Emily Carroll’s Through the Woods was oddly reminiscent of Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Scary Stories, along with Grimms’ Fairy Tales, were my go-to horror reads as a kid, so this collection really struck a chord with me. Maybe it is the narrative voice of folk tales, or particularly Carroll’s, but these stories were told beautifully. Modern,… Read more →
I actually first discovered Fun Home last Spring, when a Broadway-obsessed friend showed me a clip from the Tony Awards in which cast members of the musical version of the book sang the song Ring of Keys, in which a young Allison Bechdel has a moment of self-discovery upon seeing a butch woman for the first time, desiring the freedom to act… Read more →
As our Final Project donned upon us, I began to reminisce about this past semester studying comics, graphic novels, comic art, and all of visual literature. Being my first class involving this information I have to say the first couple weeks were very challenging. Will Eisner’s A Contract with God threw me out of sorts for sure. It’s complex narrative… Read more →
Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was the most depressing book I have ever read. Now that I have your attention, let me explain what I mean. I admit that before this class, I had never heard of this book or its author. Through my own research and reading, I came to understand its significance, and I came to appreciate the excellent… Read more →
I really enjoyed Fun Home, the style and story of it, and while March is similar because they are both grounded in fact the change in tone was a little jarring at first. Nonetheless I am liking March. The art is not only beautiful to look at but it is very well thought out and purposeful. It expresses a lot… Read more →
I actually read Fun Home several weeks ago, while working on UMW’s production of Noises Off. During one act, I needed to be seated behind a giant stair unit, and I wasn’t able to move until the act ended. So, for roughly 45 minutes, I had time to read. I chose to bring Fun Home with me, since it was one of the smaller books we… Read more →
After scrolling through the blog I noticed a lot being said about censorship due to our discussions about Fun Home this past week during class. I thought I would give my input on the topic of censorship. I feel that censorship is extremely tricky. One side being that you shouldn’t deprive someones learning due to discomfort. For instance obviously the… Read more →
Fun Home has been an interesting bit of material to read. Often with books and graphic novels, the stories we are discussing are works of fiction, and while they have a heavy influence from the authors life, fiction is still in the area of dismissal. We can look at it and go ‘wow, that’s awful, these people are terrible characters,’… Read more →
Our first day discussing Fun Home centered more on how we should treat censorship, book banning, and all that jazz. Many of my classmates seemed to think we need a rating system for books like we have for movies, the concern being that children will be exposed to more sexually graphic material before they are mature enough. I think that… Read more →
I have talked about the nature of memory, particularly in memoirs in quite a few other classes, so I was not surprised, when we broke up into groups on Friday during class, that I once again found myself discussing how accurate memories are, in terms of memoir. Throughout her work Bechdel says “I think” frequently. While some may say that… Read more →