Spent by Alison Bechdel

Spent: A Comic Novel by Alison Bechdel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just loved this. It’s been a while since I’ve read Bechdel’s work and I was delighted to come across this in the library and that feeling did not diminish one iota upon reading. Bechdel is wrestling with the world and her position in it and the fact that everything is pretty messed up. And yet it isn’t; she is part of a loving, deliciously funny, passionate, quirky, glorious space within the world and Spent tells the story of it. Alison’s pygmy goat sanctuary. Her friends’ experimentations with polyamory. Sex. Relationships. Moving from the margins to mainstream visibility due to the success of her work and TV adaptations. Becoming seen. Having her partner go viral with wood-chopping videos. Making content. Living, really, in the moment and loving who you’re with and what you’re doing.

It’s a witty, self-deprecating thing this, told in the third person by a wryly omniscient narrator about “Alison” and the art is just luscious: thick, rich colours, smart little visual jokes; GOATS, everything. It’s just so clever and so good and so palpably rich and full of such, such love for people and all of the ways that they can live their life. The thread about polyamory, including full and frank representation of their sexual relationship, is one of the more powerful threads for me and done with such grace and fun and honesty. Forgive the pun, but there’s an awful lot of love in this book.

There are characters here that Bechdel has already featured in previous work but honestly, I think you can come to this fresh and just enjoy a story of people peopling in complicated times. It’s lovely and I enjoyed it enormously.