I was surprised that Fun Home was a graphic novel when I opened it. I somehow missed it, or forgot it. But it was such a joy to read! I really love graphic novels. I’m an artist sometimes and a visual thinker all the time, so being able to connect pictures to the story was compelling. I also liked that the words and pictures seemed perfectly balanced. It was halfway a novel and halfway a comic and it’s a style I don’t get the opportunity to see very often. It reminded me a bit of Persepolis, which I read a long time ago and has stuck with me for years. I predict this book will do the same.
I enjoyed this week’s discussion a lot, not only because it centered around a book I already love, but because of how discussing it allowed me to expand my understanding of it as a whole and connect different points I hadn’t initially seen. I was particularly fascinated in the different perspectives and interpretations regarding the impact of the calendar on Alice that I hadn’t initially considered.
I enjoyed reading Fun Home. In my high school English class we did look at a graphic novel and I had a great time analyzing it then too. Overall, I liked Bechdel’s writing style and choice to use a blue undertone instead of standard black and white that most graphic novels portray. I also really enjoyed being able to create my own panel and getting to see everyone else’s was very eye opening.
The differences and similarities in how we have discussed Fun Home compared to how classes in the past have discussed non-graphic novels have been interesting to me. I’ve really liked seeing how we can focus on things specific to the graphic novel format, like panel composition, while still looking at more “traditional” literary devices like diction. There is a whole new layer of intention and expression to peruse, as well as the ways in which these new factors interact with the themes of the graphic novel.
I’ve never been an avid reader of graphic novels, but I really enjoyed Fun Home as I think it is a story that benefits from the use of images. I also loved the story of Fun Home in a broad sense, as I feel like that type of parent-child relationship is one that is very common but not necessarily explored often. I appreciated our analysis of the first chapter on Tuesday, as there were a lot of new ideas and details that I had missed on my reading.
While this was not my first experience analyzing a graphic novel closely (another fantastic graphic memoir is “Persepolis,” by Marjane Satrapi), I really loved reading “Fun Home”! Something I’ve really enjoyed from this class is modeling the creative process itself – be it by writing poetry, or in this case, drawing a panel of an important part of my life. For my panel, I actually employed a technique Bechdel used in “Fun Home,” where I photographed myself in the position I wanted to draw in order to have a reference. Though my photo did not include my face, it was still difficult to replicate the emotion and expression in the curves of my body, and it led me to look for this more closely in the novel. I think this process was very insightful, and I’d like to try this with more of the kinds of media I consume.
I really enjoyed reading Fun Home. It was a different experience than reading some of the other things we did for class, especially coming straight from reading poems. I do not typically read graphic novels, so this was a really fun and interesting to read. I definitely would love some recommendations for more graphic novels if anyone in class has any! Also as a side note, I really do not understand why this book was made into a musical. Like why was this one chosen specifically for that because I would have never though of making it one.
Close reading a graphic novel was a new experience for me, and I loved it. Examining how Bechdel had to balance text and image to create the story was fascinating to me, and as I had to create my own panel I realized how powerful the images are to a graphic novel. With poetry we think a lot about how each word has meaning, and I started to think about how each image in a graphic novel has to have meaning, too. Overall, this week pushed me to think in new ways about graphic novels, and I wish we could spend more time talking about Fun Home than we have in class.
I’ve never been much of an artist, but this week really made me want to be. Seeing how beautifully and painfully Bechdel was able to capture moments and memories in drawings was amazing to me, and I found myself utterly jealous that I would never be able to do something like that (I am a terrible artist). There is something so special about pairing words with images that just forces the reader engage with the text in a new way. I was specifically struck by the differences in panels. For example, the one page image of Roy that caputres such radiance and the multi-panel pages of the conversation with Bechdel and her father that emphasize the silence between them.
