Spent: A Comic Novel

by Alison Bechdel

In Alison Bechdel’s hilariously skewering and gloriously cast new comic novel confection, a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel, running a pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont, is existentially irked by a climate-challenged world and a citizenry on the brink of civil war. Can she pull humanity out of its death spiral by writing a scathingly self-critical memoir about her own greed and privilege?

Meanwhile, Alison’s first graphic memoir about growing up with her father, a taxidermist who specialized in replicas of Victorian animal displays, has been adapted into a highly successful TV series. It’s a phenomenon that makes Alison, formerly on the cultural margins, the envy of her friend group (recognizable as characters, now middle-aged and living communally in Vermont, from Bechdel’s beloved comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For).

As the TV show Death and Taxidermy racks up Emmy after Emmy—and when Alison’s Pauline Bunyanesque partner Holly posts an instructional wood-chopping video that goes viral—Alison’s own envy spirals. Why couldn’t she be the writer for a critically lauded and wildly popular reality TV show…like Queer Eye...showing people how to free themselves from consumer capitalism and live a more ethical life?

Spent’s rollicking and masterful denouement—making the case for seizing what’s true about life in the world at this moment, before it’s too late—once again proves that “nobody does it better” (New York Times Book Review) than the real Alison Bechdel.

Genres: Graphic Novels, LGBT, Comics, Fiction, Queer, Humor, Graphic Novels Comics

259 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 2025

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bechdel's return to queer comedy, with which she began her career in her strips, Dykes to Watch Out For. Three masterpiece memoirs follow--Fun House, Are You My Mother? and The Secret to Superhuman Strength--with hardly a smile in them, but I didn't mind. But in fact, as much as I admire these books, I can't recall seeing Bechdel having smiled in these books or elsewhere for decades! Let's just say that she, like her father, is not a paragon of warmth. And oh, she is looking more and more like her grumpy Dad, too! The books are anguished, erudite (Bechdel, always beating herself up, calls them now pretentious in places) self-studies. This book both maintains her political commitments AND at the same time makes fun of her own pretensions.

But in this book we see Bechdel's return to comedy!? Her author photo has her smiling widely; that photo almost seems like a joke in itself, so incongruous is it after all these years. But the premise is that she and her partner Holly raise pygmy goats on a farm in Vermont, near a kind of commune where her former Dykes to Watch Out For crowd live, just to get the old gang back together for a few old people pc jokes. The cover, a Grant Wood American Gothic send-up, shows her and her partner at late middle-age, obviously farmers. This book begins as a sort of auto-fiction about the self-deprecating "Alison" beating herself up for becoming rich and famous in the current milieu of disaster capitalism. In addition to the goats, she is still working on comics, or graphic novels. And dealing with a tv show based on Fun Home, here called Death and Taxidermy, changing her Dad's funeral home work to taxidermy.

Written after having just finished it: And yep, it's pretty much a triumph, one of the best graphic novels of the year, as one of her books always is! It's funny, and insightful, and even sort of ultimately hopeful in the end!? Really amazingly layered, with great drawing, of course. Read every panel closely for little gifts of cleverness and fun. Acknowledging the impending collapse of civilization, seen through the eyes of gloomy Alison, it is nevertheless almost completely light- and warm-hearted!

So what's it about? Life on the farm, life dealing with the present moment, life and comics, and friendship/love/sex, updating the Dykes humor and cast of goofy sweet characters, riffing on current events, vegan life, climate, autocracy, and with a focus on changing contemporary middle age relationships, including polyamory!? Polyamory is both taken seriously and made fun of, ripe for jokes. Bechdel takes contemporary issues both seriously and humorously. So part of this is a kind of hilarious romp that reminded me somehow of that 1969 movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, satire on sexual mores of the times and part of it really is a sociocultural critique.

