# The Secret to Superhuman Strength - Hardcover

by **Alison Bechdel** (Author), **Alison Bechdel** (Illustrator)

**The Best Graphic Book of 2021 by _Publishers Weekly_ A _New York Times_ Best Graphic Novel of 2021 A _New York Times_ Notable Book An Autostraddle Best Queer Book of the Year A _Boston Globe_ Best Book of the Year A _St. Louis Post Dispatch_ Best Book of the Year NPR, 12 Books NPR Staffers Loved _Shelf Awareness_ Best Books of 2021**

  

**From the author of _Fun Home_, a profoundly affecting graphic memoir of Bechdel's lifelong love affair with exercise, set against a hilarious chronicle of fitness fads in our times**

  

Comics and cultural superstar Alison Bechdel delivers a deeply layered story of her fascination, from childhood to adulthood, with every fitness craze to come down the pike: from Jack LaLanne in the 60s ("Outlandish jumpsuit! Cantaloupe-sized guns!") to the existential oddness of present-day spin class. Readers will see their athletic or semi-active pasts flash before their eyes through an ever-evolving panoply of running shoes, bicycles, skis, and sundry other gear. But the more Bechdel tries to improve herself, the more her self appears to be the thing in her way. She turns for enlightenment to Eastern philosophers and literary figures, including Beat writer Jack Kerouac, whose search for self-transcendence in the great outdoors appears in moving conversation with the author's own. This gifted artist and not-getting-any-younger exerciser comes to a soulful conclusion. The secret to superhuman strength lies not in six-pack abs, but in something much less clearly defined: facing her own non-transcendent but all-important interdependence with others.

  

A heartrendingly comic chronicle for our times.

### Author Biography

ALISON BECHDEL's cult following for her comic strip _Dykes to Watch Out For_ expanded wildly for her best-selling memoirs, _Fun Home_, adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical, and _Are You My Mother?_ Her many honors include being named a MacArthur Fellow and Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont.

**Number of Pages:** 240

**Dimensions:** 1 x 10.1 x 7.8 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** May 04, 2021

## Details

- **Price:** 24.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 24.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Secret to Superhuman Strength - Hardcover

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