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doggamn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Approximately 10 years after reading Fun Home for the very first time, I discovered Bechdel had a new book and I picked it up from the library.
I read Are You My Mother? a few years back and loved it, relating to the interwovenness of Bechdel's life with her mother's. The Secret to Superhuman Strength was a bit less catered to me, being largely about exercise and learning about one's own strengths and limitations, but once I got past that, I started to really enjoy it.
Bechdel published this book as she neared 60, and I read it as I near 30 (a little over a year away for me). The book is part memoir, part biography, and part musings on Bechdel's place in the world and how she slots in with the rest of the planet's inhabitants/terrain. Superhuman Strength piqued my interest with its looks at athletic trends from the past decade, Buddhism and spirituality in general, discussion of the lives and vocations of famous writers, and--perhaps most of all--Bechdel's relationship with her own mortality.
As someone whose body has been at odds with themself, I related strongly to Bechdel lamenting losing the ability to perform some of her former activities due to physical strains and injuries. I recently accepted that I am disabled, with chronic pain and mental illness both contributing to many days of muddied thoughts. I've been trying lately to not resent my own body for failing me at times, keeping me couch-ridden with back pain and nausea. Raleigh and I recently started taking walks fairly regularly and I've commented to him a few times now about how frustrating it is to realize that exercise actually does help with a lot of issues. I feel inspired after reading Bechdel's book and seeing her illustrations (which still thrill me); I want to maintain a relationship to my body and nurture it by exploring. I want to spend more time outside of the city/suburbs and take in nature, allowing myself to feel small.
I want to feel more oneness with my self and the world around me, and to navigate life more thoughtfully.
Onward to the grave!
I read Are You My Mother? a few years back and loved it, relating to the interwovenness of Bechdel's life with her mother's. The Secret to Superhuman Strength was a bit less catered to me, being largely about exercise and learning about one's own strengths and limitations, but once I got past that, I started to really enjoy it.
Bechdel published this book as she neared 60, and I read it as I near 30 (a little over a year away for me). The book is part memoir, part biography, and part musings on Bechdel's place in the world and how she slots in with the rest of the planet's inhabitants/terrain. Superhuman Strength piqued my interest with its looks at athletic trends from the past decade, Buddhism and spirituality in general, discussion of the lives and vocations of famous writers, and--perhaps most of all--Bechdel's relationship with her own mortality.
As someone whose body has been at odds with themself, I related strongly to Bechdel lamenting losing the ability to perform some of her former activities due to physical strains and injuries. I recently accepted that I am disabled, with chronic pain and mental illness both contributing to many days of muddied thoughts. I've been trying lately to not resent my own body for failing me at times, keeping me couch-ridden with back pain and nausea. Raleigh and I recently started taking walks fairly regularly and I've commented to him a few times now about how frustrating it is to realize that exercise actually does help with a lot of issues. I feel inspired after reading Bechdel's book and seeing her illustrations (which still thrill me); I want to maintain a relationship to my body and nurture it by exploring. I want to spend more time outside of the city/suburbs and take in nature, allowing myself to feel small.
I want to feel more oneness with my self and the world around me, and to navigate life more thoughtfully.
Onward to the grave!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Mental illness and Sexual harassment
off2explore's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide and Alcohol
karolinaz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicide, and Cultural appropriation
cada's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide
emready's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Minor: Suicide and Death of parent
sebrittainclark's review
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
This book is a look at Bechdel's through the lens of the body. She talks about not just physical activity, but transcendentalism, romanticism, and Buddhism in her journey to to figure out life and living through the years. It's a fascinating and beautiful journey.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Drug abuse and Infidelity
adoras's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Thank you to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC!
This is my first Alison Bechdel book--I own Fun Home, but have never gotten around to reading it, although I loved the musical. It's a philosophical, self-reflective and self-depreciating look at Bechdel's relationship with her body, her health (mental, physical, and emotional), exercise, and the feeling of transcendence. These are huge topics, and she covers her entire life up to very recently (the last few pages talk about her struggling to finish the memoir during quarantine).
However, the book never feels overstuffed, or unfocused. Bechdel also connects her personal experience to history, following a few poets, philosophers, and writers that she felt some kind of personal connection to, as they also thought and talked about transcendence, nature, their own troubled relationships, etc. These writers include Emerson, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Margaret Fuller, and Jack Kerouac. Despite not particularly being fans of or knowing a lot about any of these people, I enjoyed all of these connections. I did find it funny that there was such a focus on Eastern philosophy, but many of the people talked about were white.
The book is broken up into sections that follow a decade, of Bechdel's life (the 1980s, when Bechdel was in her 20s, etc). It was fascinating to see reflections both of her personal history, and of where the world was at the moment. For example, the book would cover some of Bechdel's relationships and the writing of Fun Home and Are You My Mother?, but also discuss the development of running shoes and active wear over the years, or the connection between the AIDS crisis and a focus on a different physique for men—lack of body hair, and use of steroids used more widely after first being prescribed to HIV-positive men.
Even if you have no particular interest in exercise and books about it, this graphic memoir is about so much more. She is incredibly honest about her problems with suppressing her emotions, throwing herself into her work, refusing to rely on others, and pushing herself too hard to the point of injury or illness. I also enjoyed the art style, full of funny little details, and the soft pastels used for the coloring.
This is my first Alison Bechdel book--I own Fun Home, but have never gotten around to reading it, although I loved the musical. It's a philosophical, self-reflective and self-depreciating look at Bechdel's relationship with her body, her health (mental, physical, and emotional), exercise, and the feeling of transcendence. These are huge topics, and she covers her entire life up to very recently (the last few pages talk about her struggling to finish the memoir during quarantine).
However, the book never feels overstuffed, or unfocused. Bechdel also connects her personal experience to history, following a few poets, philosophers, and writers that she felt some kind of personal connection to, as they also thought and talked about transcendence, nature, their own troubled relationships, etc. These writers include Emerson, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Margaret Fuller, and Jack Kerouac. Despite not particularly being fans of or knowing a lot about any of these people, I enjoyed all of these connections. I did find it funny that there was such a focus on Eastern philosophy, but many of the people talked about were white.
The book is broken up into sections that follow a decade, of Bechdel's life (the 1980s, when Bechdel was in her 20s, etc). It was fascinating to see reflections both of her personal history, and of where the world was at the moment. For example, the book would cover some of Bechdel's relationships and the writing of Fun Home and Are You My Mother?, but also discuss the development of running shoes and active wear over the years, or the connection between the AIDS crisis and a focus on a different physique for men—lack of body hair, and use of steroids used more widely after first being prescribed to HIV-positive men.
Even if you have no particular interest in exercise and books about it, this graphic memoir is about so much more. She is incredibly honest about her problems with suppressing her emotions, throwing herself into her work, refusing to rely on others, and pushing herself too hard to the point of injury or illness. I also enjoyed the art style, full of funny little details, and the soft pastels used for the coloring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content