Part of the book is about Alison planning an unlikely anti-capitalist book project she calls Sum:An Accounting, but in a way, this book brilliantly becomes that book, now called Spent, taking seriously the oligarchic moment as she stresses out about the world, but also at the same time making fun of herself as taking life too seriously. The title is surely about money but is also a play on Joe Matt's book by the same title, about his sex obsession, and this is about sex, too, sweetly and humorously. The chapter titles mirror a book on late capitalism, but they also satirize them as pretentious and boring: "The Process of Production of Capital" (i.e., the leftie anti-capitalist Alison gets pretty rich); "Simple Reproduction" (well, lots of people and also goats are having sex!), and then of course a neighbor couple has a kid as all these goats are have "kids," and it's a wild and joyful time!

One fun thing is that Holly gets to be more popular than Alison through her farm tool videos (re: a chapter titled "The Specialized Worker and His Tools"), and another fun thing is that her sister, who was left out of Fun Home, gets back into Alison's life in an amusing but meaningful way. She's a Trumper, but they find ways to connect, a lesson for our times? In truth, Alison in real life has two brothers and no sisters, but maybe this is about them or one of them. Anyway, this book is wonderful--Funny, insightful and surprisingly warm as Alison reconnects to a community of friends (and her "kid" goats) and partner Holly. Highly recommended.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of Bechdel's newest, and most meta, comic. I was genuinely unsure if the premise of this one would work for me, but oh, it did. The main character of this book, Alison, is a cartoonist living in Vermont on a rescue pygmy goat farm. She is the author of a popular memoir about her relationship with her father, a troubled taxidermist who spent time in prison before his death. This book is currently being adapted into a multi-season TV show which is straying increasing farther and farther from reality. Alison's partner, Holly, does the majority of the work around the farm; that is, until one of her wood chopping videos goes viral and she starts dabbling as an influencer instead. Meanwhile, in town, Al and Hol's friends- Sparrow, Stuart, Ginger, and Lois- all live together in an experimental communal home. Yes, that's right, many of the old gang from Dykes to Watch Out For are back, with grayer hair, but just as much wit and spark as ever. JR is a nonbinary, asexual, poly freshman at Oberlin who runs a podcast and participates in campus protests for Gaza. Ginger is still teaching and in a long distance relationship. Sparrow and Stuart are contemplating opening their relationship up. Lois is organizing local events, some of which, unfortunately, turn into covid parties. I have no idea if this book will land for readers who haven't read Dykes to Watch Out For, but hopefully those who have will enjoy this return to the old cast as much as I did.

[ashes ➷ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4 because I can't fight the fun I had reading this.

Spent is a great time for any Bechdel fan, and not the place to start for those not already on board. It goes full tilt into exactly what people love and expect from Bechdel, and the premise is very much the major pull: Bechdel finally entering the realm of metafiction with a big color graphic novel that stars a fictional Alison alongside the grown residents of the iconic Dykes to Watch Out For comic. If this sounds like it will appeal to you, you will like this book; in a lot of ways this is Bechdel combining her memoir and comic-strip talents to make one big lovable beast.

With that said, Bechel is a much better analyst of her own mind than the outside world. What really pulled me in while reading, say, Are You My Mother, is the extent to which Alison is willing to dissect and understand her own psychological interior in an art piece. There is less of that here (despite many compelling possible routes for it) and much more focus on the world at large... which is not really her bag. It's common to assume that anyone with literary talent and intellect can create a compelling analysis of politics and our current age, but...

Well, Bechdel's primary problem in this book is that Bo Burnham's Inside already exists. Essentially everything she references about the ethics of modern life under capitalism has already been done in Inside, and Inside did the "white person guilty about making enough money to live on from their art in modern-day USAmerican capitalism" schtick better.

