The Family Fang

By: Kevin Wilson

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

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)

Not Fangtastic but it was ok with a dash of quirk.

I didn't love it but I didn't loathe it. Makes me feel a lot more confident about my own parenting lol.

Truly creative

This is one of the most creative stories I have read in a long time. So often, creativity in novels takes the form of novel literary devices and little else. Here, it is the story itself that is so unusual and so truly "new" feeling. The narrator is also excellent and well-suited to the author's writing style.

A Brilliant Surprise of a book

I loved everything about this story - it’s perfect, dark , sweet, funny, a little sad and so very insightful. I loved the dialogue between the characters and how the story with all its various twists and turns never feels rushed or drags.

art, life, family

What did you like best about this story?

There are a lot of twists and turns. The character development is very good. The take-away points about art, family, and individuality are quite deep without being preachy.

Heading.

Liked it. Didn't love it. Very thoughtful take on artistry. A few good twists and turns, too.