The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

January 10, 2023

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

Camille and Caleb Fang are performance artists who present their interpretations of literary classics. They drag their two children, Annie and Buster, along to assist them. Their goal is to disrupt a normal situation, such as a wedding, a visit to a fast food restaurant, or a school play. Fast forward 20 years and Annie is an actor while Buster is a freelance journalist struggling to write his third novel. As adults, both Annie and Buster make bad decisions: Buster takes an assignment to interview a group of army veterans who have modified army weapons to make a potato cannon and agrees to let them shoot a potato off his head, while Annie's career goes up in flames after she agrees to do a topless scene in a movie but takes things too far by wandering around the set topless while the crew takes pictures of her and then getting involved with another female actor. They both return to the family home to find their parents missing. The police think something really happened to the Fang parents, while Annie and Buster are convinced it's just another performance stunt. Guess who's right?

Not as good as Wilson's other novels, especially Nothing to See Here. The Fang family are quirky and have an unusual world view. The adult Annie and Buster make a lot of decisions/choices that seem like a good idea at the time. Or maybe not, considering their parents' careers. The phrase that forms the basis of Wilson's novel Now is Not the Time to Panic originates in this book. In the movie version, Buster's name was changed to Baxter.

An example of performance art - sometimes nothing happens, while at other times, the audience is involved