In-book Bechdel even clearly harbors resentment for how well off her friends think she is... while owning a home and (small!) farm in Vermont. She looks ahead to the money she feels she deserves from the TV show being made about her story, without seriously looking backwards at all the money she has already made off of four (depending how you count) books. Living off of writing novels (or making comics) is itself an incredibly rare privilege, and Bechdel seems too focused on defending herself against jokes about taking private jets and briefly guilting herself about how teachers are paid less than her rather than seriously interrogating her position in society. Which is fine! It's just, you know, not as good as actually analyzing what's going on, and I think the existence of other works with similar themes done better really hurts Bechdel here.

Many trans women have also raised concerns about whether Bechdel is a TERF and/or garden variety transmisogynist. Much has been made of her decision to go to Michfest, to critique Michfest's transmisogyny in a comic at the time, to continue to go anyway, to later praise it in a different graphic novel, to eulogize a TERF friend in 2017... it's all kind of a lot. I will say that I am not a trans woman and it appears to me that Bechdel is a garden variety "kids these days" type about transness-- she's repeatedly referenced the need to support trans people in a "queer culture moves too fast for me, haha, crazy new stuff" manner (from the in/famous bathroom comic in DTWOF to her portrayal and references to Janis to more recent interviews)-- which is obviously inadequate in its assumption that transness (and particularly transfemininity) is some kind of new trend rather than something that has always existed.

Unfortunately, this continues here. I don't know why Bechdel doesn't have any older transfem friends (whom we meet-- keep in mind this is the DTWOF cast, but then, the trans women in that cast seemingly do not appear!), but I would have really appreciated one older trans woman, given they are actually very common and generally involved in any real-life queer communities that are not actively hostile to them.

This is particularly interesting given a specific subplot in the comic-- Stuart, described as a "lesbian in a man's body" in DTWOF, is facing a difficulty with his wife, erstwhile-lesbian-perhaps-bi-who-cares Sparrow. He wants to roleplay as if he is a cis lesbian (though in the comic the word "cis" is never used to describe this fantasy, by himself or anyone else; it's always just "a lesbian") who wants a natal penis, wearing a strapon and being assured how big and masculine her cock is. One of my buddies described this as a frankly pretty vanilla fantasy, but I was surprised at how... extremely transfem it feels? It feels like something a trans woman might come up with to cope, or something a transmisogynist would think trans women are into due to 'autogynephilia'. WITH THAT SAID it's not like anyone is shaming him (...) for this kink, it's just brought up as an oddity and later on someone else fulfills it for him briefly on the page. Good for Stuart! But also, #MakeStuartTransfem2k25.

I feel the need to emphasize that Bechdel's placement of her self-insert/s as out-of-touch and confused by the ~new~ gender paradigm is merely a continuation of her consistent efforts to mock her own political shortcomings through her work. This is something David Sedaris also does, and I don't mind it when he does it, either. It is, however, something that can land as incredibly annoying, offensive, or simply bigoted to other readers, and I don't think it would be "wrong" to call this approach any of those things. I struggle to describe this situation because I don't think I really believe either that the way Bechdel is writing is "not transphobic" or "transphobic." I think she is about as transphobic as any older out-of-touch cis butch, much the same way most white people are racist and most straight people harbor homophobic beliefs. It doesn't personally bother me as someone who is usually fairly quick to pull the trigger on being pissed off at books I dislike, especially for bigotry, but that doesn't mean it's not an issue. (And it DEFINITELY doesn't mean I can't be biased in favor of an author I love.)

One moment I really felt went over the edge-- a couple of times, someone's name is brought up or a baby is born or whatever, and when Bechdel hears about it, she asks if the person is a boy or a girl. ...why? Does she really do this in real life? Wasn't the entirety of Fun Home about her struggle with being placed in a gendered box? Why the fuck would it even occur to a (cis) butch lesbian to ask the gender of a baby so she could figure out whether she could call it pretty or strong? And why isn't there any further meditation on this fact??? ALISON BECHDEL PLEASE BRING BACK YOUR SELF-ANALYSIS THE PEOPLE ARE STARVING.