Reading and discussing “Fun Home” as a class has been so different for me, in a super exciting way! I’m not used to reading graphic novels, let alone close-reading one with a class, so this week was entirely new and I loved it! I especially enjoyed dissecting the images while comparing them to the words of the story– looking at how Bechdel utilized the pictures to work in tandem with or contrasting each form of storytelling. Because of this text, I am now interested in reading other adult graphic novels. I would love some suggestions if anyone has any!
I enjoyed our exploration of the graphic novel as a genre this week. Not only were our discussions about Fun Home interesting and engaging, but getting to go through the process of making my own panel and then getting to see everyone else’s panels during class was really insightful. Having never looked at graphic novels in an academic setting before, it was nice to have the opportunity to appreciate and analyze the nuances of the genre. I especially enjoyed our conversations about Bechdel’s composition, subject, and perspective choices in her panels, as it opened my eyes to how illustration can enhance a narrative.
There are so many takeaways for this week, partially because we read (the long awaited) Fun Home!
However, my takeaway is actually something Professor Cassarino said in office hours. She showed me this quote from Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin:
“Then, perhaps, life only offers the choice of remembering the garden or forgetting it. Either, or: It takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both.”
That quote has just stuck with me throughout the week, because I have also been connecting it to Funhome. Mainly, the strength and elasticity of forgetting and its relationship with forgiveness.
I really enjoyed reading and discussing Fun Home. I’ve never engaged much with graphic novels in the past, so I was surprised by Bechdel’s style both in writing and illustration. My expectations were totally subverted by the language through how many words I had to look up and by the visually explicit nature of some panels. I became invested in the story as it cycled and jumped through time to reveal both a coming out and coming of age. My favorite part of class this week was passing around everyone’s panels; they were beautiful in form and content, and I’m grateful for the glance into people’s lives and minds.
This is the first time I’ve been in an English class that looked at the graphic novel, and I’ve enjoyed it. One thing I’ve really enjoyed analyzing, and hope to do so more during the time we’ve set aside next week, is how the graphic format in particular (composition, lighting, spacing) work to emphasize parts of the text.
I was surprised that Fun Home was a graphic novel when I opened it. I somehow missed it, or forgot it. But it was such a joy to read! I really love graphic novels. I’m an artist sometimes and a visual thinker all the time, so being able to connect pictures to the story was compelling. I also liked that the words and pictures seemed perfectly balanced. It was halfway a novel and halfway a comic and it’s a style I don’t get the opportunity to see very often. It reminded me a bit of Persepolis, which I read a long time ago and has stuck with me for years. I predict this book will do the same.
I enjoyed this week’s discussion a lot, not only because it centered around a book I already love, but because of how discussing it allowed me to expand my understanding of it as a whole and connect different points I hadn’t initially seen. I was particularly fascinated in the different perspectives and interpretations regarding the impact of the calendar on Alice that I hadn’t initially considered.
I enjoyed reading Fun Home. In my high school English class we did look at a graphic novel and I had a great time analyzing it then too. Overall, I liked Bechdel’s writing style and choice to use a blue undertone instead of standard black and white that most graphic novels portray. I also really enjoyed being able to create my own panel and getting to see everyone else’s was very eye opening.
The differences and similarities in how we have discussed Fun Home compared to how classes in the past have discussed non-graphic novels have been interesting to me. I’ve really liked seeing how we can focus on things specific to the graphic novel format, like panel composition, while still looking at more “traditional” literary devices like diction. There is a whole new layer of intention and expression to peruse, as well as the ways in which these new factors interact with the themes of the graphic novel.
I’ve never been an avid reader of graphic novels, but I really enjoyed Fun Home as I think it is a story that benefits from the use of images. I also loved the story of Fun Home in a broad sense, as I feel like that type of parent-child relationship is one that is very common but not necessarily explored often. I appreciated our analysis of the first chapter on Tuesday, as there were a lot of new ideas and details that I had missed on my reading.
