So much of this book was wonderful. The dichotomy between Alison and her father Bruce is unreal, sometimes ironic, and always painful, even in the happy moments (like that last page, which was the only part of this book that really, truly made me emotional. It hit me so hard). The emotional abuse that members of this family both endure and inflict at times is very difficult to read about, and the internal suffering that both the author and her father experienced throughout their lives is almost hard to imagine now in a society that hasn't come all the way, but has certainly made progress since Alison's childhood of the 60s and 70s, and that emotional turmoil is so eye-opening for me. I really enjoyed reading about the old house and could in a lot of ways relate to Bruce's obsession with material beauty; he certainly used it as a tool to make beautiful a life that probably felt ugly so often. I have done this in my life too, though for very different reasons.

Where the book suffered for me was under dense literary discussion that really interrupted the flow of the narration and made me feel the need to put the book down several times when really, I should have been able to finish it in one or two sittings at most. I understand that literature is clearly a huge part of Alison and Bruce's relationship, and since that is the central focus of this book, it makes sense to include it to an extent. It often felt overdone though, and inaccessible to those who don't know as much about literature or haven't yet had the time or luxury to make their way through all the many, many big old dusty books mentioned throughout. I myself love literature and still found this characteristic of the book distracting to my reading experience.

I also really wanted more exploration of what Alison's brothers and mom experienced throughout the years. We get snippets of it, and I get that it's not really their memoir, nor would their experiences probably contribute much to the LGBTQIA+ central theme of this graphic novel, but I would have enjoyed more insight nonetheless.

I loved Bechdel's artwork and because of how much I enjoyed it, upon finishing the book, I immediately put The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For on hold. It got here yesterday and I'm very much looking forward to reading it!