The Family Fang

By: Kevin Wilson

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2011 Kevin Wilson (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The Family Fang sparkles with Kevin Wilson’s inventive dialogue and wonderfully rendered set-pieces that capture the surreal charm of the Fang’s most notable work. With this brilliant novel, the family Fang is destined to join the families Tenenbaum and Bluth as paragons of high dysfunction." (Amazon.com review; Amazon Best Books of the Month, August 2011)

Kevin Wilson puts the fun into dysfunction

Loved the Fangs - Caleb and Camille Fang create bizarre performance arts, and then get their two children - A and B (Annie and Buster) into the mayhem. The children grow up and both make a series of bad decisions causing them to try to return home. Funny, quick read.

If you like quirky - you'll enjoy.

Very original and unusual, but not engaging

I admired the imagination and creativity of the author, but found it hard to feel involved or even concerned with what happened. The characters were not appealing and the storyline felt rather absurd. I wish the author had tweaked both the characters and the plot slightly to help the reader feel like it was worth the effort to try to figure out what was going on. I found myself getting restless and switching to other books and then returning to this fanciful one before starting the next book.

Love the Fangs!

I really enjoy Kevin Wilson's offbeat stories. This is the second one I have listened to and I am ready for another. Sweet and weird and sure to entertain you.

Excellent

I loved it!!! I loved the characters and their story. laughed out loud!! I can't wait to listen to more by this author. The narration was excellent also.

Kevin Wilson has continued to get stronger

4 stars. I love Kevin Wilson's writing and you can tell this book was not a recent one of his (read News years eve/day 2024). he writes characters very well. The sibling relationship is strong. it takes a long time to get to where this book starts which is not typically an issue with Wilson's writing. I had a very hard time in the beginning wanting to listen. But I really like the characters Annie and Buster.

Unique and entertaining story

I can't remember how I came across this book, but I'm glad I gave it a try. It is unique and entertaining. I liked the way the story is broken up into past and present events to give the reader a deeper undestanding of the characters. I've never heard of Kevin Wislon before, but I'd be willing to listen to another one of his books, hopefully with the same narrator.

Loved this book

Original and engaging. Couldn't stop listening. This book was very unique in plot, but its heart is in its characters, which is what made it so good.

A true original

The Family Fang is a quirky tale that defies easy categorization. I listened to it twice, which I almost never do, and found the second time to be even more interesting and shocking than the first.

There is a dark, uncomfortable sort of humor throughout, that's oddly enjoyable. Think "The Loved One" or something by Muriel Spark. Although the characters themselves are truly out of the ordinary, there is something universal regarding the relationships between the grown up children "A" and "B" and their driven, bizarre parents that gives a lot of opportunity for thought.

There's also a wonderful depiction of the world of creative arts -- performance art, acting, painting and writing -- that I found fun and moving.

My book club chose this book and we had a great time discussing it. Members brought a lot of interesting personal perspectives in response to the plot line, characters and themes of The Family Fang. I can imagine that some people might find the story too odd for them to enjoy, but even though there are some very dark ideas here, there is also a positive, hopeful feel to the book that makes it much more than a just a depressing read.

Therese Plummer was a fantastic narrator. She was able to perform the parts of children, men and. women, and even did a great job singing when needed.

All in all, The Family Fang is on my best book list. I may even have to buy an actual book version of it!

Intriguing, Depressing, Nice (Somewhat)

Quirky characters (at least how the story started off). Then it got somewhat boring when it moved the focal from the parents to the kids, which (to me) seems somewhat disconnected to the overall story. To me, the dynamics (or relationship, perhaps even the lack of) of the parents and the kids are the stories to be told here. The plot got a bit more interesting (somewhat intriguing) towards the end, however the final "reveal" was somewhat lackluster and disappointing. It has a bit of depressing element to the whole story, growing up in a somewhat dysfunctional family. Then at the end, finally both the kids get the one single thing that keep them so estrange from their parents all these while, which is somewhat a nice ending to the story.

What a hoot

This is definitely an odd little book, but completely enjoyable! Loved the Fangs in all their hilarious, complicated, messy glory. Great story, great narration. A fun departure from the usual.