While this was not my first experience analyzing a graphic novel closely (another fantastic graphic memoir is “Persepolis,” by Marjane Satrapi), I really loved reading “Fun Home”! Something I’ve really enjoyed from this class is modeling the creative process itself – be it by writing poetry, or in this case, drawing a panel of an important part of my life. For my panel, I actually employed a technique Bechdel used in “Fun Home,” where I photographed myself in the position I wanted to draw in order to have a reference. Though my photo did not include my face, it was still difficult to replicate the emotion and expression in the curves of my body, and it led me to look for this more closely in the novel. I think this process was very insightful, and I’d like to try this with more of the kinds of media I consume.
I really enjoyed reading Fun Home. It was a different experience than reading some of the other things we did for class, especially coming straight from reading poems. I do not typically read graphic novels, so this was a really fun and interesting to read. I definitely would love some recommendations for more graphic novels if anyone in class has any! Also as a side note, I really do not understand why this book was made into a musical. Like why was this one chosen specifically for that because I would have never though of making it one.
Close reading a graphic novel was a new experience for me, and I loved it. Examining how Bechdel had to balance text and image to create the story was fascinating to me, and as I had to create my own panel I realized how powerful the images are to a graphic novel. With poetry we think a lot about how each word has meaning, and I started to think about how each image in a graphic novel has to have meaning, too. Overall, this week pushed me to think in new ways about graphic novels, and I wish we could spend more time talking about Fun Home than we have in class.
I’ve never been much of an artist, but this week really made me want to be. Seeing how beautifully and painfully Bechdel was able to capture moments and memories in drawings was amazing to me, and I found myself utterly jealous that I would never be able to do something like that (I am a terrible artist). There is something so special about pairing words with images that just forces the reader engage with the text in a new way. I was specifically struck by the differences in panels. For example, the one page image of Roy that caputres such radiance and the multi-panel pages of the conversation with Bechdel and her father that emphasize the silence between them.
Reading and discussing “Fun Home” as a class has been so different for me, in a super exciting way! I’m not used to reading graphic novels, let alone close-reading one with a class, so this week was entirely new and I loved it! I especially enjoyed dissecting the images while comparing them to the words of the story– looking at how Bechdel utilized the pictures to work in tandem with or contrasting each form of storytelling. Because of this text, I am now interested in reading other adult graphic novels. I would love some suggestions if anyone has any!
I enjoyed our exploration of the graphic novel as a genre this week. Not only were our discussions about Fun Home interesting and engaging, but getting to go through the process of making my own panel and then getting to see everyone else’s panels during class was really insightful. Having never looked at graphic novels in an academic setting before, it was nice to have the opportunity to appreciate and analyze the nuances of the genre. I especially enjoyed our conversations about Bechdel’s composition, subject, and perspective choices in her panels, as it opened my eyes to how illustration can enhance a narrative.
There are so many takeaways for this week, partially because we read (the long awaited) Fun Home!
However, my takeaway is actually something Professor Cassarino said in office hours. She showed me this quote from Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin:
“Then, perhaps, life only offers the choice of remembering the garden or forgetting it. Either, or: It takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both.”
That quote has just stuck with me throughout the week, because I have also been connecting it to Funhome. Mainly, the strength and elasticity of forgetting and its relationship with forgiveness.
I really enjoyed reading and discussing Fun Home. I’ve never engaged much with graphic novels in the past, so I was surprised by Bechdel’s style both in writing and illustration. My expectations were totally subverted by the language through how many words I had to look up and by the visually explicit nature of some panels. I became invested in the story as it cycled and jumped through time to reveal both a coming out and coming of age. My favorite part of class this week was passing around everyone’s panels; they were beautiful in form and content, and I’m grateful for the glance into people’s lives and minds.
This is the first time I’ve been in an English class that looked at the graphic novel, and I’ve enjoyed it. One thing I’ve really enjoyed analyzing, and hope to do so more during the time we’ve set aside next week, is how the graphic format in particular (composition, lighting, spacing) work to emphasize parts of the text.