Last night’s meeting of THE ARTIST’S BOOKSHELF covered a wide array of topics ranging from funeral homes and obsessive/compulsive disorder to Camus and the complexities of human sexuality.
Our topic, of course, and the catalyst of all the hoopla was the infinitely intriguing graphic novel, FUN HOME, by the equally intriguing cartoonist/writer/astute observer Alison Bechdel (of DYKES TO WATCH OUT FOR fame).
We spent a fair amount of time talking about the unique development of the graphic novel as a literary/artistic genre, and were aided immensely in this effort by esteemed local cartoonist (BOY TROUBLE) Robert Kirby.
We devoted a good deal of our discussion to the novel’s focus on the protagonist’s father, and the troubled but highly complex relationship they shared.
“ We grew to resent the way my father treated his furniture like children, and his children like furniture.”
Though not in total agreement over the novel’s resolution (was it metaphorical, literal, sentimental, ironic, too easy, unclear, or all of the above?), we did agree that its ambiguity somehow seemed appropriate for a work of this depth and magnitude.
Next up: AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman
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