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kelsey1970 's review for:
The Family Fang
by Kevin Wilson
I liked so many things about this book, it's hard to know where to begin. Overall, it is just so bizarre and funny, yet the characters, Annie and Buster, are so real, familiar, and loveable. Sometimes odd books like this aren't really about the plot, but I thought the plot of this book was compelling and interesting, and it was so neatly entwined with the development of Annie and Buster's characters. You really see them grow and develop, and you are pulling for them every painful step of the way. You are also pulling for the parents, Caleb and Camille, but they disappoint you over and over again, until finally, you can really understand where Annie and Buster are coming from.
The stories of their lives growing up and their parents' increasingly weird performance art are at first interesting and almost fun, but ultimately you realize that art is all there is for Caleb, and Caleb is all there is for Camille. Impossible for those of us who love our kids for who they are rather than what we think we can turn them into to understand, and just so sad. Their visit with Hobart really captures it. He had told Caleb and Camille years before that kids kill art, trying to discourage them from having children. But when Annie and Buster come to see him, he tells them, "Your parents were right. They beat me by completely inverting my theory. Kids don't kill art. Art kills kids." Hobart turns out to be so kind and so insightful. He warns them repeatedly about their parents, and ultimately tells them, "You two are great artists...you can separate reality from art. A lot of us can't do that."
The other parts I really enjoyed were some of Buster's descriptions of being a writer: "he kept typing, trying to wring as many words as he could out of the story in his head. The novel seemed to be a cave of sorts, twisting, maze-like passages, but Buster focused only on finding an exit that was not the original entrance, pushing his way through the dark until he found a path that held the promise of escape." The part where he goes and speaks to a class of aspiring writers is truly priceless, as is his description of his first efforts at writing...a story about a family called the Dangs ("This seemed, to Buster's nascent powers of imagination, to be enough to hide their true identities.") and his ultimate discovery, "He was, he decided without anyone else telling him, a writer."
Anyway, it's a great book. You should definitely read it.
The stories of their lives growing up and their parents' increasingly weird performance art are at first interesting and almost fun, but ultimately you realize that art is all there is for Caleb, and Caleb is all there is for Camille. Impossible for those of us who love our kids for who they are rather than what we think we can turn them into to understand, and just so sad. Their visit with Hobart really captures it. He had told Caleb and Camille years before that kids kill art, trying to discourage them from having children. But when Annie and Buster come to see him, he tells them, "Your parents were right. They beat me by completely inverting my theory. Kids don't kill art. Art kills kids." Hobart turns out to be so kind and so insightful. He warns them repeatedly about their parents, and ultimately tells them, "You two are great artists...you can separate reality from art. A lot of us can't do that."
The other parts I really enjoyed were some of Buster's descriptions of being a writer: "he kept typing, trying to wring as many words as he could out of the story in his head. The novel seemed to be a cave of sorts, twisting, maze-like passages, but Buster focused only on finding an exit that was not the original entrance, pushing his way through the dark until he found a path that held the promise of escape." The part where he goes and speaks to a class of aspiring writers is truly priceless, as is his description of his first efforts at writing...a story about a family called the Dangs ("This seemed, to Buster's nascent powers of imagination, to be enough to hide their true identities.") and his ultimate discovery, "He was, he decided without anyone else telling him, a writer."
Anyway, it's a great book. You should definitely read it.