This is such a great story and the artwork is so linear and descriptive and wonderful, but the themes are very dense and this graphic novel reads more like a thick work of fiction. I like graphic novels like this, and Fun Home because show that graphic novels don't have to be light and fun and reading for pleasure. They can be very powerful, very full of information and story and thick narratives with really intense characters.
Sometimes people say they don't read graphic novels or comics because there isn't any meat to them, its just light reading with no imagination. For those types of people that are more into literary works I would say something like this is what they should be reading.
It follows a professor named Asterios Polyp, through a non-linear narrative about his life. Scenes from his youth, his early teaching years, his first marriage, mid-life crisis. Sometimes narrated by Asterios himself, but sometimes by his unborn twin. This book has many themes of duality, which I see most reflected in his marriage. There are times when he and his partner are talking and when they get in an argument, Mazzucchelli draws them as their alter egos, as if they become someone else when they are upset, and the use of line for each character shows that they are not on the same page while currently communicating. I think it is really beautiful and interesting way of showing miscommunication through illustration.
