1. Somebody wants their mommy.
BOOKSREVIEW
Are You My Mother?: A
Comic Drama
BOOK | ALISONBECHDEL
BYPHILGUIE
After writing about her father's troubled life and suicide in
her last book, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, for her
follow-up Alison Bechdel turns to her other parent, with
whom she has long shared a difficult relationship. In the
new graphic novel Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama,
she attempts to come to terms with the cool and distant attitude that her mother, Helen, often displayed toward her,
and with the powerful feelings she has held for her since infancy. While Bechdel is ostensibly on a quest, both the
journey and destination are largely in her mind, and the narrative is therefore free to go in a myriad of directions
and even double back on itself. Her guides through the labyrinth include writers and psychoanalysts whom she has
adopted as surrogate mothers - in particular, Virginia Woolf and Donald Winnicott, the latter of whom pioneered
highly-influential theories about parent/child relationships. Armed with their knowledge, Bechdel examines and
re-examines such traumatic incidents as her mother's uncomfortable reaction to her being a lesbian, and finds
alternate motivations each time she looks. As was the case in Fun Home, the artwork is painstakingly detailed;
however, what makes the author's work truly fascinating is her compulsive need to create connections, whether
between dream sequences and present-day reality, or the events in Bechdel's life versus her mother's. Ultimately,
it's debatable whether Are You My Mother? is a labor of love or obsession, but either way it's a compelling read.
Exciting Summer Reading
Recommended for You: The Dreamcatcher Adventures
www.amazon.com
TAGS: AUTOBIOGRAPHY, GAY, LESBIAN, MEMOIR, MOTHER, PARENT/CHILD RELATIONSHIP, PSYCHOANALYSIS,
FACTS: RELEASED: MAY 01, 2012 (HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT); PAGES: 304
BUY:
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Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama | Books | CriticalMob http://www.criticalmob.com/books/more/are_you_my_mother_a_comic_...
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