This was an easy read, but at the same time very strange. I had a little trouble getting into it, and I never really did. It wasnt boring- just weird. So lets just say I'm a fence sitter on this one.

I was really hoping for a good, funny, different sort of book. This was different, but not in an enjoyable way. I was only able to get thru 3 chapters and then decided not to waste any more of my time. There are many good books out there to read and this is not one of them.

Weird and wonderful, like the characters. Thoughtful without being outright gloomy.

A book that renewed my interest in reading after a bit of a drought. I'd been feeling jaded but this one had me spinning it out because I didn't want it to end. It's an original idea, the characters manage to be flawed without being despicable and l'd definitely give Kevin Wilson a read again.

I thought this book was very well-written with a truly imaginative plot. (Lot's of others have summarized, so I won't.) Annie and Buster are quite compelling and their relationship is drawn with a lot of depth and complexity. There are larger themes that run through--about art and, even more broadly, commitment to career/creativity/achievement--but at the same time it's a fine story of a family. Largely entertaining and mostly pretty amusing even when it is also painful. I bet someone will make a movie of it and it really could be a great one.

Disturbing, yet you had to keep reading to find out what happens next in this tragic family, with parents that are so disturbingly crazy.

This was so much fun! Mother and father performance artists that force their children to create improv performance pieces to create public experiences. Hilarious.

Wish I could give this novel more stars, and I can't wait for someone I know to read it so we can talk about it! A remarkable first novel about art and family, two themes you don't often see together in fiction. If you liked this book, you might also like Arthur by Arthur Phillips, which brings literature and family together in a similar style. Too many reviewers compared The Family Fang to The Royal Tenenbaums, which I think is an injustice. The Fangs are much more likeable and real, and the story is much warmer overall. Or maybe I just don't like Ben Stiller and Gwyneth Paltrow!

This strange story of a family of performance artists just misses an excellent rating. Annie Fang, aka Child A, began her artistic career as an infant when her parents capitalized on Annie's fear of a shopping mall Santa. Always on the lookout for the bizarre and the unsettling, Camille and Caleb declared onlookers' reactions to baby Annie's terror to be "art," and claimed the event as one of their own performances. The birth of Buster (Child B) completed the troupe, and sets the stage for this loving yet totally unconventional, and fantastically dyfunctional family life. "A" and "B" must deal with feelings of being mere props for their parents' outlandish projects, all of which are at best nerve-wracking and at worst illegal and immoral. Yet Mom and Dad Fang, totally committed to the value of their "art," are clueless about the damage they inflict. When the elder Fangs disappear, and the cops suspect their murder, Annie and Buster don't know whether to cry, cheer or hide. As a reader, sorting out the neuroses and blame is interesting, but a trifle exhausting.

Kevin Wilson is a new discovery for me, but his latest novel, The Family Fang, is a revelation. Annie and Buster are the children of Camille and Caleb Fang, two performance artists who value their art perhaps more than their children. When Annie and Buster finally escape their immediate family after growing up as A & B in their performance art troupe of a family, they think they're done with all of that. But when hard times force them back to the family home, they find themselves embroiled in one of the most complicated pieces their family has ever launched. Insightful, touching and bizarre.