"He was there to catch me when I leapt"

Throughout this novel, Alison really vocalizes how much she dislikes her father in various ways, but I can't help to wonder if everything she was saying was just to cover up how much she really did care about him. Was this book based on an over exaggerated opinion? Yes, he made Alison and her siblings work hard around the house and had little time for fun and games, but no parent is perfect, and in my view, he was a great father. He built strong work ethic for his children and yes, he was stern but sometimes it's needed for a home to be run accordingly.

Alison’s father may have been controlling, but it was only because he cared for her. He wanted for her what he felt like he never had. On pages 22 and 23, Bechdel conveys a sense of kindness in her father. The pictures show him giving her a bath and letting her take the wheel of the lawn mower and she then states, "Although I'm good at enumerating my father’s flaws, it's hard for me to sustain much anger at him. I expect this partly because he's dead, and partly because the bar is lower for fathers than for mothers." There are those fathers that aren't even there for their daughters. I could see why one would be hostile towards someone who was never there for them, but the mere fact that her father put great effort for her shows that he isn't so bad after all.

I also caught on as I read through this book, that her mother is rarely mentioned or around. It seems to me that her father played a big part in her life which is maybe why she blames a lot of things on him. While talking to a friend at college, she laughs at the fact that her father is dead. “Dad left no note. After the funeral, life pretty much resumed its course. They say grief takes many forms, including the absence of grief."  I personally believe that her laugh is nervousness and hides the fact that she really did love her father. Some people react the complete opposite way they're "supposed" to act when something tragic happens. However, I know Alison loved and trusted her father than she ever portrayed it through the whole book according to one little line on the very last page that read, "But in the tricky reverse narration that impels our entwined stories, he was there to catch me when I leapt."