REVIEWED BY BOB MEADOWS
CRITIC'S CHOICE
GRAPHIC MEMOIR
When she was growing up in a small Pennsylvania town in the '60s and '70s, Bechdel—who writes the syndicated comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For—and her prickly father, Bruce, were always at odds. In Fun Home, her intimate graphic memoir, she sums up their differences with a headline above a drawing of herself playing with soldier gear while Dad quietly reads a book: "I was Spartan to my father's Athenian."
Still, Bechdel and her dad, a high school English teacher who also ran his family's funeral parlor (or "fun home" as the author and her two younger brothers called it), shared a secret: They both were gay. Bechdel came out to her parents when she was 19, in a letter she sent from college. "My father called after receiving it. He seemed oddly pleased to think I was having some kind of orgy," Bechdel writes. "Mom wouldn't come to the phone." Her pronouncement, however, was trumped shortly thereafter by her father's similar revelation. His confession—and his numerous affairs—would destroy his marriage; any chance of Bechdel establishing a stronger bond with him in her adulthood was lost four months later, when Bruce was hit by a truck and killed.
Fun Home jumps back and forth from Bechdel's college days to childhood to her preteen years, eventually unveiling the ties that she did share with her father—literature and music, as well as his admiration for her openly embracing a life he hadn't been brave enough to live. In the end Bechdel recognizes that while her father had been a difficult taskmaster whose temper could flare in an instant, he also "was there to catch me when I leapt."
[STARS 4]
by Bridget Harrison
REVIEWED BY LESLEY MESSER
MEMOIR
At a time when writers' memoirs are under suspicion, Harrison's tale of life and love in the Big Apple seems bracingly unambitious. Although she's a real-life Carrie Bradshaw who writes a dating column for the New York Post, Harrison doesn't attempt to make her life seem more glam than it really is. She admits that her designer clothes are a friend's cast-offs and describes her romantic screwups without embarrassment. She is also open about how desperately she seeks companionship after moving to Manhattan without knowing a soul. Harrison rambles at times, leaving one to wonder when she's going to make her point, but she maintains a sense of humor that renders her deeply likable. And her tone is so breezy that she seems like a friend dishing about her love life. By the end, it's hard not to hope that she gets everything she wants: literary stardom, the gorgeous apartment, the equally gorgeous boyfriend—and more.
[STARS 3]
Cammie McGovern
REVIEWED BY ANDREW ABRAHAMS
THRILLER
When a fourth-grade girl with a learning disability is found dead in the woods in this taut novel, the only witness appears to be 9-year-old Adam, who is autistic. In the face of questioning by police and specialists, the boy shuts down. But with the help of his fiercely devoted mother, Cara, and a savvy detective whose nephew is autistic, Adam slowly parts with clues that lead them to the killer. McGovern, whose own son suffers from autism, has crafted an airtight thriller that illuminates the exhausting, isolating realities of parenting special-needs children. The movie rights to Eye Contact have been optioned by Julia Roberts, and it's easy to picture the actress as the tireless Cara; she's sure to savor the emotional intensity that McGovern has bestowed on her remarkable heroine.
[STARS 3.5]
by Keith Donohue
REVIEWED BY NATALIE DANFORD
FANTASY
Donohue's debut novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups: the melancholy story of Henry Day and the supernatural creature ("Don't call me a fairy") who takes Henry's place when he is 7. The original Henry—renamed Aniday—joins a gang of changelings who never age. The narrative alternates between the lives of the two—one in town and the other in the nearby woods—and occasionally their paths cross. Donohue adheres rigorously to his made-up logic but never gets geeky about it, so that the book's emotional impact is as fierce as the imagination behind it. The result is magical—in the best sense of the word.
[STARS 3.5]
Confessional Comics
There's We Are On Our Own (Miriam Katin's Nazi-era memoir); Rosalind B. Penfold's Dragonslippers, about domestic abuse; and coming soon, Cancer Vixen by Marisa Acocella Marchetto. What's up? We asked Alison Bechdel (above).
WHY SHOW AND TELL?
Well, I always want to say about three things at once. It's impossible unless you use drawings too.
WHY THE TOUGH TOPICS?
Emotional material is more directly assimilated in pictures—it goes right into your bloodstream.
HOW DOES YOUR FAMILY FEEL ABOUT YOUR BOOK?
I'm not even sure how I feel. I'm not sure what possessed me, frankly!
Face to Face
A portrait photographer known for capturing the essence of his subjects, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders has worked with notables from Nicole Kidman and Sarah Ferguson to Jasper Johns and Norman Mailer. Here, telling photos from his book Face to Face: Selected Portraits 1977-2005.
Hankering for juicy novels and irresistible nonfiction to kick off hammock-and-lounge-chair season? Dive in.
THE WEEK-END BOOK
A charming reissue of the "guidebook" to leisurely pursuits that debuted in Britain in 1924 and was last published about 1955. You'll discover how to mix a Satan's Whisker, score double-handed bridge and I.D. the cry of a golden oriole.
NATURAL SELECTION by Dave Freedman
In a sci-fi thriller that combines the best of Jaws and Jurassic Park, a ferocious predator emerges from the oceans—an evolved ray that flies and brandishes monstrous teeth (creepy theme music here).
SLIPSTREAM by Leslie Larson
An accomplished first novel, set in lower middle-class L. A., that rides the wave of post-9/11 anxiety. The protagonists' fears and suspicions of one another are mingled with the dread in the outside world.
BABY PROOF by Emily Giffin
Can a successful editor in her 30s resist the pressure to procreate? Is it ridiculous to divorce the man you love because he wants kids and you don't? Smart, snappy chicklit that's sure to spark discussion.
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen
Novelist Gruen unearths a lost world with her rich and surprising portrayal of life in a traveling circus in the '30s. An emotional tale that will please history buffs—and others.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
