Spent
A Comic Novel
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4.5 • 10 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The celebrated and beloved New York Times bestselling author of the modern classic Fun Home presents a laugh-out-loud, brilliant, and passionately political work of autofiction and social commentary.
"Truthful, rueful and delightful."—LA Times
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. She wonders: 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 LGBTQ+ 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.
It’s a story only Alison Bechdel could tell—one of creative envy, political anxiety, and pygmy goats.
Autofiction: Follow a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel as she navigates professional envy and existential dread on her Vermont pygmy goat sanctuary.Humorous Fiction: A laugh-out-loud look at the absurdity of modern life, from viral wood-chopping videos to the surreal success of a TV show called Death and Taxidermy.Found Family: Reconnect with the beloved, now middle-aged, characters from Bechdel’s iconic comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For.Political Commentary: A sharp, witty, and deeply felt critique of consumer capitalism, privilege, and the challenges of living an ethical life in a world on the brink.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Celebrated queer cartoonist and author Alison Bechdel makes a triumphant return to form in this brilliantly honest, unapologetically funny tale. The story checks back in with the crew from her comedic indie comic strip from the ’80s and ’90s, Dykes to Watch Out For, which followed fictionalized versions of Alison and her friends. The real Alison Bechdel has since earned massive acclaim for serious works like her tragicomic autobiographical graphic memoir, Fun Home, which became a hit Broadway musical. The version of Alison in Spent has experienced the same success, but living in a world marked by climate catastrophe and late-stage capitalism often sends her spiraling in hilariously relatable ways. In fact, the entire middle-aged crew (and their communal goat farm) inspires sweet and funny musings from Bechdel about modern life. If you’re not already a Bechdel fan, Spent will make you one.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this self-deprecating and delightful graphic novel from Eisner winner Bechdel (Fun Home), an archly fictionalized Alison finds herself flummoxed by commercial success. After her memoir, Death & Taxidermy, is adapted as a prestige show on a streaming platform, Alison and her partner Holly—a goat farmer with a popular YouTube channel—navigate the absurdities of the American economy (such as rounding up their $479 purchase of "wild-foraged" mushrooms to donate to charity) alongside their like-minded but less well-off friends. Alison wants to "stick it to the man" with a new book titled $um—"I just might put the final nail in the coffin of late-stage capitalism!" she dreams. "But first... what is late-stage capitalism?" Though each "episode" of the graphic novel shares the title of a chapter in Marx's Das Kapital, Bechdel's alter ego is alternately too confused, distracted, despairing, or creatively blocked to start a revolution. Meanwhile, her diverse crew of friends explore polyamory, and their college-age children emerge as the next generation of activists. The bold, full-color art displays Bechdel's signature style: detailed characters, assured panel work, and welcomely realistic representations of queer and older folks' naked bodies. Bechdel takes a gentle approach toward her well-meaning characters, but wields a razor-sharp scalpel when it comes to the indignities of modern life. For Bechdel's fans, it's a dream to see her skewer fame with such hilarious precision.
