Kaputt

In “Kaputt”, Alison Bechdel tells the story of a fictional comic book writer named Alison Bechdel who wants to draw an essay about money and capitalism. “Kaputt” is a satirical work of autofiction in which the real Alison Bechdel caricatures herself and her left-wing, queer and feminist community in rural Vermont. What makes her circle of friends special is that they are the ageing characters from her comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For”. Bechdel depicts their quirks, conflicts and everyday lives with irony and warmth; she pokes fun at their shortcomings and contradictions, and at their struggle with ideals and values. Although she tackles major themes – art, consumerism, capitalism, alternative lifestyles, ageing – she does so with a light touch and verve, in the style of a soap opera. “Kaputt” is a clever, bittersweet book: you laugh with and at Bechdel’s community; at the same time, you know that it embodies what Trump, Musk and their ilk fight against as ‘woke’ – and suddenly you read “Kaputt” as the self-deprecating and self-critical utopia of a way of life threatened by the zeitgeist.