to movies. But Fun House is an autobiographical narration about Bechdels relationship to her father who (maybe) killed himself, (presumably) was a homosexual (like her) and was obsessed with redecorating their Victorian house. The story is gripping and ruthlessly honest and makes a very good novel indeed. It is also drawn.
I know many people don’t like the term ”graphic novel”. They see it as a unnessecary attempt at distancing the medium from ”comics” with its connotations of children, fast punchlines and lack of substance. However, in this case I think it can be used to signify that this is, in fact, an illustrated novel, not a comic. The drawings support the text and illustate the story, but the story itself is central, not the fact that it is conveyed by means of drawings. And it works really, really well. Highly recommendable.