Review: "The Family Fang" by Kevin Wilson

Despite the shitty title, which may be one of the worst that I have ever seen, The Family Fang is anything but, written by newcomer Kevin Wilson, who seems to possess a great talent for creating weird situations that are ironic but far from being annoying or grating on the readers ears. He steers clear of making things seem too cool or hip for their own good, and even infuses a great deal of emotion into characters, even as they are doing some pretty ridiculous things. He even goes on to make a great point about the line in which some artists can cross that is real poignant and right on point as to how they really think and feel. The story seems very convoluted (and by the title, which I must reinforce how awful it is, people might think its about vampires) and it should be, but Wilson takes things seriously, and the reactions of the characters are real. The Fang family is obsessed with creating art, at least the parents Caleb and Camille are, but thinking art that stands still is not worth anything, and instead decide that spontaneous art is the only true art form. They demonstrate this by pulling pranks on the innocent public, like entering a boy into a beauty pageant, having a fake proposal that ends in rejection, even manipulating a performance of Romeo and Juliet to enact incest. And for this ride, they force their kids Annie and Buster (Child A and B) to be a part of it, mostly against their wishes. These two grow up ill affected by their parents performances, which has made them famous in the art community but alienated them from their children, and leave the nest to pursue other artistic endeavors, with Annie becoming a failed movie actress and Buster becoming a failed writer, after a series of events they return home, where their parents try to once again force them into creating their art. The attempt fails, with Caleb and Camille clearly showing their age. Soon after they disappear, leaving behind clues that they might have been murdered, but Annie and Buster are not convinced. From there, they try to find out what happened, and how deeply their parents’ art is worth to them. This book says something really profound about the line between art and decency, and how cruel one can be when creating art is more important than being a good parent or a nice person. It doesn’t matter that I think what the Fangs call art is really stupid bullshit, but what does is how the people involved are victims of their selfish need to create and shine a spotlight on their own egos. Their stunts go from silly to really disturbing (like when they relish in filming a little girl crying during their beauty pageant stunt), painting these two in a really despicable light. I know a lot of creative people, and most are okay, but some really tread that line, although not as much as Camille and Caleb do. They seem to speak out against what they see as a hollow society, but they themselves are also hollow, filling an empty personality with flashy behavior, and their own selfish need for art. This book does an awesome job of expressing those ideas on creativity, while also being an emotionally complex and fun book to read. This one is a winner, despite that damned title.

Rating: 5/5