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Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama

Alison Bechdel

Discussion: Book Suggestions

Why we're reading this: There's already one Bechdel suggested. While Fun Home deals with Bechdel's father, this one is about her …more
[close] There's already one Bechdel suggested. While Fun Home deals with Bechdel's father, this one is about her mother and Bechdel's "comming of age" as independent and gay. It's also full of quotes from Winnicott and other psychologists, one can compare it a bit with Woody Allen gone less distanced.

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Book Suggestions

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What Members Thought

May 11, 2012 Tammy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2012

This one is hard. It delves deeply inside Bechdel's head and has a bit of an academic feel to it. After I finished it, I wanted to do two things: (1) given Bechdel a very long hug and (2) write. The latter is what puts it in my five-star category. ...more

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May 15, 2012 MM rated it it was amazing

I really really liked it, reading as both daughter and mother. The literary references and meta aspects totally worked for me: beautiful, profound, relatable, heartbreaking.

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 05, 2012 Lord Beardsley rated it really liked it

Shelves: read2012

I am in awe of this woman's talent and attention to detail. The structure of this book is totally different than "Fun Home", it's more cerebral and less conventionally sequential. This totally makes sense based on the thematic elements she is tackling: her complex relationship with her mother and her own relationship with therapy. I read this in one sitting, and thoroughly enjoyed it. ...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Amanda rated it it was ok

Shelves: comics-graphic-novels

I never thought in a million years I'd ever not like anything Alison Bechdel did, but... no. I wanted to love this book real bad, but it didn't work for me. I'm just totally uninterested in the psychoanalysis stuff, which I wasn't expected. I don't think she found a story to tell with this one. I would still read whatever she does next. ...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Ellen added it

Shelves: borrowed, 2015, summer-reading-15

Looking forward to this one a lot, but concerned that Katie Roiphe and I might agree on it. Dilemmas! ...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Jessica Haider rated it liked it

Shelves: graphic-novels, memoir, lgbtq

3.5 Stars for this graphic novel memoir. It's very introspective and meta. For a good portion of this book she writes about the process of writing this book. ...more

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