With that said, this IS a fictional character. I think at times I made the error, especially given how Bechdel discusses the book, of assuming too much about what was real and what was fictional-- I would now hazard a guess that this is something like 80% fictional and 20% "real," inasmuch as any text can depict what is "real." It's easy to read this in bad faith as depicting Bechdel's life 1:1, but it's pretty clearly not that, and I think it gets more and more fun the more you allow yourself to frolic in the possibilities of its fictional side.

Needless to say, I'm Mx. Nitpicker Extraordinaire. But I really loved this one, and honestly, I tore through it. Anyone who would consider themself a fan of Bechdel will love this, even if it doesn't become their personal favorite of hers. I feel pretty strongly that a book can be a great time without being The Best Tome Ever To Grace The Planet, or the smartest or most politically astute, and this is the title that proves the rule to me. What a fun romp through everything I love and loathe about Bechdel and her writing... and what a silly title good Lord I mean can we talk about that thing? She thinks she's so damn clever. <3.

The story is fun, the new characters are interesting, and I really loved having a chance to catch up with funhouse versions of both the DTWOF cast and memoir-Alison. The color in this book is breathtakingly gorgeous, too; as much as I love Bechdel's earlier monochrome art, this really works for this book and I frequently paused to appreciate how pretty it looked on my screen.

Recommend if you like Bechdel! If you don't, this won't convince you to. And a tip of the hat to anyone who DID feel the book was overwhelmingly transphobic or frustrating for other reasons, because I do get you. Don't compromise your feelings just because I had fun.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delight this strange work of autofiction was! I read an interview with Bechdel in which she said her original idea for this book was a more straightforward memoir about her lifelong relationship with money, but that she decided a graphic novel about a fictional version of herself trying to write that book was much more fun and interesting. I agree!

I love how she both skewers and adores leftist thought and communities. The inclusion of most of the cast of my beloved Dykes to Watch Out For as fictional Alison and Holly's friends was a joy to read. I loved getting to see what my old friends were up to. Bisexual polyamory! Trans activist work! Still living communally! Also loved the goat farm antics, Holly's foray into and rejection of axe/chainsaw/farm equipment influencing, and J.R.'s 20something poly ace lifestyle and activism.

I have no idea if this book would work for people who haven't read the Dykes to Watch Out For series. I think I'd recommend reading them first if you want to read Spent.

[Liralen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh gosh. Okay, backstory: Bechdel's comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For was syndicated in my sister's college newspaper, which was how my sister found out about it. She brought one of the collections home with her one holiday and left it on the kitchen table. I read it—my mother read it—my father read it—my father went upstairs to the computer and ordered every other volume that was out at the time. When Fun Home came out, my mother ordered about six copies to send to various relatives (and the reason I own a copy of The Secret to Superhuman Strength is that my mother shipped that to me); now she has multiple copies of Spent on order, too, for the same reason. (My family, we are fans. Also, my husband and I talked Bechdel on our first date, which is maybe less specific than it might be when you consider that he's a comic artist and I...well, I just read a lot.)

Anyway, all of this is to say: This is a book unlike any of Bechdel's previous books. To be perfectly honest, if you've read both DTWOF and Bechdel's memoirs, I'd recommend skipping all of the reviews—and skipping the book description—and diving right in so that you can be gloriously confused and delighted. I read the description* when I first saw this book, but I have a habit of reading a description, shelving a book for future reference, and then forgetting everything but general theme until I pick the book up again; in this case, that meant that I spent a while going "wait, what?" and checking Wikipedia to make sure I hadn't missed something major before figuring it out and settling in to enjoy. And folks, that is a reading experience that I highly recommend.

This is fully enjoyable for readers who have read some but not all of Bechdel's work; certainly it helps if you've read Fun Home (or should I say Death & Taxidermy?), but you don't need to have read it, and you don't need to have read DTWOF. (I'd have to do some rereading to say whether there are specific callbacks to Bechdel's other books.) But—I do think the ideal audience here are those who have read and loved both. This is a catch-up with old friends (if the sort of catch-up where you maybe learn a little too much about them), and it was both so nostalgic and so current.

