Do people really want to know about the private lives of others?

yes, they do.

For things one wants to know about, there are strictly informative nonfiction texts. For other reading, why should the subject matter be of any importance? It's the quality and style of the writing (and in this case, the artwork) that makes for interesting reading or fails to do so. I can't think of very many great novels whose surface topics are anything I would say I "want to know about." It's not the story, it's the storytelling.

I almost read this book thru in one sitting; the only reason I didn't was that I finally passed out at about 4am, and had to finish it the next day.

Now, I've been a fan of Bechdel's DTWOF strip for many years. (And always offended that it's been ghetto-ized into the "Gay Lit" parts of the world; it's as good as Doonesbury at Trudeau's best, and deserves much broader exposure. She’s superb at explicating just how the personal is political, and vice versa. And her take on 9/11 was one of the best I've seen in any medium.) So it's possible the story was more moving and engaging to me than it would have been if I hadn't already come to love Bechdel's work, and eager to see more of the artist behind it.

But I doubt it. Ms. Bechdel is like your most intelligent, interesting friend, endlessly showing you, as the reviewer noted, "unexpected connections" in the world, and doing so with a gentle and ironic wit that are entrancing. Even more impressive when you realize that such a sensitive, brilliant, and seemingly sane mind and soul can have come from a background that could easily have led to a life of struggle and pain. The story (and the comic-book – sorry, “graphic novel” – presentation) are not only entertaining, affecting, and insightful, they're also inspiring.

But we aren't reading it because we're so terribly interested in the family life of a Vermont cartoonist, we're reading it because the story is so excellently rendered, the emotion and undercurrents so perceptively expressed.

Are people interested in the private lives of others? Um, ever heard of a little trend called reality TV? Or the book-buying public's obsession with memoir? Or the obvious fact that most fictional works - tv, film, books - consist of fictional explorations of the "private lives of others"?

Yea, I know people are concerned about other's private lives.

I was actually trying to be a little more polite -- I should have asked -- what kind of idiots care about other's lives?

If people weren't interested in reading about the private lives of others, why on earth would anyone ever read any biography? Must all levels of interest be assumed prurient? I'm currently reading "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" and I'm utterly enthralled. Bechdel mentions reading "Portrait of a Young Artist as a Young Man." I remember reading that as a teenager as well, and it inspired me tremendously. Paraphrasing what someone else so eloquently said, people read any written work for a beautifully described revelation of the commonality of the human condition whether that condition be via the experiences of an Alison Bechdel, James Joyce, Flaubert, or a J. Robert Oppenheimer. I find it rather sad that someone would question the worth of any artistic endeavor solely on the basis of its content.

This is an example of a work that describes one life in such detail, that it illuminates details about our own lives.

The best novels do this; the best biographies do.

And yes, even cartoon memoirs can do this.

Look at this. Look at "Stuck Rubber Baby" (Howard Cruise); look at "Maus" (Art Spielgelman).

I'm dying to get my hands on a copy of this memoir. I've been an Alison Bechdel fan since I searched the word "lesbian" at my local library over a decade ago desperate for a book I could connect with as a teen on the verge of coming out. The lone hit turned up a dog-eared Dykes To Watch Out For collection that I must have read 100 times cover to cover.

Thanks for recognizing her enormous talent and giving her the credit she deserves.

Your criticism is so free-floating as to be meaningless. You could as easily ask what kind of idiots DON'T care about others' lives. In fact, that question, unlike yours, actually has answers. The kind of idiots who don't care about others' lives are sociopaths, solipsists and idiots. I doubt if you are any of those or that you care as little about others' lives as you imply.

I also gently disagree with the respondants who have suggested that it's not the story, it's the storytelling. Style is a lot, but it's not everything, and anyway how do you separate it from what it signifies, the dancer from the dance, as it were? You look at a self-portrait by Rembrandt and you see great art, but if you don't also see Rembrandt, how can you tell you're seeing great art? Style takes you to a destination, but in the end, what is involving about the picture is the face itself. Similarly, a writer takes raw material and through art (style, technique) makes it matter to the reader. Any number of women in the history of the world might have committed adultery and thrown themselves under trains, and if I heard about it it would make me sad. Tolstoy creates a fictional woman who does the same and makes me profoundly sad because he has the art to make her and her fate matter to me.

I haven't read "Fun Home" yet, but the review has shown me there there are several places where Bechdel's and her father's lives touch mine and those of people I know. Not having experienced Bechdel's style but caring to know about her and the other people she writes about, I look forward to reading her book.

Bechdel's genius has been her ability to mesh the personal, political and universally relevant into each brilliantly drawn cartoon, while simultaneously being ironic, funny and insightful. "Fun Home" provides her with the extended format to expand these gifts beyond a few panels and deeply delve into the meaty flesh of her fascinating mind. She pokes a sharp stick at the soft white underbelly of her own neuroses and uncertain memories. I read it straight through and found it beautiful and immensely satisfying.