When one thinks of childhood and teenagedom, death tends to stick to the periphery, if anywhere. Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel Fun Home flips the script and puts death at the center of her account—specifically, the death of her father. Orbited by the complicated relationship with her parents and discovery of her sexuality and OCD, death itself takes on a labyrinthine meaning, while even the most innocuous of memories takes on a vaguely dank, rotten stench.

Bechdel’s thesis on death reveals its illogicity and the spectrum of toles it can take on those it affects. She channels this strange, unpredictable phenomenon into the organization of her life story, which is anything but orderly. The book begins ordinarily enough, starting with her early childhood and working through her teenage years, recounting her memories specifically surrounding her father’s taut, reserved relationship with herself and the rest of the family. When she reaches the subject of her father’s death, Bechdel abandons the chronology and opts to jump around in time, reflecting the nonsensical feelings she experienced in response to her father’s death.

Bechdel’s dour characterization and color palette contribute to the overall gloomy mood of the book. Her style is clean and clinical with a monochromatic palette of blueish-gray watercolor. The minimalist comic design contributes to the overall melancholic tone of the book, but isn’t bogged down because of her intelligently erratic diction. Bechdel is obviously well-read and successfully uses this to her advantage without sounding stuffy or condescending. Her love for knowledge and words prevents the story from being bogged down by the heavy subject matter and grim compositions. Fun Home proves an absorbing, intelligent read, emotionally evocative even and especially for the cold-hearted.