Plus, that picture of Bechdel near the beginning, where she's wearing gardening boots and scrolling on her phone? That inexplicably looks both 1) exactly as Bechdel generally draws herself and 2) exactly like my mother, who looks 2a) really nothing like Bechdel. And that may be weird and specific and not useful in terms of a book review, but for me it was just an excellent start to the book.

*Maybe. Or maybe I just saw the author and cover and winged the book onto my Goodreads shelf without needing to know more. Who can say?

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published May 20, 2025.

4 stars.

The wonderful Bechdel (of the famous Bechdel test…in a particular work of art do two females have a conversation about something other than a man? So simple, yet perfection.) brings us a new chapter in her overall graphic autobiography with this book (at least I think, but what do I know? I don’t know her. I would love to, though.). Here we see Bechdel, life at present as a semi-famous person living in Vermont on their goat rescue(!) with her partner and their friends and neighbors. It also covers some of her struggles with writing and Hollywood (one of her earlier graphic novels was turned into a TV show.).

It’s sweet and fun, about issues large and small, and a gentle reminder we’re all struggling through on this planet together. I would love to read more about this motley crew.

Also read as part of Book Riot’s 2025 Read Harder Challenge # 24 Any challenge from a past year, from 2015: Read a graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind.

[Paige]

NEW ALISON BECHDELLLLLLLLL

[Claire Askew · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's possible Alison Bechdel has missed at some point in her career but I've certainly never seen it!!!

[Pujashree · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is more Alison Bechdel than an Absurdist take on a graphic memoir of her life post-mainatream fame, living the privileged New England liberal commune life. This is no shade, I'm genuinely delighted that she put out a work that employs her brand of satire to reflect on her own life as well as the increasingly chaotic world of rising intolerance, and how her bubble of queer elites try to make a difference, despite each of their quirks and disconnects. The only downside of taking the piss out of everything and everyone is that it's hard to tell what the author is mocking and what is self-deprecating. But ultimately it just tells a story about a long term found family trying to stay together and live their best, most conscientious lives through dark times. Unfortunately, since this was clearly written before the second Trump era, the humor feels a bit flippant because the conceptual conflicts played for satire in this have much more existential dread attached to it than the time period this story is set in. That is hardly the author's fault, but it did mean that overall this effectively reads as performative and reductive of activism rather than a proper satire of the times.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ebook ARC.

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so much fun to read. Yes, Bechdel is talking about the ever-present dread of climate catastrophe, alongside the disastrous political situation in the United States, but her novel is populated by well-intentioned queer people who are trying hard to make life better. Though this is a novel, the main characters are Alison and Holly, two lesbians living in rural Vermont. They have five cats, a flock of hens, and they rescue goats. Holly makes sculptures and films videos of power tools, while Alison is trying to write a book called $um and living from the profits of the TV show of her memoir, Death and Taxidermy. Fans of Dykes to Watch Out For will be delighted to meet some of the characters from that series -- Ginger, Louis, Stuart and Sparrow are all still living together, while J.R., Stuart and Sparrow's non-binary child is now at college. Stuart and Sparrow fall for a bisexual woman, while J.R. becomes disillusioned with college and moves into Alison's yurt. If none of these details sound entertaining to you, this probably isn't going to appeal. But I found this a delightfully optimistic book, as Alison looks at the dangers and pitfalls around her, and attempts to live the best life she can.

[jrendocrine at least reading is good · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may be over my love for AB.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not to presume, but do you know about the Bechdel Test. If you're not aware, read about it. Since learning about the BT, I don't watch movies/series the same way.

