Spent: A Comic Novel

“In Alison Bechdel’s … skewering and gloriously cast … 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 … has been adapted into a highly successful TV series. It’s a phenomenon that makes Alison … 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 … 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?”–