the Age of the Coming of Age Novel

Fun Home is, as I am sure most readers have noticed by now, a graphic novel. This decision is natural given Alison Bechdel's background as a comic artist, but I think it is interesting to consider how its nature as a graphic novel influences how we experience these moments from Bechdel's childhood and adolescence.  The fact that this book is a graphic novel made it challenging to engage with at first. Fun Home, while being a graphic novel, is still a very intricately worded book, and when combined with the wealth of visual information in every scene (so much important detail in this book is shown, not told, which is awesome), this makes it kind of overwhelming on the first read. Every page just contains so much  that I found my self doubling back, rereading, and noticing details that I missed the first time I looked at them. But, I think the blending of narration and images allows the story to come together in a really unique way. The most emotional moments of the book ar...

               “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs.” (Plath 1) That’s kind of an odd way to start a book, isn’t it? When I first started reading the Bell Jar, I was curious what the reference to the Rosenberg execution was doing here. Was the line simply added to ground the story in the historical period in which it took place? If so, why not just say, “It was the summer of 1953?” And if that were the case, why does the execution come up again halfway into the book, during the conversation with Hilda? I think it is clear that this is not just an offhand reference. To me, the repeated nods to this event seemed intentional and important, and I think they had a lot to do with Esther’s detachment from the world around her as her mental health worsened.                 But first, who were the Rosenbergs?             ...