Topical, woke (just in case there were any doubts where I'm concerned, I consider that to be a good thing :-) ), self-aware, and amusing, this graphic novel had it all. The main character, Aliso Bechdel, grapples with the need to make money, while staying true to her anti-consumerist, anti-corporate ethos. Is it even possible to consume ethically when living in a hyper-capitalist world?

Without knowing too much about Bechdel's personal life, it almost read like an autobiography or autofiction. After all, the main character is named Alison, and she looks very much like the author. Regardless, this was a superbly realised and thought-out graphic novel.

The physical book and the graphics are truly fabulous. If you're into graphic novels, go get this. If you haven't read any graphic novels, I encourage you to give this a go.

[Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jo a la Bechdel l'estimo.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Nadine in California · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a warm, comical hug of a book. Bechdel lovingly and gently skewers the comic book version of herself and her friends while making me feel like I'm also a loved part of the gang. And it's even sweeter now that they are on the far side of middle age; they are up to the same shenanigans and have the same earnest political convictions, but their edges are softer and they're more comfortable financially. A contradiction they are aware of. I feel like the narrative voice finds them both admirable and slightly silly. Or maybe that's just what I think.

A lot of my pleasure in this book comes from little visual details that aren't mentioned in the text- so many I can't begin to count, but for starters, the cats. Example: at one point Alison is blowing up an air mattress with a pedal pump, and of course all the cats park themselves on the deflated mattress to watch her. Alison's thought bubbles pay no attention to them, but through the pictures we can see her cats have her well trained - she ineffectually pumps the pedal until, finally, they get annoyed and jump off on their own.

[Hannah Garden]

I did not read so much as inhale this. She is my #1 and it is not too much to say I worship at her brilliant goofy righteous persnickety feet.

[Carmen Petaccio · Rating 4 out of 5]

~4.5 stars~

one of the best books I’ve ever read about aging hippies coming out as 2/3rds of a throuple to their child after said child drops out of Oberlin because their asexual polycule imploded

[Frejola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Booker Prize material. Hits every theme I'm wrestling with: pessimism, raising teenage kids, fear for our rainbow family, Trumpism, consumerism, collective living, countryside escape, Vermont dreams. Ensemble piece with detailed drawings - the animals are superb! Bechdel at her loosest. A masterpiece.

[Becca Maree · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only Meta I'm into is Alison Bechdel writing about trying to write a book.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

After several graphic memoirs, Alison Bechdel returns to her Dykes to Watch Out For characters to show how they're handling activism and aging in the age of Trump.

Mo Testa has changed her name to Alison Bechdel, but she's still hanging with her friends: Lois MacGiver, Sparrow Pidgeon, and Ginger Jordan.

The book gets off to a slow and frustrating start as Bechdel overindulges in the procrastinating writer trope and wallows in the hypocrisy of being a liberal, anticapitalist sellout who cashes those Hollywood and Rupert Murdoch publishing checks.

But I warmed up to the story as Bechdel ceded ground to the secondary characters, letting Sparrow explore the reshaping of her romantic life and giving J.R., Sparrow's child, the opportunity to at least bring the next generation of LGBTQIA+ issues into the conversation. It's a shame that Ginger and Lois get short shrift though.

A comfortable visit will old friends.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in from the first page - the pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont, the challenges of dealing with mainstream success, the partner with a viral YT video, the reunion of the Dykes to Watch Out For crew. Time has rolled on, everyone is middle aged and yet some things remain the same. This fiction/autofiction comic is a delight, and it's Bechdel so the illustrations are lovely and the navel gazing fun.

Rating for Alison Bechdel books
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - 5
Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama - 3
The Secret to Superhuman Strength - 4
The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For - 4
Spent: A Comic Novel - 4

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another super-solid Bechdel GN, this features some of her wryest, most incisive satire to date. She knows how to poke fun at political progressives—most of all herself—with a kind of weary acceptance and love underpinning even her "meanest" digs. That's a gift! I laughed out loud many times. And it's great to see much of the old Dykes to Watch Out For cast featured so prominently—I kind of came of age with them and wondered how they were doing in their little part of the universe.

[Karyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this was a lighthearted reunion with familiar characters that I have known for decades. Skilled drawing and storytelling combined into an enjoyable read.

[Danika at The Lesbrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In someone else’s hands, this story could very much be a sneering satire of activists. Instead, though, as the story went on, the characters felt more real. They’re flawed—and none more so than Alison, a neurotic and sometimes self-centred character who becomes convinced she needs to write a reality show that’s about freeing people from consumerism—but they also show up for each other.

In fact, by the end, I didn’t want to leave this community. I also found it inspirational. Alison and her friends struggle with the myriad crises of the world, but they don’t succumb to apathy or despair.

While Bechdel is definitely not afraid to poke fun and herself and fellow leftists, it’s clearly from a place of love. I did not expect to finish this book feeling inspired, but Spent turned out to be exactly what I needed.

Full review at the Lesbrary.

[Frankie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really solid! A gentle story. Not as good as secret to superhuman strength, but it was so awesome to see the dykes to watch out for return!

[Peacegal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really ended up enjoying this one. This is a fictionalized memoir of Bechdel’s own experience as a successful, yet conflicted, graphic novel artist. Alison and Holly live in rural Vermont, where they spend their days navigating the new economy and social norms and rescuing pygmy goats. And then there are their friends, whose lives and relationships are often quite colorful.

I was so pleasantly surprised by the fact that the main characters and many of the supporting cast are vegetarians and animal protection supporters—and it’s not a punchline, or a throwaway bit to create some artificial conflict in the story. Since animal issues are among those topics that inspire defensiveness and mockery from both the left and right wing, to see these topics being taken seriously and integrated into the story as simply another aspect of the characters’ lives and personalities made me a bit misty-eyed. Seeing the characters gathering for a plant-based Thanksgiving, and this being shown as the appealing celebration it is, warmed my heart. And when Alison pushes back against the TV adaptation of her graphic novel, calling out specifically the storyline that has her character abandoning her vegetarianism in a “comedic” twist (which is such an overused trope), it shows that she gets it.

The story takes place in a deep blue community in which many residents are baffled by the Trump-ageddon swirling around them. A major thread running through the story is Alison’s attempts to find meaning and joy in an often deeply scary environment and make peace with her sister, who seems to be, at first glance, her opposite in every way. While still maintaining its convictions, the story becomes nuanced and compassionate, and able to see humanity (and humor) in a variety of places.

[Meggie Ramm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Join Alison, post Fun Home, *ahem*, I mean, post Death and Taxidermy success as she and her partner try to navigate the current timeline while running a pygmy goat rescue farm. 

If you're spiraling out over the current state of affairs, this is a must read. Alison is trying to cope with her last memoir being made into a pop culture hit while also trying to strike gold with her next book deal. Her rants are both narcissistic and relatable, interspersed with her friend group exploring their first polycule and her MAGA-sister writing her first tell all. I could read ten more books of just this, it's the best kind of memoir and reminded me why Alison was the champion of this genre in the first place.

[ariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

alison bechdel publishes and i sit my ass down and listen……. i miss her days of psychoanalysis a little bit but can appreciate a return to the DTWOF cast amd also the metafiction is pretty funny and rewarding for ultimate fans… also a good record of the american atmosphere from an older leftist circle. and its so sweet that her books now are coloured by her partner 🥰

[Julien H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed out loud reading this at least ten times. A self-critical, honest, hilarious, and brilliant vignette of trying to survive a despotic and crumbling world, while trying to practice mutual aid.

Make sure that you are familiar with Bechdel’s work before reading this one — it will help you understand some references!

Also — a beautiful ode to Vermont.

[Nina Krasnoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkably funny and of the moment. So many layers & nuance but you move so fast in a graphic novel!! I wish I could take a class on Bechdel’s work