The Beyond Busy Global Book Club discusses this book from June 4th – June 10th 2012, Join the discussion any time!
Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama is written and illustrated by Alison Bechdel and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2012.
Today’s question was suggested by Sue LeBreton:
As a first time reader of an adult graphic novel I sometimes felt the narrative was made choppy by going back and forth between pictures and the words. I felt at times I was not “reading it right”, should I go frame by frame, read the words on a page first? Did anyone else feel like this?
I know what Sue means. This was also my first time reading a graphic novel. I felt very unhip about the whole dilemma since both my husband and tween daughter read graphic novels. Therefore I was excited for this chance to “join the club.”
But it did seem to take me a while to get the hang of graphic novel reading. And that made me feel decidedly not cool.
I was happy to discover, however, that about halfway through the book I was flying through it. Clearly I eventually got the hang of it. And now I’m eager to read Fun Home, as well.
What did you think? Was the style of reading easy for you to pick up or did it take some getting used to?
Did reading this graphic novel leave you wanting to read more in this genre or if not, how did you feel?
You can respond to any or all of these questions, as you like.
Comments on this entry are closed.
I didn’t read comic books as a kid, so I had to get past the strangeness of comic book effect before I could pay attention to what she was saying. Once I came to the conclusion it was a serious book I still found it difficult to follow. But it’s a great concept and reading more of her books would certainly be easier each time. I was impressed with the complexity and the detailed sketches that filled each page, the multiple themes in each setting, and her ability to juggle them all. I would definitely try another one of her books.