Alison’s story within the book, then, is one of a difficult but ultimately successful growing up, in which Alison becomes aware and accepting of who she is. After Alison leaves her home and goes to Oberlin college, she begins to explore her sexuality openly, coming out of the closet to her parents, becoming a part of the gay campus community at her college, and beginning a transformative relationship with Joan, her first girlfriend. Through the book’s construction and its dozens of literary allusions, Alison brings the reader inside her point-of-view by showing how she often uses literary, mythical, or historical references in order to frame and contextualize her life. 1 In it she chronicles the 'exercise epoch' of body building, fitness fads, outdoor sports, and the popularization of Asian martial and healing arts. The book has six 'positive' reviews and eight 'rave' reviews, according to review aggregator Book Marks. Alison’s journey into self-recording begins with a simple, truthful childhood diary that over time transforms into a much less reliable teenage document that hides as much or more than it captures, and continues through the writing of Fun Home. The Secret to Superhuman Strength is a 2021 graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel. Throughout the graphic memoir, Alison is open and up front about her desires to dress and act like boys, and she also details how the pressure of her non-conformity to social expectations leads her to develop many strange compulsive behaviors as a child, including rituals, superstitions, and a proclivity for autobiography. The author and protagonist of Fun Home, Alison traces her life from childhood into early adulthood, centering her reflections on the circumstances surrounding her father Bruce’s death as well as the progression of her understanding of her own lesbian sexuality and inclination toward masculinity.

Alison bechdel books