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)

Fresh and fun.

If you could sum up The Family Fang in three words, what would they be?

Fresh, out-of-the-box, unique.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Family Fang?

I was intrigued and also twisted inside as the parents would use their children in various ways to create performance art.

Any additional comments?

This book was a fun find for me. It was different and unusual and really made me think all while be very enjoyable. Loved it!

Quirky

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this book because it is so off the beaten track.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Family Fang?

Listening to each escapade the family had.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Disappointed in the ending...needed to be elaborated upon more, I believe.

A little disappointing

I liked Nothing to See Here, so I thought I’d read this one. It held a lot of promise due to the originality of the premise, but the conclusion to the major conflict was disappointing. While I live happy endings, this one seemed a bit trite.

Splendid

We loved everything about this book, including the narration, which added a great deal to the text. Don't miss it.

Surprisingly Deep

I grabbed this novel on a whim because it was featured on a banner ad when I came to the Audible site. I am SO glad I did. This story is very well written and the characters are unique and competently developed. The story is interesting and often unpredictable, which makes it enjoyable all the way to the end.

And I have found a new narrator! Up until now, Davina Porter has been my favorite narrator due to her ability to really manipulate voices and bring a variety of characters to lfe with her voice. Therese Plummer is spectacular at this. She really breathes life into this already good novel and give you a cast of characters, each unique in their own voices. This book, unlike most that I've read or listened to, had a complete ending. When the story was over, I was done. I didn't have questions, I didn't wish it would go on...the story was over. And I liked that. It left me free to appreciate it and move on to the next book in my library with a sense of closure.

This one is definitely worth the credit.

Quirky, captivating and very well read.

This was one of those can't-stop-listening stories that made me carry my iPhone around the house to keep listening. Gives new meaning to the phrase "dysfunctional family" but in an utterly original way.

Perfect setup for a family drama

What happens when a pair of successful performance artists have children, what becomes of those children, and where does it take the art? The Family Fang explores these premises with insight and humor, while remaining true to the questions it poses.

The Fangs are about as successful as performance artists can be, and when they have children (Child A and Child B) they include the children in their performance pieces. The children go along with it, as children do, but as they grow up they begin to question their participation and occasionally add their own touches, or resistance, to the pieces.

We get to know Annie and Buster as adults who have been damaged in foreseeable ways by their odd family life, and we also get to know the Fang parents as they struggle to make sense of their art without their children's participation and support.

There are plenty of deeply discussable topics---what can you ask of your children, how does this example of children working in their parents' business compare with children who work at their parents' retail business or gardening route, how do we handle our children leaving us, what does it mean to be damaged by our parents? My favorite among them is, of course, "WHAT IS ART?" which is a topic I could discuss forever.

This is an engaging story, but the performance is outstanding and I imagine that the book is much better in the audio version than by eye-to-brain. It is one of those special performances that makes it worthwhile to be part of Audible. I'm led to figure out how to search Audible's library for other stellar performances. This performance is all the more impressive because it is all done by one voice actor, rather than an ensemble.

Thanks, Audible, for introducing me to this novel.

hilarious & sad w/out lowering to farce or pathos

Listen to this book. You will laugh out loud at inappropriate times and feel the weight of the children's' burden at others -- in fact often at the same time. You will like the children and feel for them in their efforts to emerge from the bizarre cocoon their parents wove for them. You will struggle to understand the parents and to decide whether the ends of love are worth the means. You will want to see more from this author and hear more from this narrator. This is a unique offering -- a rare treat.

This.Book.Is.SO!FUNNY!

EDITED: My original review was made when I was only half way through the book. After finishing it, my star rating REMAINS THE SAME. The book is excellent. Excellent. But the humor tapera off and it gets a bit dark. The parents are manipulative and the reality of the children is sad...as children as well as when they are adults. I still highly recommend and stand by my first feelings that the first half of the book is seriously hysterical. EDITED:

I stumbled on this author quite by accident and boy and I glad I did. 3 books later and I’m laughing out loud at The Family Fang! It’s so well written. The humor is dry and the wit is quick. But I have to also give full credit to the narrator. She is SPOT on in her delivery! Hilarious! I’ve already gifted the book to 4 people. Love it

No, Really, Nothing to see here

Much darker and less gratifying at the end than Nothing To See Here. That title had some lighter humor and compassion. This title feels terribly sad and pathetic. I understand this is one of the author's earlier works, but having thouroughly enjoyed the previous, this title left me feeling bereft of any enjoyment in listening, though the narrator did her part well. I guess that bereft feeling is the point of the book. I finished, but it was a chore.