The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
Published by Ecco
Publication Date April 17, 2012
Source: Library
Genres: General Fiction
Goodreads
Mr. and Mrs. Fang called it art.
Their children called it mischief.
Performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang dedicated themselves to making great art. But when an artist’s work lies in subverting normality, it can be difficult to raise well-adjusted children. Just ask Buster and Annie Fang. For as long as they can remember, they starred (unwillingly) in their parents’ madcap pieces. But now that they are grown up, the chaos of their childhood has made it difficult to cope with life outside the fishbowl of their parents’ strange world.
When the lives they’ve built come crashing down, brother and sister have nowhere to go but home, where they discover that Caleb and Camille are planning one last performance–their magnum opus–whether the kids agree to participate or not. Soon, ambition breeds conflict, bringing the Fangs to face the difficult decision about what’s ultimately more important: their family or their art.
Filled with Kevin Wilson’s endless creativity, vibrant prose, sharp humor, and keen sense of the complex performances that unfold in the relationships of people who love one another, The Family Fang is a masterfully executed tale that is as bizarre as it is touching.
First Impressions
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson is 309 pages of a “Candid Camera”. Caleb and Camille Fang put performance art above all else. Their kind of performance art I just found to be mean. Although, like a guy getting kicked in the nuts on America’s Funniest Home Videos you can’t help but laugh.
Impressions While Reading
If I’m going to be honest, I could really have cared less if I ever found out what happened to Caleb and Camille. They were characters I would not waste my time on in real life. Despite their great life’s work of art I really didn’t see what the big deal was about. It was Annie and Buster who I most cared to read about. I wanted to know how their screwed up childhood affected them and how they were developing into adults. Because of this I enjoyed seeing Child A and Child B shed the exteriors Caleb and Camille had perfected and in how ever messed up it was coming into their own.
Final Impressions
When I look back The Family Fang was one big scavenger hunt, piecing together a menagerie of a story. Kevin Wilson has written an art piece that was excentric, originally creative and makes you want to get up and move.
I LOVED this book, which was quirky and fun, but found the movie version to be dark and boring.